Despite seemingly being on track for victory in the women’s 200-m individual medley, U.S. swimmer Alex Walsh was disqualified after finishing third.
Walsh led the race until the final 25 meters of the freestyle lap, ultimately being out-touched at the finish line by and her teammate Kate Douglass.
However, Walsh, a previous winner of , was disqualified for an improper transition from the backstroke to the breaststroke, according to USA Swimming. This transition is known to be tricky and has been the subject of much discussion amongst swim officials. As per the international swimming federation FINA, the same rules apply to each stroke in a medley race. For backstroke, “the swimmer must touch the wall while on the back.” In the individual medley, this touch must occur before the swimmer starts the next stroke, the breaststroke, which is swum face down. During Saturday’s race, when Walsh touched the wall to finish her backstroke leg, her stomach was facing the bottom of the pool, leading to the disqualification.
Swimmers have various methods for making the backstroke-to-breaststroke transition. These include: touching the wall while still on their back and pulling their knees to their chest for a push off the wall on their stomach; performing a gymnast-like backflip, flipping to their stomach; or the riskier crossover turn. The crossover can be done in two ways—in the first, the swimmer touches the wall on their side after the final stroke on the back, ensuring not to rotate past 90 degrees. With this approach, the swimmer touches the wall, keeps an arm extended, and rotates to their stomach while maintaining wall contact for the breaststroke. The second version involves the swimmer turning to their side, stretching out a hand to push off the wall behind them while staying largely on their back and not rotating past 90 degrees, which would result in disqualification. Subsequently, the swimmer pulls their forehead to their knees, turning and facing the direction they came from to start the breaststroke.
Walsh’s younger sister Gretchen is also competing in the Paris Games. She won gold in the 4×100-m mixed medley relay and silver in the 100-m butterfly and the