It was a magical night at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre with five World Records falling to close out the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup from Ontario.

Australia’s Lani Pallister had the swim of the entire tour when she demolished Katie Ledecky’s World Record in the 800m freestyle. It’s the first time the sentence has ever been written that Ledecky has lost an 800m World Record, having initially set that mark at the World Cup in 2022 at 7:57.42.

“Katie's done so many incredible things for the sport,” Pallister said. “I have her autograph sitting at home from 2014 and for a period of time it was my screensaver and it said ‘dream big.’ So it's really special that now I'm in my career and I'm racing her. And, honestly, just sharing the pool with her in this era of distance, swimming's absolutely incredible. And to be someone that's in a conversation with her and challenging those times is really, really incredible. And I'm very fortunate for the people that support me and my network that have allowed me to get to this position.”

Pallister took over three seconds off the record, scoring an immaculate 7:54.00 for the first individual record of her career.

“I think when I went out in 8:03 last week in the 1500, I knew it was a possibility and I almost considered just time trailing the 800 off the front of the 15 last week and realised that, 700 meters when you're fatigued is a little bit harder to swim than if you just do a normal 800,” Pallister said. “So yeah, I'm really thrilled with that. It's been such an incredible year and, yeah, I can't wait to go back to training for the long course season now.”

It’s the third win in a row for Pallister in the distance races, as she jumped the gun right off the bat. When she flipped at 3:54 at the 400m, many in the crowd had a hard time processing it, and she kept building, not letting a virtual Ledecky get any closer.

Pallister has had the year of her life in 2025, swimming to silver and bronze at the World Aquatics Championships this summer. Any time a swimmer can go stroke for stroke with Ledecky in a distance race over 400 meters, it’s a huge accomplishment, and Pallister has showed the world what she is made of off the prize money she won at these World Cups.

“I could see the determination in Lani’s eyes when she was doing a pre-activation and I knew she was going to do something special,” Kaylee McKeown said of Pallister’s race. “It's been a long time coming for her. I’ve been a training partner alongside her for the best part of four years until this year. So it's really nice to see her get up there and break that World Record.”

Douglass, Kos cash in on World Cup overall titles

The overall World Cup crown went the way of American Kate Douglass, who became the first woman to break 50 seconds in the 100m freestyle tonight at 49.93.

Douglass broke her own World Record she set last week after she was 50.19 in Westmont. Tonight, she left it all out there, breaking the eighth World Record in Toronto this weekend.

“Just being the last stop - a lot more money being on the line has everyone just a little bit more excited to race,” Douglass said. “It’s been three weeks of racing and training together. We all were just ready to give it one last go and be done.”

Douglass scored a $20,000 USD bonus in that swim alone off the World Record and the triple crown as it also leap-frogged her over teammate Gretchen Walsh in the overall standings.

“I wasn't really sure what was going to happen tonight,” Douglass said. “I feel like I put together a really good race last weekend and so I was just hoping to go a little faster, but getting under 50 is pretty awesome. I think in my mind I was like doing a 49 would be sick, but I had no idea if I was capable of that tonight.”

Walsh had been leading all weekend, but the World Record from Douglass gave her the extra points to win for the second straight year, with 177.5 points to Walsh’s 177.3.

“I definitely think it's super cool that someone that I train with every day is going head to head in something like this, but not actually racing each other,” Douglass said. “And so I think it's exciting to root each other on and be happy for each other. And yeah, it was definitely a great rivalry this week.”

Walsh won the 100m butterfly tonight in a new World Cup record at 53.10, the third fastest in history as this is the fastest time ever that isn’t a World Record. Walsh missed her own mark she set last year at 52.71 at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m).

“I feel like I executed it really well tonight,” Walsh said. “I wanted to be 52, but honestly, being a half a second faster than any of my times throughout this whole series, that's something I'm proud of. I’m very pleased with the 53 low, and I'm just looking forward to maybe swimming that (time) when I feel fresher and getting closer again to that World Record because I don't really know how I did that back in the day. I'm looking forward to making it a goal of mine again.”

