Kate Douglass

Katherine Cadwallader Douglass (born November 17, 2001) is an American competitive swimmer. A versatile swimmer who competes in many events, Douglass won her first major international medal at the 2020 Olympic Games with a bronze in the 200 m individual medley. She won three medals at the 2022 World Championships. Douglass then won six medals, including two golds, at the 2023 World Championships. At the 2024 World Championships, she won five medals, including two golds.

Douglass competed for the University of Virginia during her NCAA career, which lasted from 2019 to 2023. She is considered one of the greatest swimmers in NCAA history. In her three NCAA Division I Championship meets in 2021, 2022, and 2023, she helped Virginia win the team competition. At the 2021 NCAA Championships, she won one gold medal and six silver medals. At the 2022 NCAA Championships, she won seven gold medals. At the 2023 NCAA Championships, she won seven gold medals. Douglass won the Honda Sports Award as the best college female swimmer in 2022 and 2023.

Early life
Douglass was born on November 17, 2001, in Pelham, New York, as the daughter of Allison and William Douglass. She has a younger sister, Abby, and a younger brother, Will. She attended Pelham Memorial High School and graduated in 2019. Douglass first swam for the Westchester Aquatic Club in New York, before moving to the Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club in Connecticut in 2017.

2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
Douglass qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials and swam the 50 m freestyle, 100 m breaststroke, 200 m breaststroke, and 200 m individual medley, placing 32nd, 48th, 77th, and 81st in each event respectively and not making the Olympic team.

Douglass burst into the swimming spotlight as a high school sophomore in November 2016, when she broke Olympian Dara Torres' 34-year old 13–14 national age group record of 22.44 in the 50 yard freestyle, swimming a time of 22.32 at a high school state meet. A month later, at the 2016 U.S. Winter Junior Championships, Douglass tied Simone Manuel's 15–16 national age group record in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 22.04.

2017 World Junior Championships
At the 2017 World Junior Championships as a member of the U.S. junior national team, Douglass finished eleventh in the semifinals of the 50 m freestyle, and did not qualify for finals. She also swam in the preliminary heats of the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, which ended up earning her a silver medal.

2018 Youth Olympic Games
In her junior year of high school, Douglass verbally committed to swim for the University of Virginia's class of 2023. Due to her national age group records in the 50 yard freestyle and her top-ranked times in the breaststroke and individual medley events, she was named SwimSwam's #2 girls' recruit in their class of 2019 rankings.

At the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, Douglass placed seventh overall in the finals of the 50 m freestyle. She did not qualify for the finals in her other individual events.

2019 U.S. National Championships
Douglass competed at the 2019 U.S. National Championships in July and August. She did not win a medal in any of her events.

2020 NCAA season
Although Douglass had a national age group record heading into college, she broke through as an elite swimmer in her freshman year at Virginia with coach Todd DeSorbo. At a dual meet in October 2019, Douglass swam a 22.28 second 50 yard freestyle and a 2:07.92 200 yard breaststroke, becoming only the third female swimmer to 22-point the 50 free and 2:07 in the 200 breast, which highlighted her versatility as those two events are very different from each other. She then improved her best time in the 200 breaststroke to 2:06.19 in January 2020. In November 2019, Douglass broke the ACC conference record in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 1:52.84.

At the 2020 ACC Championships, Douglass won the 200 yard individual medley title in a time of 1:51.36, making her the fastest freshman ever in the event and the fourth-fastest in history. Her swim also re-broke her conference record from prior. She also won a conference title in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 50.83 and placed third in the 200 yard breaststroke with a personal best time of 2:05.89 to help Virginia win their 16th ACC championship. Headed into the 2020 NCAA Championships, Douglass was the top seed in the 200 yard individual medley, the third seed in the 200 yard breaststroke, and the fourth seed in the 100 yard butterfly, but the meet was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 NCAA season
At the Tennessee Invitational in November 2020, Douglass swam a 200 yard individual medley in a time of 1:50.82 to become the third-fastest performer of all time in the event. Her time was just three-tenths off of Ella Eastin's NCAA record of 1:50.62. She also split a 21.96 while swimming the 50 yard butterfly on Virginia's 200 medley relay, which is the fastest 50 butterfly time in history. In addition, Douglass swam a 47.77 100 yard freestyle and a 50.18 100 yard butterfly, both best times for her. During a time trial swim in February 2021, Douglass swam a 2:03.92 200 yard breaststroke, moving her up the rankings as the ninth-fastest performer of all time in the event.

