The last night of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin closed with some very fast swimming in the German capital as five World Cup Records to close out this stop.

Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China had the top swim of the day in winning the 100m freestyle at 52.02 which is the fastest time swum in 2023. Haughey’s time was faster than the gold medal-winning swim at the World Championships this summer and broke the World Cup record set in 2019 at 52.34 by Cate Campbell.

Haughey is a week removed from winning the Asian Games with a continental record at 52.17. Haughey lowered that by another tenth tonight in Berlin as she may take aim at Sarah Sjostrom’s World Record set in 2017 at 51.71. Sjostrom and Campbell were both in the race here in Berlin as Campbell was second at 53.26 while Sjostrom was third at 53.39.

“I really didn’t know what I was expecting,” Haughey said. “It wasn’t a best time for me in the 100 free so this was a good surprise. My goal is to get faster every stop, who knows, maybe by the end of the series I will swim a 51.”

This was Haughey’s second win of the weekend after winning the 200m freestyle on Saturday.

“It's been really fun,” Haughey said. “It's a very competitive meet, but the pressure is low and not like world champs. It's a great training meet for all of us. The fact that there isn’t a lot of pressure means that everyone can focus and enjoy the meet and not be stressed about their performance.”

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte rebounded from a disappointing swim yesterday in the 100m breaststroke to win the 50m breaststroke at 29.56 in a new World Cup record, which was set this morning in Berlin by Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova at 30.23. Meilutyte swam the third fastest time in the world this year as she held the fastest two from the World Championships, the quickest being the World Record she set in Fukuoka.

“I felt good and pleased with the world cup record,” Meilutyte said. “I am grateful to be back swimming again (after a break) and it’s really special to be able to return to these events and swim times that I am pleased with, especially with the training that we are doing. It’s a bit of a battle for me at times, but once I get through it, I am happy to have done it, and usually happy with my times.”

Jefimova finished second tonight at 30.35 a few weeks after winning this event at the World Juniors.

Lithuania got a second win on the day from Danas Rapsys in the 200m freestyle at 1:45.75, just off his season best.

“The time and the result was really good today and this win puts me into third place overall,” Rapsys said. “It’s always motivating to be in the overall series race. On the first day I thought I could go really fast, maybe a 44, but a 45 for this time of the season is really good.  I expect to swim faster along the series.”

China’s Qin Haiyang had a dominant win in the 200m breaststroke with a World Cup record at 2:07.45, taking down Anton Chupkov’s 2018 record at 2:07.59 as this was Qin’s third win of the weekend, taking the breaststroke hat trick.

Qin held off a hard-charging Dong Zhihao (2:08.60) of China, who closed in 31.37 to Qin’s 32.79. Qin is another swimmer coming off a dominant Asian Games performance as he is also slated to continue racing next week in Athens at the second stop of the World Cup.

“Tonight I am 100% happy with the race,” Qin said. “Actually, doing the three days of racing I feel so very tired. I am a little bit surprised that I won. After the race, I felt relieved. I am already focused on the next swims in Athens. My coach told me to just try my best.”

China’s Zhang Yufei, who is also coming off the Asian Games, took a stab at the 100m butterfly world record set in 2016, turning at 50 meters under pace before falling off on the back 50 to win at 56.74. Zhang, the World Champ, has been on fire in 2023 and is keeping the flame lit in October, and will look to continue that next week into Athens. She won ahead of Germany’s Angelina Kohler (57.18) and 2022 World champ Torri Huske (57.32).

“I feel a little tired,” Zhang said. “The 100 fly is a much better event for me. Swimming on the third day I still feel sleepy and my body is tired, but it was a good result for me.”

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon was another swimmer who gave the world record a scare, winning the men’s 100m backstroke final at 52.27, matching his silver medal-winning time at the World Championships in July. Ceccon holds the world record at 51.60 that he set in 2022 and his swim tonight is a promising sign for his fitness levels as he prepares for what would be his second Olympics in Paris.

“My time, 52.2, was the same time as at worlds this summer,” Ceccon said. “It’s fast. I made some mistakes, but they are always fixable. The first leg of the three is over and almost my personal best in each race, so I am pretty happy. We will see how I do at the next two stops.”

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown was the only two-time winner on the day, taking out a World Cup record in the 200m backstroke (2:06.47) and a win in the 200m IM (2:10.76). McKeown’s 200m backstroke was quicker than teammate Emily Seebohm’s 2:06.94 from 2015 as this was McKeown’s fourth win in Berlin.

“I wasn’t expecting to get a win in (the 200 IM),” McKeown said. “I am really happy with that. Hopefully I can keep it up for the next few weeks as well.  This prepares me for the next few meets.  I may not like the fact that I have to double on a night like tonight, but if my coach believes it, then I know that I can do it.”

Australia had a big day in Berlin, winning four total events as Lani Pallister broke the World Cup record in the 800m freestyle at 8:16.82, her fastest time this year by four seconds.

“I'm really stoked,” Pallister said. “Coming into this, I didn't expect a personal best by any means. I had only a week off after Worlds and went back into training really slowly. But this shows that the work that I am doing on the back of world championships has paid off. That's the fastest that I have swam since the world championships trials in 2022. I am really pleased with my progress and can't wait to take this to the rest of the world cups and into training after we get back home.”

Australia’s Ben Armbruster (50m butterfly) and Brendon Smith (400m IM) also took wins in their respective events. Armbruster blasted a quick 23.08 to near his season best while Smith held off South Africa’s Matthew Sates at 4:13.59 to 4:13.61.

“That was definitely my fastest in season 400 IM ever,” Smith said. “It always hurts so much more when you are not rested. But I'm definitely happy with that result. Matt Sates has such a huge breaststroke leg and that I didn't want to give us as much as I did in breast with 25 to go I pretty much had given up, but with 75 meters left I put my head down and decided to go for it.

Next Stop: Athens

The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup will continue on 13 October 13 Athens, Greece, sight of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

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