Kate Douglass

Kate Douglass

Personal information
Full name	Katherine Cadwallader Douglass
Nationality	United States
Born	(2001-11-17) November 17, 2001 New York City, New York, U.S.
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	125 lb (57 kg)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke, Breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, individual medley
Club	Westchester Aquatic Club, Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club
College team	University of Virginia
Coach	Todd Desorbo
Medal record Representing the United States Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 0 1 World Championships (SC) 2 2 1 World Junior Championships 0 1 0 Total 2 3 2 Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 200 m medley World Championships (SC) 2021 Abu Dhabi 4×50 m freestyle 2021 Abu Dhabi 4×100 m freestyle 2021 Abu Dhabi 4×50 m medley 2021 Abu Dhabi 4×50 m mixed medley 2021 Abu Dhabi 200 m individual medley World Junior Championships 2017 Indianapolis 4×100 m freestyle Representing the Virginia Cavaliers Event 1st 2nd 3rd NCAA Championships 10 4 2 Total 8 6 0 By race Event 1st 2nd 3rd 50 y freestyle 2 0 0 100 y freestyle 1 0 0 100 y butterfly 1 1 0 200 y breaststroke 1 0 0 4×50 y freestyle 1 1 0 4×50 y medley 1 1 0 4×100 y freestyle 1 1 0 4×100 y medley 1 1 0 Total 9 5 0 NCAA Championships 2022 Atlanta 50 y freestyle 2022 Atlanta 100 y butterfly 2022 Atlanta 200 y breaststroke 2022 Atlanta 4x50 y freeestyle 2022 Atlanta 4x50 y medley 2022 Atlanta 4x100 y freestyle 2022 Atlanta 4x100 y medley 2021 Greensboro 50 y freestyle 2021 Greensboro 100 y freestyle 2021 Greensboro 100 y butterfly 2021 Greensboro 4×50 y freestyle 2021 Greensboro 4×100 y freestyle 2021 Greensboro 4×50 y medley 2021 Greensboro 4×100 y medley

Katherine Cadwallader Douglass (born November 20, 2001) is an American swimmer that is currently on the USA National Team. In 2021 she placed second in the 200m meter individual medley at the 2020 Olympic Swimming Trials, qualifying for the US Olympic Team. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the same event. She is currently a junior at University of Virginia where she competes at the collegiate level, and is a eight-time NCAA champion (five individual, three relay). In addition, she also holds the American record in the women's 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard butterfly, and 200 yard breaststroke. At the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, Douglass became the first swimmer to win three individual titles in three different strokes. .

Early Life

Douglass was born on November 20, 2001 in Pelham, New York as the daughter of Allison and William Douglass. She has an older 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 Conneticut in 2017.

Career

2016

Douglass first came onto the swimming spotlight as a high school sophomore in November 2016, when she broke Olympian Dara Torres's 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. .

2016 US Olympic Trials

Douglass qualified for trials and swam the 50 meter free, 100 meter breaststroke, 200 meter breaststroke, and 200 meter individual medley at the 2016 United States Olympic trials, placing 32nd, 48th, 77th, and 81st in each event respectively and not making the Olympic team.

2017

2017 FINA World Junior Championships

2017 World Junior Championships
	4x100 m freestyle	3:39.69

At the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships as a member of the USA Junior National Team, Douglass finished eleventh in the semifinals of the 50 meter freestyle, and did not qualify for finals. She also swam in the preliminary heats of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, which ended up getting a silver medal.

2018

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 Summer Youth Olympics, Douglass placed seventh overall in the finals of the 50 meter freestyle.

2020

Although Douglass had a national age-group record heading into college, she broke through as an elite swimmer in her freshman year at Virginia. At a dual meet in October of 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 swim 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 of 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 cancelled 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 stands today as 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 come in second, while Walsh had an improvement of over two seconds with her best time 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.

Coming into the 2021 NCAA Championships, Douglass was the top ranked swimming 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 MacNeil by four-hundreths 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 MacNeil 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.

2020 U.S. Olympic Trials

At the 2020 United States Olympic trials that were held in June 2021, Douglass swam in four events: the 50 meter freestyle, 100 meter freestyle, 100 meter butterfly, and the 200 meter individual medley. She started off trials by missing out on the Olympic team when she finished third in the 100 meter 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 meter 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.

In addition, Douglass also finished seventh in the 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle, swimming times of 24.78 and 51.17 respectively.