Harris holds off Walsh for 100m freestyle title
Australia's Meg Harris (52.60 seconds) got to the wall just ahead of Gretchen Walsh (52.78) to claim the crown in the women's 100m freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.
Video Transcript
Meg Harris Another sprint legend for the Aussies.
World gold in the 50 free last summer in Singapore, Olympic silver in the 50 in Paris.
Taylor Ruck of Canada, already three bronze medals at this meet, one at a relay, plus the 50 fly and the 100 back.
And Fan Zhaoyi, just 15 years of age, from China, rounding out this final field.
She will be in lane eight.
Rowdy, we mentioned Gretchen Walsh, dominant in sprint butterfly right now.
Set the world record in the 50 free earlier this summer, and oh yeah, lifetime best in the heats to be the top qualifier here for this 100 free final.
Yeah, just missed that world record in the 50 fly earlier in the meet, and she has been having one of those years.
And of course, Simone Manuel, you know, enough cannot be said about this woman and what she has meant to the sport of swimming for so many different reasons.
Here she is again, swimming in a final.
No surprise there.
Take your marks.
Walsh so good in the water.
Not so good on the blocks as far as reaction time.
Oh, boy.
.78, that might be one of her slowest reaction times, but doesn't take her long to get up and pop into the lead.
Now she ke- needs to keep this first 50 fast, but controlled.
24.9 in the morning, by the way, on the feet, and that was ahead of world record pace.
20 24.9.
Same thing.
Now let's see if she can bring it home.
Right on what she did in the opening 50 in prelims.
Trying to bring it home in front of a home crowd here in the US.
What a battle for second spot right now.
Wide open behind Gretchen Walsh.
These other swimmers will start to come on though.
15 meters left, here comes lane 6.
Meg Harris mounting a charge, and she's gonna go past Gretchen Walsh.
Can she get there?
She will.
Meg Harris coming from behind.
52.60 seconds to nab Gretchen Walsh by about two-tenths, and grab gold in the 100 free in Irvine.
And the Aussies finish one, three in this race.
Boy, what a meet so far from Down Under, and Harris and Wunsch one, three.
Walsh gets in there with the silver, just off her PB from this morning.
Boy, what a great start by Wunsch.
Right there in the middle of the pool, she was the quickest off the blocks, .63.
She was right underneath Walsh.
24.9.
I mean, e- everything is right there.
Here's the 15 meta- meter mark she had to pop there.
Just got a little tired at the end of the race.
Didn't quite hit her wall as well.
She's a little half, so you see that f- half stroke for her?
Half stroke there right above her.
And you look at the Australian stars going one, three, including Olivia Wunsch with a new lifetime best to earn bronze.
Results official, Harris overtaking Gretchen Walsh down the stretch for the win.
The American takes silver, Wunsch making it two medals for Australia in the women's 100 free.
Meg Harris, congratulations on your 100 freestyle win.
52.9 at Commonwealth, you come here to go 52.6.
Could you feel it getting tight at the end?
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, my coach said this time, "Don't leave anything in the water," so I put my head down, closed my eyes.
I didn't even realize I had won until Liv told me.
Okay, so she's putting it all out on the line.
We love to see that.
You've been away from home for, what, like four to five weeks now?
Yeah.
I mean, it's been a long trip, but, I mean, I love racing and getting up and doing this in a quick turnaround.
Like, it's been a whole learning experience, but I've loved every bit of it.
But the bigger question is, what's the first thing you're gonna do when you go home?
Oh.
Go see my dog.
It's been a long time since I've seen her.
Yeah.
That's the important stuff.
Meg Harris, congratulations.
Irvine, give it up for your 100 freestyle champion.
