UVA’s Kate Douglass wins Olympics gold medal in 200m breaststroke

Former Virginia Cavaliers swimmer Kate Douglass struck Olympic gold for the first time on Thursday in the 200-meter breaststroke. She did so in record-breaking fashion as her 2:19:24 time beat an American record of 2:19:30 which she set in the 2024 TYR Pro Swim Series. She beat South African swimmer Tatjana Smith’s 2:19:60 and the Netherlands Tes Schouten’s times of 2:21:05.

This is her third Olympic medal and second in Paris after helping the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team win silver alongside Gretchen Walsh. This marks the first time a Virginia athlete has won a gold medal since swimmer Leah Smith helped the US win the 4x200-meter freestyle relay in 2016’s Rio Olympics.

Douglass finished her Virginia career two years ago, cementing herself as the greatest Virginia swimmer ever. In her last two seasons, she won a combined 14 NCAA gold medals and was selected as the Honda Award Winner, given to the best college female swimmer in 2022 and 2023