Swimming career
Early career
Walsh was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2001. Her parents are Robert and Glynis Walsh. Glynis also swam competitively and was captain of the Boston College women's swim team in 1993. Walsh has a younger sister, Gretchen Walsh.[2]
The Walsh family moved to Old Greenwich, Connecticut, when Alex was young, and she attended Old Greenwich Elementary School. She began her competitive swimming career at age seven as a member of the Greenwich YWCA Dolphins. She later joined the Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club in Stamford, Connecticut. She swam in the summers for the Rocky Point Club.[3]
Walsh first made headlines at the age of 12 when she broke three 11–12 girl's national age group records in the 100 yard individual medley, 100 yard backstroke, and 200 yard breaststroke at the Connecticut Age Group Championships in March 2014.[4] As a 12-year old, her 200 yard breaststroke time of 2:15.64 also set a new pool record at Wesleyan University.[5]
In 2014, the Walsh family moved back to Nashville, Tennessee, when Alex was 13 years old. There, she competed for the Nashville Aquatic Club, coached by John Morse and Doug Wharam. As a 13-year old, Walsh qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in the women's 100 and 200 meter backstroke events.[6] Later that year, Walsh broke Missy Franklin's national age group record in the 13–14 girl's 200 yard individual medley with a time of 1:56.20.[7]
In June and July, Walsh competed at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. She was a semi-finalist in the women's 100 and 200-meter backstroke events, in which she placed 14th and 11th, respectively.[8] Walsh then competed at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Maui, Hawaii, in August. She won a silver medal.
High school
Walsh attended middle and high school at Harpeth Hall School. She competed at the 2017 Junior World Championship in Indianapolis, Indiana, in August. She swam in the final of the 4×100 m freestyle relay, winning a silver medal. Walsh's high school team, coached by Polly Linden, captured the state swimming and diving championship in 2017.[9]
Walsh competed at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Suva, Fiji, in August. She won two gold medals. Walsh continued to break multiple national age group records throughout high school career.[10][11][12][13] In 2018, she set the NISCA independent school record in the 100 yard breaststroke. Harpeth Hall School repeated as state champions in 2018.[14] They were also named SwimmingWorld national champions.[15]
Walsh competed at the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru, in August. In total, she won three gold medals: two individual gold medals in the women's 200-meter individual medley and women's 200-meter backstroke and a gold medal in the women's 4x200 m freestyle relay.[16] Harpeth Hall School was named SwimmingWorld national champions for the second straight year in 2019.[17] Walsh was an eight-time NISCA/Speedo high school swimming All-American.
Walsh competed at the 2019 U.S. Open in Atlanta, Georgia, in December. She won the silver medal behind Olympian Melanie Margalis in the women's 200-meter individual medley. Her time of 2:09.01 shattered the 17–18 girl's national age group record previously set by Elizabeth Pelton in 2011.[18] Walsh graduated from Harpeth Hall School in 2020.
2021 NCAA season
Walsh attends the University of Virginia and started competing on their swimming team, coached by Todd DeSorbo, starting in her freshman season of 2020–21. At the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships, Walsh won the 200 yard individual medley, finished third in the 200 yard backstroke, and finished fourth in the 100 yard breaststroke. She swam on four of Virginia's first place relays (200 free relay, 400 free relay, 800 free relay, 400 medley relay).[19] Walsh was named the ACC Rookie of the Year.[20]
At the 2021 NCAA Division I Championships in March, Walsh anchored the women's 4 x 200 yard freestyle relay to first place, which marked the University of Virginia's first NCAA relay title in program history. Walsh was the NCAA champion in the 200 yard individual medley, finished fifth in the 200 yard breaststroke, and finished fifth in the 200 yard freestyle. She was also part of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays that finished second. Virginia won their first-ever team championship.
