The Virginia women's swimming program certainly is not unfamiliar with record-setting performances. Since 2021, in fact, the UVA swimmers have broken an American Record nearly 100 times! Anna Moesch became the latest to uncork a monster swim and inched Hoo swimmers closer that century mark last week in London.
Representing the United States, Moesch shined at the AP Race London International 2026 at the London Aquatics Center in the United Kingdom. At that event, she won three individual events and two relay golds. She also finished as the top athlete (male or female) on the Aqua Points leaderboard with 986 points and was crowned the AP Race Champion, earning her 10,000 pounds or approximately $13,000 in prize money.
The headline-grabbing moment came on Monday, though, when she blew past the 52-second mark in the 100-meter freestyle. She won that race in 51.94, which at the time made her the No. 2 performer all-time in the event (Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen since went 51.86 to join the top 3 with Swedish Sarah Sjostrom currently world record holder at 51.71). Prior to the big swim, Moesch had never even gone sub-53 in the 100 free as she set a previous personal best time of 53.23 in the prelims.
By rocketing into the world record picture, Moesch had the swimming world buzzing this week. Swimming World Magazine called the swim "stunning" and noted that "the world must view Moesch as one of the world’s best freestylers." The AP Race official Instagram noted that she "stunned the packed crowds" in London.
Moesch also stunned herself judging by her reaction when she saw the time flash on the board and a post-race interview where she said she was "shocked" by the swim. She also had a look of disbelief when told it was a new American Record. Here is the official race video and the interview:
Moesch's performance shaved nearly 1.5 seconds off her personal best time before the meet. Moesch had been steadily gaining steam with her swims (not just in the 100 free) over the last two years while helping Virginia rattled off its sixth straight National Championship. Cavalier coach Todd DeSorbo said in an Instagram Story post from the UVA swim & dive account that she was due for a big jump in long course times given that progression in recent years.
"She works really hard," DeSorbo said. "She's due for a big drop in long course. She had massive drops this year, the 200 free short course she dropped three seconds and I think that correlates to long course 100 free really well. She's just kind of had a breakout year, just continued that momentum. She's learning how to race and swim those races a lot better. Last year, didn't have a lot of time to really prepare between NCAAs and World Trials and she had a pretty good World Trials, but had a lot more time and an extra year [this time]. She's really kind of figuring things out and coming along really well."
Stay tuned to see what Moesch does next as she joins the likes of Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, and Gretchen Walsh on the world stage ahead of the 2028 Olympic cycle.
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