O’Callaghan became the first woman inside 1:50 in the 200m freestyle while Smith tied her own mark in the 100m backstroke on Saturday night in Westmont at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.
It didn’t come as a surprise to those that had been following Mollie O’Callaghan’s career, but her 1:49.77 in the 200m freestyle on Saturday night at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup served as a huge moment for the 21-year-old Olympic champion.
Save whatever superlative you want for O’Callaghan, but she continued her career year, becoming the first woman from Australia to hold the 200m freestyle world record in short course meters since Libby Lenton set it back in 2005, as well as the first woman ever to break 1:50, taking down Siobhan Haughey’s 1:50.31 from 2021 in the process.
“I was so nervous all day,” O’Callaghan said. “I knew I was capable of doing that swim, it’s just if, a lot of times it might not work out, but I knew I had two attempts left to try and crack it.”
This follows O’Callaghan’s win last week, increasing her chance for a $10,000 USD bonus next week in Toronto, as she cashed in on a $10,000 USD world record bonus tonight. O’Callaghan, the former world record holder in long course, was the World champ this year and the Olympic champ last year, and is sitting in the driver’s seat at the moment to potentially become the first person to ever successfully repeat Olympic gold in the 200m freestyle.
“From Carmel, I knew I just had to swim it and see what I could do,” O’Callaghan said. “We looked back at it and I have a great team who analyzed it and told me what I needed to fix. I will go back to the team and see what we need to adjust, and if I can, in the next stop then that would be incredible. I think it's just chipping away and learning. That’s the whole point of this. Hopefully it helps my 200 long course record.”
American Regan Smith also cashed in on a $10,000 USD world record bonus, tying her own mark in the 100m backstroke at 54.02.
It’s the second win in a row for Smith over two-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown (55.04) of Australia, as Smith nearly became the first woman inside 54 seconds, equalling her record from last year’s World Short Course Championships.
She also broke the World Cup record she set last year in Singapore at 54.27.
“That wasn’t on my radar,” Smith said.
“I didn’t feel like I had a lot of speed coming into this World Cup Series because Bob (Bowman) and Erik (Posegay) have really been hammering us this season. I don’t know, that felt like a great race. I didn’t die coming home like I can sometimes in the 100 backstroke. I hit all my turns really well. I was proud of my underwaters. I touched the wall and was like oh-wow, that’s really awesome.”
Smith now owns the five fastest swims in history, and two wins over McKeown this World Cup tour. It’s a big moment for Smith, who has been often upstaged by McKeown at the World Championships and the Olympics. Now, two of the next three majors are in the United States, and Smith is responding well to the home fandom.
Fellow American Gretchen Walsh nearly joined the world record breaking party, swimming the second fastest time ever in the 50m butterfly at 23.90. It’s the second straight win for Walsh after her 23.72 last week in Carmel. Walsh, like the aforementioned Smith, owns this 50m butterfly, holding the eight fastest times in history.
“I feel like on a night where there were two world records broken, I’m inspired to keep up the momentum,” Walsh said. “I wanted to be able to do that tonight. I wasn’t able to, but I still feel really motivated for the last stop (in Toronto). I think when you step on the block and know that’s something you want to do, there’s a lot of nerves involved with that goal.
“It’s just a harder thing that I think people overlook when they think about me swimming. Especially short course meters, because I’ve been able to get world records, and many in a row at a time. Every time I do it, the pressure is on, and I feel that as an expectation out of myself. It’s hard to separate myself from that sometimes and remember that not every swim needs to be a world record for me to be happy with it.”
Walsh is currently leading the overall World Cup standings with 57.1 points in Westmont with one day left to go in this stop, with arguably her best event, the 100m butterfly, still to go tomorrow night.
American Kate Douglass is currently sitting in second in this stop with 56.4 points as she won the 100m breaststroke tonight at 1:03.14. It wasn’t a best time for her, but it keeps her alive in the race for the overall crown which she won in 2024.
“That didn't feel great,” Douglass said. “I was slower than last week, so I’m not very happy with it. Just practicing racing.”
This is a new event for Douglass, and one where she is expected to stay as she won Worlds silver this summer and one of the fastest relay splits in history at the end of those World Aquatics Championships.
The men’s overall field is still led by Hungary’s Hubert Kos off his fifth backstroke win of the World Cup with a 22.91 in the 50m backstroke by 0.01 over Kacper Stokowski (22.92). Kos has 111.7 points through five days of the World Cup but is sitting in third on this second stop.
“My start was terrible,” Kos said. “I had to play catch-up the whole leg, but I’m happy I got there at the end, and I needed a good touch for it.”
The Westmont points leader is Canada’s Ilya Kharun, who won the 200m butterfly on Saturday at 1:48.46 for the sixth fastest time in history. The time is also a World Cup record as he took down Chad Le Clos’s 1:48.56 mark from November 2013 when Kharun was just eight years old.
“I was very happy with that race,” Kharun said.
“I knew that Noe Ponti was going to be out there; he said it earlier. He said, ‘I’m just going to go out fast and see what I can do.’ My goal was to just keep up with him and I was very happy to do that."
Kharun was able to out-kick Switzerland’s Noe Ponti on the last 50m as he took the race out under world record pace through 100 meters and finished second at 1:49.32. It’s a new best time for Ponti as he improved on his tenth place all-time standing.
“My plan was to just keep up with him,” Kharun said of Ponti. “I didn’t expect him to go out that quick but I knew if I could stick by him, I knew what I could do in the end. I find myself to have that adrenaline and just keep it going and try and catch up to him.”
Ponti is currently in second in the Westmont points standings with his best event to come tomorrow, the 50m butterfly.
American Shaine Casas won his second straight 200m IM at the World Cup with his 1:50.08 in the 200m IM.
After he took down world record holder and Olympic champion Leon Marchand last week in Carmel, Casas was all by himself, unable to replicate last week’s 1:49 as he won by two seconds over Canada’s Finlay Knox (1:52.04).
Hungary’s Zalan Sarkany backed up his World Short Course title from last year in the 800m freestyle to break his national record and move up to eighth all-time at 7:29.50, taking down the likes of former World 400m champ Sam Short (7:32.43).
American Jack Alexy also won his second straight 100m freestyle with a 45.84 over fellow American Chris Guiliano (46.11).
Ireland’s Ellen Walshe also broke the Irish record in the 400m IM at 4:25.33 to move up to 14th all-time in the event, while Caspar Corbeau broke the Dutch record to win the 50m breaststroke at 25.52 to move up to 11th all-time.
Contributing: Greg Eggert
How to Watch
The second stop of the World Cup will continue from Westmont on Saturday, October 18 at 10:00 a.m. local time with finals following that night at 6:00 p.m. local time.
Catch all the action live and watch on demand through our broadcast and streaming partners here.
- Westmont Day One: Pallister, Smith, Walsh break World Cup records to open second stop in Westmont
- Carmel Day Three: Kaylee McKeown nears 200m backstroke World Record to close first stop of Swimming World Cup in Carmel
- 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