2021 Summer Olympics
In June, Walsh competed at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials. She won the women's 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:09.30 to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The race had the closest finish in the history of the Olympic Trials with only 0.04 seconds separating first place finisher Walsh, second place finisher Kate Douglass (Walsh's teammate at Virginia), and third place finisher Madisyn Cox.[21] The race was ranked one of the top moments of the Olympic Swim Trials.[22]
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July, Walsh won silver in the 200 m individual medley. In a thriller of a race, Walsh led down the stretch in the freestyle portion. She finished with a time of 2:08.65, just behind Japan's Yui Ohashi by 0.13 seconds.[23]
2022 NCAA season
During her sophomore season at Virginia, Walsh was joined on the team by her younger sister, Gretchen.[24] At the 2022 ACC Championships, Alex was a three-time individual champion in the 200 yard individual medley, 200 yard freestyle, and 200 yard breaststroke and also won three relay titles.[25]
At the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships in March, Walsh won three individual titles: the 200 yard individual medley, 400 yard individual medley, and 200 yard butterfly.[26] She set an American, NCAA, U.S. Open, and pool record in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 1:50.08.[27] She swam on the 400 medley relay, and 400 freestyle relay that broke the NCAA, American, U.S. Open, and pool records.[28] Walsh also participated in the 800 freestyle relay, which placed second. She won a total of six gold medals and one silver medal at the meet, and Virginia won their second straight team national championship. That season, Walsh was a finalist for the Honda Sports Award in swimming and diving.
2022 World Championships
In April, Walsh competed at the U.S. International Team Trials and qualified for the 2022 World Aquatic Championships team in the women's 4x200-meter freestyle relay.[29] She placed sixth in the final with a time of 1:57.84. Walsh also won the women's 200-meter individual medley, setting a new U.S. Open record in the final with a winning time of 2:07.84.[30][31]
In June, Walsh became a world champion at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Her gold medal winning time (2:07:13) in the 200 meter individual medley was more than a second faster than the second place finisher. In that race, she became the second-fastest American of all time and fifth-fastest world performer of all time.[32][33] In total, she finished the 2022 World Championships as a three-time gold medalist, also winning gold in the women's 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay and women's 4 x 100 meter medley relay.[34]
In December, Walsh competed at the 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She won three gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal, participating in one individual event and five relays.[35][36] In the 200-meter individual medley, Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh finished first (2:02.12) and second (2:03.37), respectively. Both swimmers broke the previous American record and became the only American women to ever break 2:04.[37] Walsh swam the first leg of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, which won bronze and broke the American record with a time of 7:34.70.[38][39]
2023 NCAA season
At the 2023 NCAA Division I Championships in March, Walsh won a gold medal, a silver medal, and a bronze medal in her individual events. Virginia won all five relay events, and Walsh swam on four of them. Virginia won their third straight national championship.
2023 World Championships
In June and July, Walsh competed at the 2023 U.S. National Championships. She won silver medals in the 200 m individual medley and 400 m individual medley and was named to the 2023 World Championships team.
At the 2023 World Championships in July, Walsh won a silver medal in the 200 m individual medley as part of an American one-two finish with Kate Douglass. Walsh then finished fourth in the 400 m individual medley.
Outside the pool
Walsh was featured in Mary Ellen Pethel's book entitled Title IX, Pat Summit, and Tennessee's Trailblazers: 50 Years, 50 Stories. The book was published in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX and to honor female athletes and coaches with connections to the state of Tennessee.[40] Walsh spoke about opportunities available for current NCAA athletes after the passage of the NCAA NIL (name image likeness) Policy in 2021.[41] She also discussed the social pressures that come with being an athlete on social media. When commenting about her future, she was quoted as saying "I've come a long way, but I've still got a long way to go."[42]
Walsh and her sister Gretchen made history as being the first NCAA athletes to ever launch an apparel line with a major retailer after the passage of the NIL. In September 2022, Alex and Gretchen released a collaboration with Sporti by Swimoutlet.com and created their swimsuit line called, Sporti x Alex + Gretchen Walsh.[43] In an article entitled "The Walsh Sisters: From the Olympics to Swimwear Designers," Alex said: "After the summer Olympics in 2021, I signed with Swim Outlet, and they had the idea of doing a swimsuit line collaboration. Then Gretchen hopped on and signed on with them too. We immediately knew we would do it together. She's also one of the fastest swimmers in the world."[44]
