Alex Walsh disqualified from Olympics swimming 200 IM final after finishing third

Alex Walsh's goal was gold in the 200-meter individual medley at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Instead, the Nashville native and Harpeth Hall graduate was disqualified from the race for her illegal transition from backstroke to breaststroke. The news was announced after a video review.

Walsh had finished third in 2:07.06 and was leading halfway through the race. Walsh had the fastest time -- 2:07.45 -- among all qualifiers during Friday's semifinals.

“I was just really heartbroken for her,” Walsh's teammate Kate Douglass, who finished second in the race, told reporters in France . “I feel like she deserved to win that medal, and she deserved to be on the podium with me. And yeah, obviously when we swim that race together, it's fun to be on the podium together, so I was really upset for her.”

Walsh won a silver medal in the event at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

She earned 19 NCAA titles and was an All-American 27 times in four years at Virginia, all of which ended with NCAA team championships.

Alex's sister Gretchen Walsh shining at Paris Olympics, too

Alex's younger sister, Gretchen, has had quite a showing at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

After setting world and Olympic records in the 100-meter butterfly, Gretchen Walsh took home silver in the event, which she lost by 0.04 seconds to teammate Torri Huske.

Gretchen swam a world record 55.18 in June during the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis. She set the Olympic mark of 55.38 during the semifinals.

Gretchen teamed with Huske, Kate Douglass and Simone Manuel to finish second in the 400-meter freestyle relay in a U.S.-record time of 3:30.20. She swam the second-fastest leg, which she finished in 52.55.

She will swim in the 50-meter freestyle final on Sunday, a race she goes into with the second-fastest qualifying time.

PARTY TIME: Harpeth Hall cheers on graduate Gretchen Walsh in Paris Olympics

SISTER, SISTER: Alex, Gretchen Walsh went from floating in Nashville pools to Olympic Games Paris 2024

WALSH SISTERS FYI: Gretchen Walsh: Olympics swimming record holder in Paris 2024 with Alex what to know

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina . Follow his work here .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Alex Walsh disqualified from Olympics swimming 200 IM final after finishing third