Hungarian Hubert Kos saved his best swim for last, breaking the World Record in the 100m backstroke at 48.16, emphatically finishing his World Cup with nine wins across all three backstroke races, and two World Records this weekend. His swim erased Coleman Stewart’s mark from 2021 at 48.33 as he backed up his 200m World Record from Thursday.

“ It was great,” Kos said. “The last 25 really, really hurt me, but I just wanted to get that on. I was, I came here wanting to get that record. I didn't expect the 200, but, you know, we'll take two. Really, really happy with (how I) performed over these three weeks and really sad it's come to an end.”

Kos was leading the overall standings for the entirety of the three weeks as his consistency landed him the overall win with 175.8 points ahead of American training partner Shaine Casas at 171.2.

“It teaches you to become a better swimmer, it teaches you to be on when it really matters. Come the Olympics, come the World Championships, just be able to swim a good race, warm down, get ready for the next thing, keep going and just consistently do that over three weeks. It’s such a good life lesson and lesson in sport to be able to do that and that’s why I’m super happy about it. I really enjoyed my time here and it was super fun,” Kos said.

Casas swept all three individual medley events this weekend, winning the 400m IM tonight in a new World Cup meet record at 3:56.13, taking down Daiya Seto’s record from 2018 at 3:57.25. Casas now sits third all-time as his swim tonight was the fifth fastest in history.

“That one hurt, I'm not going to lie,” Casas said. “I pushed that one. Normally I don't think I would have been in for the best time, but I had to just send it. I had an extra shot of espresso, and I was shaking before my race. I was so nervous, but it was good. I fed off the crowd and I kind of just kept pushing and thought about that mindset that we have in practice and I just kept pushing, kept digging. And I saw (Tomoyuki Matsushita) they were right on me. So I was like, nah, I'm not losing this. I'm not losing this time. And just got my hand on the wall and was happy to move forward from that.”

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown swept the backstroke events this weekend, taking the triple crown in the 200m backstroke with a World Record of her own tonight at 1:57.33. For the second week in a row, McKeown and Regan Smith both got under the existing World Record, with Smith also getting under McKeown’s mark by 0.01 from last week at 1:57.86.

“During the warm up, I was actually really nervous, which is new for me,” McKeown said. “I really try to just enjoy myself and enjoy the experience. But I think for me to get the best out of myself, (maybe) I need to be nervous. I'm just learning more things about myself as I go.”

It was the third World Record by an Australian woman this weekend, after Mollie O’Callaghan’s mark in the 200m freestyle.

“I think of the women in this sport, and women in general, (and they) are really tough,” McKeown said.

"Yeah it's no surprise. I don't really know what to expect from these. I don't know what to expect from short course meters but you know I've just kind of had a feel for it and each time I found a way that I like to race it.”

McKeown will take two weeks off after this to go surfing back home before she takes aim at next summer’s Pan Pacs in Irvine and the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Scotland. She will go home with a big pay day, finishing third in the overall standings with 173.3 points and the $30,000 USD bonus for third overall.

“It’s really nice to have an incentive behind swimming fast,” McKeown said. “It adds a little bit of extra pressure as well. It’s fun to see everyone getting around it because in the past few years, it hasn’t really been a big thing against some of the better athletes in swimming. It’s really cool to see us all do it.”

Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands swept the breaststroke races this weekend as well, saving his best swim for last, becoming the first man to break 2:00 in the 200m breaststroke with a 1:59.52. Corbeau dropped two seconds off his lifetime best for his first career World Record at age 24.

“I'm not processing it to be honest,” Corbeau said. “It's just kind of, it's there right now. I need to go talk to my friends and my family. But you know, it'll take some time.”

