The swimmer came in third place, but was ultimately disqualified after she made an illegal turn from backstroke to breaststroke

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Alex Walsh after the 200-meter individual medley final on Aug. 3.
Team USA swimmer Alex Walsh secured herself a bronze medal, then suffered heartbreak at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a devastating disqualification during the women’s 200-meter individual medley.

Walsh, 23, placed third in the race behind Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh and American teammate Kate Douglass, but was ultimately disqualified after she made an illegal turn from backstroke to breaststroke.

The medal would’ve been the second for Walsh, who won silver in the 200-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

“I was just really heartbroken for her,” Douglass, 22, told reporters, including PEOPLE, after the race. “I feel like she deserved to be on the podium with me.”

Douglass said she hadn’t yet had a chance to speak with Walsh, but was upset by the way the situation played out.

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“When it comes to that, I feel like we have a fair share of mistakes and stuff and I don’t know, it’s just upsetting,” she said.

Walsh’s sister Gretchen, who also competes for Team USA, told reporters she was watching her sibling’s race, and was in the middle of a warm-down when she heard the news.

“I was just stopped in the middle of the pool, like so upset,” said Gretchen, who ultimately took home a gold medal in the mixed 4×100-meter medley. “I don’t really know how to describe it, but yeah, I knew that I was gonna have to move on from that quickly in the moment and give her a big hug, tell her that I’m here for her and then go out and do this in her honor.”

Gretchen’s gold medal marked her third of this Olympics; she already has two silver medals to her name, in Paris, for the women’s 100-meter butterfly and the women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

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Walsh previously opened up to PEOPLE about the bittersweet feeling of making it to Tokyo when Gretchen did not, as she just missed qualifying three years ago.

“It was like a split house: happy for me, but gutted for Gretchen,” she said. “My parents struggled.”

Gretchen added that the two sisters are “best friends,” who support each other unconditionally despite having opposite personalities.

“We’re both dedicated and hardworking,” Gretchen said. “We push each other to new heights.”

Both sisters currently attend the University of Virginia, where Gretchen is majoring in finance and minoring in math, and Alex is a computer science major with a minor in psychology.

“Having each other there to be able to talk to is great,” Alex said. “We make each other laugh a lot. So it’s nice to have someone that is going to brighten your day.”