CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Entering her third season with the Wahoos, Walsh won a total of six NCAA titles as a crucial part of Virginia's NCAA Team National Championship in March, their second straight title in the past two years. Walsh won the 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley, and 200-yard butterfly events and contributed to UVA's title-winning 400-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle relay, and 200-yard freestyle relay teams.
Her path to greatness started at a young age and there was a distinct moment after breaking her first national record at 12 years old, that Walsh realized the significance of what she’d done. As she recalls, her mom got very serious which didn't happen often throughout her and her sisters swimming careers, as she just wanted her daughters to have fun.
"We were driving home and my parents were telling me how proud they were of me and my mom turned around and she was like, 'I don't think you know the magnitude of how impressive it is to say that you're the fastest in the nation,'" said Walsh.
She tried other sports growing up, but with a mom who swam competitively at Boston College, it was already in her blood.
"I tried doing gymnastics but I'm over 6ft tall so that didn't work out too well for me when I was little."
But granted a career in the water absolutely worked out for Walsh. Less than a decade later, she can call herself an Olympian, taking home a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo games in the 200- meter individual medley. Her illustrious career has only accelerated since. Back in April, she qualified for the FINA World Championships swimming the fastest 200 medley ever on American soil.
"I remember saying to myself, 'I don't even know what I'm going to go I just want to win and make it to Budapest,' and then I broke the U.S Open record and I was like, 'Oh, that was really unexpected!" she said.
Following that phenomenal performance, she walked onto the pool deck in Budapest with a whole new confidence. Walsh went on to win her first world championship medal after winning gold in the 200-meter individual medley with a finish that beat the rest of the field by almost a second and a half with a time of 2:07.13, breaking her personal record and registering the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in the event.
"I wasn't as stressed as I normally was. I just tried to channel all that energy and make myself super focused and I knew exactly what to do," Walsh said. "It is everything I dreamed of- just touching and being a world champion and being on the podium and stuff. That part is like what you always dream of."
Her sister, Gretchen, is following in her footsteps and recently won two silver medals at the Phillips 66 National Championships in July. Safe to say, this is surely not the last time we’ll be hearing about the Walsh’s.
"It's great that I'm kind of like an outlet that she can use besides her friends and the rest of our teammates just because our bond is special."