Kate Douglass revealed how mentally challenging it was to prepare herself for the 200m individual medley at the 2025 US Open, where she broke two meet records. The American swimming sensation competed at the event for the first time since the Paris Olympics.
With her record-breaking performance, Douglass shattered her own meet record time of 2:08.46, set at the US Open two years ago.
Kate Douglass Reflects on Overcoming Mental Hurdles To Swim to a 200m Individual Medley Meet Record
In a post-event interview with SwimSwam News, Douglass said she wasn’t sure whether she would swim the 200m individual medley or scratch from the start list. However, she soon realized that the meet was great and would not pressure her to perform a certain way, which led her to race despite the dilemma.
“It’s always kind of just a mental hurdle for me. I took a break from it. I hadn’t swam it in a while, and so I kind of wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do it at this meet. I kind of thought about scratching it a few weeks ago, and then I was like, this is just a great meet. There’s no pressure. It doesn’t really matter how I do, and so I decided it was a good meet to have my first swim back and see how it goes.”
The Olympic champion further noted that her record time of 2:07.85 proved that it was a great swim. Douglass also expressed joy at breaking another meet record in the 50m freestyle, clocking 24.20, just an hour after her individual medley feat. The aforementioned time was also an improvement on the meet record she set at the 2023 US Open.
Douglass Once Dreaded the 200m IM Despite It Being One of Her Strongest
The 200m individual medley was not Douglass’s favored event, as she used to feel inherently stressed by its complexity, as shared in an Olympics interview. She admitted that it’s the ‘hardest’ race she swims.
However, over the years, the American swimmer learned to manage her nerves and enjoy the event, eventually winning bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Douglass also triumphed in the event at the 2023 World Championships, earning her first career world title. At the Paris Olympics, she claimed silver in the same event and later won gold at the 2024 World Championships, followed by the Short Course World Championships.
At the 2025 World Championships, the former NCAA champion was part of two relay teams, the 4x100m medley and the 4x100m mixed medley, that swam to world-record times.
