A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
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 Summer Olympics 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.
Douglass earned her undergraduate degree in statistics from the University of Virginia in 2023, and she is presently a graduate student in statistics at the University of Virginia. She is researching data analytics in competitive swimming with Ken Ono.[2]
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.[1] Douglass first swam for the Westchester Aquatic Club in New York, before moving to the Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club in Connecticut in 2017.[3]
Career
2016
2016 U.S. Olympic Trials
Douglass qualified for the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials and swam the 50 m free, 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.[4] 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.[5]
2017
2017 World Junior Championships
| 2017 World Junior Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
4×100 m freestyle | 3:39.69 |
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 getting a silver medal.[6]
2018
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.[7] 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.[8]
At the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics, Douglass placed seventh overall in the finals of the 50 m freestyle. She did not qualify for the finals in her other individual events.[9]
2019
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.[10]
2020
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.[11] 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.[12]
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.[13] 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.[14]
2021
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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]
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
| 2021 NCAA Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
50 yd freestyle | 21.13 |
|
100 yd freestyle | 46.30 |
|
100 yd butterfly | 49.55 |
|
4×50 yd freestyle | 1:25.97 |
|
4×100 yd freestyle | 3:10.45 |
|
4×50 yd medley | 1:34.13 |
|
4×100 yd medley | 3:25.13 |
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.[18] 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.[19] In addition, Douglass finished seventh in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle, swimming times of 24.78 and 54.17, respectively.[20]
2020 Olympic Games
| 2020 Summer Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
200 m individual medley | 2:09.04 |
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Douglass swam the top time in both the preliminary and semi-final 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 running her down 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.[21]