Douglass started off 2021 ACC Championships by breaking the NCAA record in the 200 medley relay with her teammates Caroline Gemlich, Alexis Wenger, and Lexi Cuomo. She swam the freestyle leg of the relay. The next day, she was upset by her teammate, freshman Alex Walsh, in the 200 yard individual medley. Despite being the favorite in the event coming into the race, Douglass swam a second slower than her best time with a time of 1:51.97 to finish second, while Walsh had an improvement of over two seconds to win with a time of 1:51.53. However, Douglass took home two ACC titles in 2021, winning the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 46.83 and the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 49.96.

2021 NCAA Championships
Going into the 2021 NCAA Championships, Douglass was the top ranked swimmer in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, 200 yard individual medley, and 200 yard breaststroke. However, she opted for the sprint races, choosing to swim the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard butterfly at the meet. Douglass won her first NCAA title when she beat Michigan's Maggie Mac Neil by four-hundredths of a second in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 21.13. However, her best time of 21.09 came from leading off of Virginia's second-place finishing 200 yard freestyle relay. She then finished second to Mac Neil in both the 100 yard freestyle and 100 yard butterfly, swimming times of 46.30 and 49.55 respectively, and was a part of four Virginia second-place relays: the 200 yard medley relay, the 200 yard freestyle relay, the 400 yard freestyle relay, and the 400 yard medley relay. She helped Virginia win their first-ever team national championship.

2020 U.S. Olympic Trials
At the 2020 U.S. Olympic trials that were held in June 2021, Douglass swam in four events: the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 100 m butterfly, and 200 m individual medley. She started off trials by missing out on the Olympic team when she finished third in the 100 m butterfly, swimming a time of 56.56 that was just 0.13 seconds behind second-place finisher Claire Curzan's 56.43. However, in the 200 m individual medley, Douglass finished second to Alex Walsh and swam a personal best time of 2:09.32. Her second-place finish allowed her to qualify for her first-ever Olympic Games. The race was incredibly close, as only 0.02 seconds separated her and third-place finisher Madisyn Cox. In addition, Douglass finished seventh in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle, swimming times of 24.78 and 54.17, respectively.

2020 Olympic Games
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Douglass swam the top time in both the preliminary and semifinal rounds of the 200 m individual medley. In the finals, she finished third. Douglass beat fourth-place finisher Abbie Wood by 0.06 seconds, being behind during the first 50 meters of the race and passing her in the freestyle leg to grab the bronze medal in a personal best time of 2:09.04. Japan's Yui Ohashi won gold, and Douglass' teammate Alex Walsh won silver.

2021 Short Course World Championships
At the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi, which were also postponed from 2020 to 2021, Douglass won two gold medals in the 4×50 m and 4×100 m women's relays, as well as a bronze medal in the 200 m individual medley. In addition, she was awarded two silver medals for having competed in the preliminary heats for the women's 4×50 m medley and the mixed 4×50 m medley.

2022 NCAA season
At the 2021 Tennessee Invite, Douglass broke Sophie Hansson's ACC record in the 200 yard breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:03.58 to become the fourth-fastest performer ever. She then bettered that time to 2:03.14 at the 2022 Cavalier Invite in February to become the second-fastest performer of all-time in the event.

Douglass then opted to swim only sprint events at the 2022 ACC Championships, and she won titles in the 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard butterfly. Her time of 21.00 in the 50 free was the second-fastest performance of all time, trailing Abbey Weitzeil's then-NCAA record time of 20.90 by just 0.1 seconds. In addition, she was a part of Virginia's 200 freestyle, 200 medley, and 400 medley relays that broke NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records. She scored 96 individual points to help Virginia win their third-straight ACC team championship.

