Day 2 Recap | Regan Smith lowers 100m backstroke World Record on second night in Incheon

American Regan Smith swam the fastest time ever in the 100m backstroke on Friday evening in Incheon, breaking the World Record that was set not too long ago by Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown of Australia.

Smith swam 54.41, taking down McKeown's 54.56 from just a few weeks ago as the 22-year-old American now holds the fastest time of all-time in this event in both short course and long course meters.

“It's been a good stop here,” Smith said. “I came into the World Cup series with no clue how I would perform. I definitely have been all over the place, you saw my 200 fly was pretty rough last night. My body is definitely a little bit confused. I am psyched, that was a great race.”

Smith collected a $10,000 USD bonus for claiming the World Record.

“I think in my career that I am so over (the) pressure, because I have choked under pressure so many times in my career, so I really needed to change my mindset,” Smith said. “I know there will always be external expectations on me as a swimmer. I just want to swim for me and swim for the people who care about me. Specifically coming into a meet like this I don’t care if I get last place or if I get first and break a world record. I am not going to beat myself up because it’s October after the Olympic Games. So there are no expectations, none at all. It is more about having fun and enjoying the process.”

Smith is currently second in the overall World Cup rankings behind fellow American Kate Douglass, who set a World Record of her own yesterday in the 200m breaststroke.

Douglass has 118.3 points to Smith's 115.7 as Douglass won the 50m butterfly on Friday at 24.73.

“Last night was very exciting and getting up this morning to race a 50 fly was nice and chill,” Douglass said. “Happy vibes for sure. The 50 fly is always a fun one, I don’t swim it very often. I was hoping to swim faster than in Shanghai, but I can't complain about the win. I might not swim the 200 IM tomorrow, it's undecided and I am going to figure that out soon. I am going to sleep pretty well tonight, I am really tired.”

Smith will have the 200m backstroke tomorrow while Douglass is entered in the 200m IM, both events in which they won Olympic silver in Paris earlier this year.

The men’s overall rankings is currently led by South Africa's Pieter Coetze, who won the 50m backstroke for the second straight week, winning on Friday at 22.80 over Australia’s Isaac Cooper (23.10). Coetze was also third in the 100m freestyle, which helped him get a third points swim to take the lead overall with 107.9 points.

“Always racing Isaac Cooper is fun,” Coetze said. “You know he is going to be fast, he just has so much speed and raw speed.  In a 50 I’m not so confident when I am up against Isaac, but I backed myself and it was a great result.”

That 100m freestyle was surprisingly won by Australia’s Jamie Jack at 46.48, as he took down the likes of Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo (46.60) and Coetze (46.74). China’s Pan Zhanle, who broke the long course World Record en route to Olympic gold in Paris, finished fourth at 46.80.

Jack, the younger brother of Olympian Shayna Jack, was one spot away from making the Olympic team for Australia, finishing seventh in the 100m freestyle at the Olympic Trials, as this is a big win for him.

“Going from heats to finals and to get a little bit faster was great,” Jack said. “I was really trying to swim a little bit better this time compared to Shanghai. I got my race done and it was good enough to get the win. I actually raced a little differently in the heats and I really wanted to apply myself fully to get the best out of myself in the final. In Shanghai, I had an unexpected swim in the heats and I didn’t expect to be that fast, but I didn’t swim any faster in the finals. So I tried to pace myself a little better. A win was in the back of my head, I knew that it could have been a possibility. I had a really good lane and an opportunity especially against some of these other big names. It's great to race with these guys.

“We are all a bit tired from traveling. Each to their own and you have to take the race for what it is. It was awesome, it really makes me happy for how far I have come and the work that I have been doing. It is different racing short course, the sort of race strategy and tactics can be very similar and I am really happy that I have grown over the year.”

Korea’s Hwang won the silver medal from lane eight to the delight of the Koreans in attendance.

“I’m glad that I finished in second place and I think I performed well, perhaps because of the support from the Korean fans,” Hwang said. “It was difficult to prepare for the race because of back pain but it disappeared when I was in the race. After the Korean National Sports Festival I took a rest and prepared for the world cup events. I’m happy to finish my racing in Incheon with a silver medal.”

France’s Leon Marchand is currently second overall with 96.96 points after his win in the 200m IM at 1:50.91, one of the four events he won Olympic gold in in his home country. The time is slower than his time from last week but he took down the Olympic silver medalist Duncan Scott (1:51.25) and multi-World Short Course champion Daiya Seto (1:52.36).

It was one of the most stacked fields of the meet and it lived up to the billing with Marchand fighting for all he was worth with the likes of Scott and Seto, two of the most consistent racers in the world.

