Even before Sunday night, Gretchen Walsh had set the Olympic record and the world record in the 100-meter butterfly.
She could not, however, complete the final step to call herself an Olympic gold medalist.
Fellow American Torri Huske out-touched Walsh by four-hundredths of a second to complete a dramatic Olympic final on Sunday night and complete her own redemption from being out-touched for a bronze medal three years ago in Tokyo.
“I feel like I’m in shock right now,” Walsh said in the immediate aftermath on NBC. “I don’t even know how to process it. I feel like I need to cry but I’m also smiling. It’s really surreal. Like you said I just missed the podium last time by a hundredth. … I’ve had a long road and support and I’m thankful for all of it.”
It marked the first time the United States had gone 1-2 in the women’s 100-meter fly since 1984 as Walsh won silver ahead of Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei.
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Defending gold medalist Maggie MacNeil finished fifth, with the top five covered by under one second.
Huske’s gold was the second one by Team USA at these Olympics after men’s swimming won the 4×100-meter freestyle relay on Saturday night.
The native of Arlington, Virginia won silver in the 4×100-meter medley relay in Tokyo, but this marked her first Olympic gold.
“It’s really really cool,” Walsh said. “I mean I feel like just the crowd has been amazing. It was so cool to just watch the men’s 400 IM. It’s really cool that we’re gonna be 1-2 on the podium today.”