Gretchen Walsh makes her feelings known as elder sister Alex shares heartfelt birthday message for 22-year-old

Gretchen Walsh reacted to her sister Alex Walsh's wish on her birthday. The Walsh sisters have made it big in sports, establishing themselves as promising swimmers.

Gretchen, a University of Virginia alum, competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, clinching two golds and two silver medals. She anchored the 4x100m medley relay and 4x100m mixed medley relay teams to podium finishes in world record-winning times. Walsh also added silver medals in the 4x100m fresstyle relay and 100m butterfly at the quadrennial Games.

The 22-year-old ended the 2024 season with another world record feat in the 100m individual medley at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest. Enjoying swimming downtime, Walsh celebrated her birthday on January 29, receiving a heartfelt note from her elder sister and fellow swimmer Alex Walsh.

The latter compiled some memorable sibling moments and posted on her Instagram with a caption, reading:

"Birthday festivities are in order for @gretchwalsh2 !!! I couldn’t have gotten luckier to have you as my built-in best friend 💛 Driven, loyal, inspiring, genuine, fast as hell, funny as hell, and just all around my favorite person."

Gretchen Walsh highlighted the 'funny as hell' part and made her feelings known, replying:

"Funny as hell??? I’ve won"

She further expressed her love for her sister, adding:

"Love you big sis you’re the best"

Walsh reacted to her sister's heartfelt birthday wish; Instagram - @alexwalsh7

Alex Walsh qualified to compete in the 200m individual medley at the Paris Olympics but was disqualified in the Games finals for an abrupt transition from backstroke to breaststroke.

She joined her younger sister at the World Championships in Budapest, winning silver in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 200m breaststroke.

---

Alex Walsh extended heartfelt wishes to her sister Gretchen Walsh on her world record-breaking feat at the Budapest World Championships

Gretchen Walsh swimming at the 2024 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships - (Source: Getty)

The Walsh sisters amassed 14 NCAA records, 24 All-American honors and 24 NCAA Championship titles across their collective collegiate careers. Having represented the United States in the World Championships and the Olympics, Gretchen and Alex Walsh proved themselves as one of the most formidable sibling pairs in swimming.

After the sisters competed in Paris, they took to the World short course Championships pool, where the younger sibling achieved a world record feat, garnering love and support from Alex.

The former referred to her world records and wrote:

"Let’s keep ‘em coming I guess!"

Her sister shared her views, saying:

"Yesss sugar mama."

Though Gretchen Walsh missed the Tokyo Olympics team, her sister brought a silver home in the 200m individual medley.