“I felt pretty good during warm up and in the race too,” Marchand said. “I felt really tired at the end of the 50m free. My legs were really hurting. I was kicking under the water but my stroke was not that good.”

China’s Qin Haiyang is also in the running in the overall points standings with 93.2 points as he is currently fourth behind the likes of Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (95.1). Ponti didn’t race today as he is entered in the 50m butterfly tomorrow, the event in which he broke the world record last weekend in Shanghai.

Qin won the 50m breaststroke at 25.76 over 100m world record holder Ilya Shymanovich (25.78) as Qin closed in the last 10 meters to out-touch Shymanovich.

“Tonight was a very close race,” Qin said. “After this morning I wasn’t sure if I would lose the race again tonight. Maybe it’s just that my arms are longer than the other guys, haha! I thought it was an excellent performance for me considering that I haven’t done all that much training this season. My body still feels weak. I always race to win and I am very happy with the victory.”

Korea’s Choi Dong-yeol finished third at 26.05, much to the delight of the people of Incheon.

“I was disappointed by yesterday’s race but I'm glad that today's performance was good,” Choi said. “Thanks to all my Korean fans for their support. I think the medal came from having both a good start and a great turn. I want to race against world-class swimmers more often in major competitions like the world cup series.”

China celebrated an additional win Friday with the likes of Olympic silver medalist Tang Qianting in the 100m breaststroke at 1:02.82 as she dominated a pretty good field that included Olympic finalist Alina Zmushka (1:04.12) and Canada’s Sophie Angus (1:05.41).

Tang was unable to get the world record of 1:02.36 that has been on the books for a decade now, but she won her second straight 100m breaststroke race and will have a chance to win $10,000 USD next week in Singapore for a triple crown title.

“It was an honor to participate in the World Cup series,” Tang said. “I am very happy and delighted to compete at Incheon. Today is the second day of racing in Incheon and I am grateful and happy for winning the gold medal in my main event. I feel that I was in the best condition ever for tonight’s race.”

Siobhan Haughey (200m freestyle) of Hong Kong, China, and Mary-Sophie Harvey (400m IM) of Canada, also won their second straight races in a row with a triple crown and big pay day on the line next week in Singapore.

Haughey won the 200m freestyle at 1:51.02 in a dominating win over Australia’s Brittany Castelluzzo (1:54.11), while Harvey won the 400m IM at 4:26.23 as she swam away from China’s Yu Yiting (4:27.81) on the freestyle leg.

“I felt great,” Siobhan Haughey said. “I was a bit tired after the 400 free yesterday. I think I am really happy with it. All I was hoping for was that every stop I get better in any way, it might be a skill that I worked on. But It's always great to swim faster after each world cup race.

“It was a lot of fun to have a teammate (Li Sum Yiu) in the final. She’s more of a sprinter so I really don’t think the 200 is her main event.  I think it's great that younger swimmers are making finals on the international stage is great. She just broke my junior record in the 50 free long course and short course this year. I want my records to be broken and not just kept there.”

The time is a best time for Harvey as she moved up to 20th all-time.

“Yesterday was my first personal best (PB) in 8 years in the 400m free so I think I am trying to figure things out,” Harvey said. “But I am excited with the results of the two 400m events that I used to swim when I was younger before I took a little break.

“I retired from swimming for a few years because there was too much training and I wasn’t enjoying it.  I am really fortunate to swim different strokes and different races and I felt ready at mid season last year to give it a go. But I decided that I would wait and be really excited about it for the beginning of this season.

“I am back swimming those events and I am having fun. I had some good times when I was 17 years old in 2016.  Honestly I never expected to be that much faster at age 25. Eight years later and to be able to swim under 4:00 and to drop six seconds in the 400m free yesterday, that was a dream of mine. Tonight was only a .5 second improvement, but I know there is lots of room to improve. I kinda chilled in the first 200 and tried different stuff tonight. But honestly a PB is a PB.”

Trenton Julian of the United States also won the 200m butterfly at 1:51.00 in a close finish with South Africa’s Chad Le Clos (1:51.07) as Julian will also be vying for a triple crown next weekend.

“It was definitely a better race,” Julian said. “One more to go in Singapore. I tried to set it up a little better. I was more aggressive compared to last week when I was pretty conservative. I am trying things out and seeing how I feel in short course meters, that’s the name of the game right now. I am getting ready for short course worlds. I didn’t know that I was going that much faster, but I definitely wanted to be out faster and give myself a shot to be in the 1:49-1:50 range. Perhaps I was out a little too aggressive, I should have let my tempo relax a little bit more. I am definitely going to take that route going into next week and plan to find that happy medium in Singapore.”