The first stop of the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup concluded Sunday evening from Carmel, Indiana, a suburb north of Indianapolis.

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, fresh off a rare loss in yesterday’s 100m to American Regan Smith, swam her lifetime best in the 200m backstroke to win at 1:58.86. This is the fastest swim ever not break a World Record, as McKeown swam faster than her 1:58.94 from 2020, which was a world record at the time.

She just missed Smith’s all-time record of 1:58.04 from 2024 as Smith was second here at 2:00.07, with World Junior champ Charlotte Crush (2:02.28) in third.

“I've been really struggling all week to try and get my speed up, so I'm glad that my aerobic base is there,” McKeown said. “I really struggled with the underwaters, especially against these American girls who are so used to doing yards, but I got to work to my strength, and that’s the swimming part. So I cut out the underwear and just do as much swimming as I can.”

McKeown is one of the best backstrokers of all-time and is looking for an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold medal in both the 100m and 200m backstroke in 2028. Having not competed in the United States ever, McKeown is using this trip as practice for those Olympics.

“My sleep is still pretty bad,” McKeown said of the jet lag. “I don't know why it's taking my body so long to adjust. But, you know, this is perfect for training and lessons in leading up to the LA Olympics.”

McKeown is currently sitting third in the overall points standings with 56.8 points behind the likes of Americans Gretchen Walsh (59.1) and Kate Douglass (58.9).

Walsh, who broke her own world record in the 50m butterfly last night, swam the fourth fastest time ever in winning the 100m butterfly at 53.69. Walsh is still the only woman to swim inside 54  seconds as she has the four fastest times in history in limited short course meters experience. Her underwater kick strength in butterfly will make her very tough to beat for the overall crown the next two weeks.

“I definitely felt tired during that race,” Walsh said. “I think the third day of a pretty exciting meet, it's hard to show up. I'm just happy that I was able to put up a really good time and really race. I saw Alex (Perkins, AUS) on my last wall. And so just seeing someone there, really had pushed me, allowed me to push myself on the last 25.

Walsh replicated the World Championship podium with Australia’s Alexandria Perkins (54.93) and Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk (55.64) finished second and third as Walsh’s race was one of the loudest of the entire night.

“I can hear the fans for sure,” Walsh said. “You definitely know when you're not under world record pace, but it's alright, because I feel the love anyways.”

Douglass took care of business in the 100m freestyle, winning at 50.83 over the last two long course World champs Mollie O’Callaghan (51.13) and Marrit Steenbergen (51.56). Douglass swam the 13th fastest time of all-time as she just missed her best of 50.79 from last year. Douglass, the defending overall World Cup champion, was keeping an eye on the points standings as she dropped the 200m IM to focus on this race.

“I knew that giving up the 200 IM today could be a little bit of a risk,” Douglass said. “But I was really excited to raise these girls in the 100 free. I don't swim it short course very often. And so I was just excited to race it.”

Regan Smith is currently fourth overall with 56.7 points, ahead of Australia’s Lani Pallister (56.5) and O’Callaghan.

Pallister won the 800m freestyle at 8:02.02 for the ninth fastest swim of all-time as she was out under Katie Ledecky’s world record pace through the first 400 meters. Pallister and the rest of the Australians have only been in the States for a few days so that 7:57.42 set by Ledecky in the World Cup three years ago could be under threat as Pallister gets acclimated.

“That was kind of the strategy to see what happens, go out hard and hold on,” Pallister said. “It's a little bit distracting having the score board there, but there's also kind of fun until 550 and then my legs blew up and I was like, oh my God. I'm still happy with that as my second fastest time ever. It's maybe like 0.1 off my best.”

The men’s overall race is currently led by Hungary’s Hubert Kos, who won all three backstroke races this weekend by taking the 100m on Sunday with ease at 49.08, taking down Poland’s Kacper Stokowski (49.92) and Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon (50.20).