2022 NCAA Championships
At the 2022 NCAA Championships in Atlanta, Douglass won seven titles, three individual events and four relays. She began the meet by breaking the NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record in the preliminary rounds of the 50 freestyle, swimming a 20.87. Then, in the finals, she lowered that record time to a 20.84, successfully defending her national title in the event. The next day, she upset defending Olympic and NCAA champion Maggie Mac Neil as well as long course American record holder Torri Huske to win the 100 butterfly, swimming a time of 49.04 to break Claire Curzan's American record of 49.24. On the final day of the meet, Douglass won the 200 breaststroke by over two seconds, clocking a 2:02.19 to break Lilly King's NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record. By virtue of her wins, she became the first Division I collegiate swimmer, male or female, to win three NCAA titles in three different strokes.

In addition to her individual efforts, Douglass was also a part of Virginia's national championship winning 200 free, 200 medley, 400 free, and 400 medley relays, with the latter two relays having broken NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records. In the end, Virginia won their second-consecutive NCAA team title by over 100 points.

Douglass was named the Swimmer of the Meet by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), and commentator Rowdy Gaines described her swims as "the greatest single-meet performance in NCAA history." The CSCAA and swimming news outlet SwimSwam both named Douglass the 2022 NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year. In May, she received the 2022 Honda Sport Award for Swimming and Diving, an award to honor the top female athlete in each Division I NCAA sport.

2022 U.S. International Team Trials
At the 2022 U.S. International Team Trials in Greensboro, North Carolina, Douglass qualified for the 200 m breaststroke at the World Championships in Budapest. She came into the meet with a best time of 2:28.00, but brought her time down to a 2:21.43 to finish second and nearly out-touch defending Olympic silver medalist Lilly King in her race. In addition, Douglass finished fifth in the 100 m freestyle, which qualified her for a spot on the women's 4×100 freestyle relay at Worlds.

2022 World Championships
In Budapest, Douglass won the bronze medal in the 200 m breaststroke as well as the bronze medal in the women's 4×100 m freestyle relay. For the 4×100 m freestyle mixed relay, she was also awarded a bronze medal, as she competed in the heats and helped her country qualify for the final.

2022 Short Course World Championships
At the 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, Douglass won a gold medal in the 200 m individual medley, setting a new Americas record of 2:02.12 and swimming the second-fastest time ever over this distance after Katinka Hosszú in 2014 (2:01.86). This was her first individual title in a global competition.

Further, Douglass won a silver medal with the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay in 3:26.29, setting another Americas record, and a gold medal with the 4 × 50 m mixed medley relay, setting a new world record. She also won a gold medal with the women's 4 × 50 m freestyle relay with another Americas and championship record. She won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay by setting a new world record and another silver medal in the women's 4 × 50 m medley relay. She also won the gold medal in the 200 m breaststroke by setting a new championship record, winning her second individual title in a global competition within three days.

2023 NCAA season
At the 2022 Tennessee Invite, Douglass broke her own NCAA, U.S. Open, and American record in the 200 yard breaststroke, swimming a time of 2:01.87. At the 2023 Cavalier Invitational, Douglass further reset the U.S. Open and American record in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:01.43, becoming the fastest ever in the event by over a second. However, as this swim was done as a time trial, it was not eligible as an NCAA record.

At the 2023 ACC Championships, Douglass swam the 100 yard butterfly, 200 yard individual medley, and 100 yard freestyle, winning titles in all three events. She recorded a time of 48.84 in the 100 yard butterfly, setting NCAA, U.S. Open, and American records, as well as swimming a time of 45.86 in the 100 yard freestyle which made her the third woman under 46 seconds in the event, and a time of 1:50.15 in the 200 yard IM, placing her at second fastest of all time and just 0.07 seconds off Alex Walsh's record.

