Katie Grimes continued her strong start to her junior year during Virginia’s dual meet against Florida last weekend, winning a pair of events in nation-leading fashion.
In the 400 IM, the event in which Grimes has won an Olympic silver medal and a trio of World Championship silver medals, she won a close battle with fellow UVA junior Leah Hayes in a time of 4:03.27, ranking her #1 in the NCAA this season.
In fact, the dual meet produced the only four swims we’ve seen under 4:10 so far in 2026-27, with Grimes followed by Hayes (4:03.51), Virginia sophomore Teagan O’Dell (4:05.19) and Florida junior Julie Brousseau (4:07.89).
RACE VIDEO
Courtesy of UVA Swimming on YouTube
The swim for Grimes is particularly noteworthy given that it’s quicker than she was in late November last season against Arizona State (4:03.34), indicating she’s on good form early in the campaign. This is the fastest she’s ever been this early in the season, including back in her club days with the Sandpipers of Nevada.
Last season, she was the ACC runner-up in the 400 IM in a time of 3:59.80, and then was 4:00.56 in the NCAA final to place 5th. Her personal best stands at 3:57.02, set prior to her college career in December 2024, and if she could get back to that form this season, the NCAA title would be well within reach.
Grimes also won the 1000 free in an NCAA-leading time of 9:25.49 in the dual against Florida, while earlier in the season, she won the 500 free in both of her College Swimming League (CSL) appearances, clocking 4:38.08 in Match #2 and 4:34.20 in Match #4 to rank #1 in the country.
This past summer, Grimes was on fire at the U.S. National Championships (LCM) in Irvine, winning the 1500 free in a time of 15:55.69, her fastest time since 2022, and the 400 IM in 4:33.26, her best showing since 2024. She followed up a few weeks later by placing 4th in the 800 free (8:19.10) and 6th in the 400 IM (4:35.72) at the Pan Pacific Championships, with her performance in the 800 free marking her first time under 8:20 since the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
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