Middle Tennessee sisters qualify for Paris Olympics

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A Middle Tennessee sister duo has punched their ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Alex and Gretchen Walsh, 2020 and 2021 graduates of Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, will be swimming in Paris this summer. According to Harpeth Hall, the sisters are coming off of an incredible NCAA Championship season at the University of Virginia.

Alex is no stranger to the Olympic stage, Harpeth Hall says. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and earned a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:08.65. Alex will swim in the same event in Paris, again with UVA teammate Kate Douglass, bronze medalist in Tokyo.

Gretchen joins the U.S. Olympic team for the first time in 2024, Harpeth Hall says. She earned a spot in the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly and the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay. Gretchen not only clinched her first Olympic slot in the 100-meter butterfly, but also set a new world record in the event with a time of 55.18 — .30 seconds faster than the previous record — during her semifinal swim at the trials.

The Walsh sisters led Harpeth Hall to back-to-back Swimming World National Championships in 2018 and 2019 and have similarly brought UVA NCAA Championships the last four years running. They have set pool, meet, conference, league, national, and international records, and the pair hopes to ride their success all the way to the Olympic podium.

The Olympics opening ceremony is set for 12:30 p.m. CST on July 26.

For more information on the Walsh sisters and when they will compete, click here.