“I think that Bob (Bowman) will be happy,” Kos said. “He knows, and I also know what we need to improve on to get down to that world record. I'm starting this year swimming in the 100 as well as the 200, you know, which makes sense because I am the fastest yard swimmer in both those events, so. Yeah, I'd be good to reach that level one day.

“Over the next four days I'm going to need some recovery, which is probably going to be like 12 hours, and then back in the pool. But I know that's why we're here. We're here to race and you know, if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. Like, obviously, Bob's gonna tell me what to do, and I trust him 100% to get me ready for the next year.”

Kos has 58.4 points, leading Caspar Corbeau (55.8) and Carson Foster (55.4).

Corbeau won the 200m breaststroke at 2:01.63 to move to 11th all-time as he beat the Olympic champion Leon Marchand (2:02.00), who surprisingly did not win a single race all weekend. Marchand will not race next week in Westmont, nor the following week in Toronto as he will go back to training in gearing up for a home European Championships in Paris in August 2026.

Corbeau backed up his win in the 100m breaststroke earlier this meet as he has proven to be one of the best breaststrokers in the world, what he was predicted to be by his college coaches.

Foster, who trained with Corbeau at the University of Texas, won his second race of the weekend with a gold in the 400m IM at 3:59.58.

“That one was the hardest, definitely,” Foster said. “And it's fun to have a crowd like this because it genuinely does help a lot. Walking out on a Sunday night, normally (a day that) I'm off. I think even waking up today, I was (oh yeah) I gotta race today. on a Sunday. It's fun to have this crowd here and swimming in the Midwest, it’s my favorite.”

In a race that didn’t include Olympic and World champ Marchand, Foster beat Olympic silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita (4:01.82) and 200m champ Shaine Casas (4:03.10) from an earlier heat. World record holder Daiya Seto was in the race but faded to 12th at 4:14.37 at age 31.

“Honestly I got a lot more nervous tonight than I did for the other two, because it was the 400 IM and maybe because the expectations (I have) for myself are a little higher,” Foster said.

Canada’s Ilya Kharun handed Switzerland’s Noe Ponti his first loss in the 50m SCM butterfly since the 2022 Short Course Worlds as Kharun swam 21.86 to Ponti’s 21.90. It’s a huge swim for Kharun, who also won yesterday’s 200m butterfly and was beat by Ponti in the 100m butterfly on Friday.

“I guess it’s the first time I actually beat Noe (Ponti) in the 50 Fly, but I know he's got a lot more in the tank,” Kharun said. “Last year, he was like 21.50 at this time. So it'll definitely take a lot more, but I'm happy to have this moment. He's a great opponent and I'm just really happy that I get to race him.”

Kharun is tied with Foster for third in the points standings with 55.4 points.

Luke Hobson, USA’s quiet and confident budding star, won the 200m freestyle at 1:41.19, taking down fellow American Chris Guiliano (1:41.58) and the man that beat him at the Olympics, Matthew Richards (1:41.76).

“I think a lot of that (result is) just a testament to the work we've already put in and the work we put in last year, so great spot to be in and really excited for the rest of this year and we'll look forward to ‘28,” Hobson said.

Alex Walsh, the older sister of Gretchen, won the 200m IM at 2:04.76 over Great Britain’s Abbie Wood (2:05.14) and South Africa’s Rebecca Meder (2:05.56), who set the African record.

“It's kind of interesting because this season I started just switching up my training a little bit and doing more yardage,” Walsh said. “So definitely adjusting to that, and I think, you know, I didn't really expect much out of myself for this stop, but again, like I said, just hopefully I'm getting better and better with each meat. That's my goal.”

Additionally, Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova, the first-ever Olympic finalist for her nation, won the 50m breaststroke at 29.33.

The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup will continue next week in Westmont, Illinois, on Friday, October 17 at 10:00 a.m. local time with finals following that night at 6:00 p.m. local time. 

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Relive the action

• Carmel Day Two: Gretchen Walsh slams world record on day 2 of World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Carmel

• Carmel Day One: Regan Smith, Gretchen Walsh break World Cup records to open Swimming World Cup in Carmel

Contributing: Greg Eggert