Anastasia Gorbenko continues to raise the bar. The Israeli national team swimmer, who represents the University of Louisville, recorded the fastest time in history in the women’s 100-yard individual medley on Friday night, finishing in 51.43 seconds. The performance came at the fourth meet of the new U.S. collegiate swimming league, the CSL.
Gorbenko improved the previous best mark by 0.54 seconds. American swimmer Kate Douglass had set the previous fastest time of 51.97 seconds in 2023. The performance is not considered an official world record, however, because World Aquatics does not maintain world records for races held in pools measured in yards, not meters.
Anastasia Gorbenko
(Photo: Simone Castrovillari)
With the victory, Gorbenko now owns two of the 10 fastest performances ever in the event, ranking first and fourth. Americans Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Bella Sims also appear twice each on the all-time list.
The 100-yard individual medley performance was the highlight of a strong meet for Gorbenko. She also won the 200-yard breaststroke, setting both a personal best and a league record, and added a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke. She also swam as part of Louisville’s relay team, which finished fourth in the semifinal.
The CSL, which includes 12 of the leading university teams in the United States, was established to increase exposure for collegiate swimming. Meets feature four teams at a time, use a unique scoring format and include head-to-head races, with competitions broadcast worldwide.