2023 NCAA Championships
At the 2023 NCAA Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee, Douglass won seven titles, three individual and four relays. On the first day of individual events, Douglass won the 200 yard individual medley in a time of 1:48.37, slashing 1.71 seconds off the previous American and U.S. Open records. She won the 100 yard butterfly the next day in another American and U.S. Open record time of 48.46, edging out Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil by five-hundredths of a second. On the final day, Douglass completed a clean sweep of her three individual events with a victory in the 200 yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:01.29 which was another American and U.S. Open record. Douglass finished almost two seconds ahead of second place Anna Elendt.

Douglass was also a part of four of the University of Virginia's championship winning relays, the 200 freestyle, 200 medley, 400 freestyle, and 400 medley relays. Two of the relays, the 200 medley and 400 freestyle, set new American and U.S. Open records. Virginia won their third consecutive NCAA team title, with Douglass playing an important role in all three. She was named the NCAA Championships Swimmer of the Meet by the CSCAA, and Sports Illustrated called her 2023 championships "one of the greatest NCAA swimming performances of all time." This was Douglass' final collegiate meet.

For the second straight year, Douglass won the CSCAA NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year award and the Honda Sports Award for Swimming and Diving. During her time at Virginia, she competed in three NCAA Championships and won fifteen titles (seven individual and eight relays). Her NCAA career was rated as one of the greatest of all time by various sporting and swimming news outlets, including SwimSwam.

In May, Douglass graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor's degree in statistics. Afterward, she started studying for her master's degree in statistics at Virginia, researching data analytics in competitive swimming with Ken Ono.

2023 U.S. National Championships
At the 2023 U.S. National Championships, Douglass won gold medals in the 100 m freestyle and 200 m individual medley, she won a silver medal in the 200 m breaststroke, and she won bronze medals in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m butterfly. She set personal bests in five events. At the end of the meet, she was named to the World Championship team.

2023 World Championships
At the 2023 World Championships, Douglass competed in seven events and won six medals. She won the most medals of any American athlete during the competition. On July 23, she swam in the final of the women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, winning a silver medal. The next day, she won the gold medal in the 200 m individual medley. On July 26, she swam in the final of the mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay, winning a bronze medal. On July 28, she finished fourth in the 100 m freestyle. Later that night, she competed in the 200 m breaststroke and won the silver medal. On July 29, Douglass swam in the final of the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, winning a silver medal. The next day, she swam in the final of the women's 4 × 100 m medley relay, winning a gold medal.

At the Golden Goggle Awards in November, Douglass was named the Female Athlete of the Year, along with Katie Ledecky.

2024 World Championships
At the 2024 World Championships, Douglass competed in six events and won five medals. On February 12, she defended her World Championship title in the 200 m individual medley with a personal best time of 2:07.05. On February 14, she swam in the final of the mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay, winning a gold medal. On February 16, she finished fourth in the 100 m freestyle. Later that night, she competed in the 200 m breaststroke and won the silver medal. The next day, Douglass swam in the final of the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, winning a bronze medal. On February 18, she won the silver medal in the 50 m freestyle with an American record time of 23.91.

2024 U.S. Olympic Trials
At the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials in June, Douglass competed in the 100 m freestyle, 200 m breaststroke, and 200 m individual medley. She won gold medals and qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in all three events. Douglass broke the championship record in the 200 m breaststroke, and she broke the U.S. Open and championship records in the 200 m individual medley.

Short course (25 m)

 * Douglass swam only in the preliminary heats.

Short course (25 m)
split 24.09 (butterfly leg); with Ryan Murphy (backstroke leg), Nic Fink (breaststroke leg), Torri Huske (freestyle leg)

split 50.47 (freestyle leg); with Claire Curzan (backstroke leg), Lilly King (breaststroke leg), Torri Huske (butterfly leg)

Awards and honors

 * Golden Goggle Award for Female Athlete of the Year – 2023 (tied with Katie Ledecky)
 * Honda Sports Award for Swimming & Diving – 2022 and 2023
 * College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division I Women's Swimmer of the Year – 2022 and 2023
 * Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Women's Swimmer of the Year – 2022 and 2023
 * ACC Women's Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year – 2022 and 2023