After nearly walking away from the sport two years ago after he was fifth in this event at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, Corbeau is now at the top of his game, scoring another $30,000 USD bonus for finishing third overall in the men’s standings at 171 points.

“You know, going into this week, and after having the 100m, which was a big, big race for me, people were saying, ‘Hey, you know, if you have that speed, maybe you can do something in the 200 and maybe, scare the World Record,’” Corbeau said. “So, that was always looming in the back of my mind. But honestly, I was just trying to get up there and execute my race, not be scared, and just have fun.”

The swim wiped Kirill Prigoda’s name off the record books as his 2:00.16 stood as the standard since the 2018 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m).

Also in the race, Japan’s Shin Ohashi broke the world junior record at 2:02.03 to finish second. The 16-year-old will keep the world junior record in Japan, taking Akihiro Yamaguchi’s name off the books from his 2:03.23 in 2012. Ohashi has a bright future, swimming the fastest time in long course this year as he was the World Juniors silver medallist this summer. Japan has a rich history in men’s breaststroke, the 200m specifically, and he looks to be the next in line for greatness.

Three more triple crown bonuses were awarded to Americans Luke Hobson in the 200m freestyle and Alex Walsh in the 200m IM, and to Canadian Ilya Kharun in the 50m butterfly.

Hobson’s 1:39.94 in the 200m freestyle was a dog fight with fellow American Chris Guiliano (1:40.39) as those two had season bests in the race tonight.

“We want that 4x2 relay more than anything at the long course meets in the summer,” Hobson said. “So just keep working towards that and having Chris and I up there is a great start to hopefully motivate some others in the US, so we start winning some medals in that.”

Hobson proved why he is one of the best racers in the entire world, swimming the eighth fastest time in history as he now has the most swims inside 1:40 in history. Hobson comes from the same training pool as Hubert Kos and Shaine Casas at the University of Texas.

“It's an amazing group and I couldn't be happier with the work that we've been doing and the group that we have down there in Austin,” Hobson said. “So, I was really grateful for that and all the work we put in together as a whole and great to see each other do really well at meets like these.”

Kharun’s 50m butterfly was another Canadian win this weekend as he won by 0.01 at 21.80 over World Record holder Noe Ponti (21.81) and three-time winner this weekend Josh Liendo (21.91). It was the 19th fastest swim in history for Kharun.

“I saw Noe Ponti’s splashes on the second 25, and I knew it was gonna come down to me or him,” Kharun said. “I was just hoping that I got it. And you know what I did. I was just so happy that I saw that I won.”

Liendo presented Kharun with his triple crown after Liendo busted two crowns already this weekend, unable to finish off the triple crown buster.

“Oh, it means a lot,” Kharun said. “I mean, Josh swam really amazing this week, so I didn't realise that that was gonna happen and I think it was just very, a very fun and cool moment.”

Walsh’s 2:04.01 in the final gave her the triple crown at age 24 ahead of Ireland’s Ellen Walshe (2:04.75), who closed well to get second. It’s a good moment for Walsh, who continues to be one of the best in the world in the 200m IM as she was within a second of Kate Douglass’s World Record pace for 150 meters before falling off on the freestyle.

“I’m really happy,” Walsh said. “Seeing the crown walk out in front of you, I just hoped I could put it together. But I saw that I was in the lead at the halfway mark and I knew that I have a really strong back half with the breast stroke so I felt really good and just hammered on the way home. I wish I was 2:03, but 2:04.01, I'll take that.”

Belgium’s Florine Gaspard also won the 50m breaststroke in a new Belgian record to now sit 22nd all-time at 29.48.

“I wanted to have first place last weekend,” Gaspard said. “This time again, I was swimming in the fourth lane. I just tried to have so much fun and tried to touch first, and that was the game plan. Last weekend I was a bit nervous to be lane four, so I just tried to focus on myself, do everything a bit better, and just race and have fun.”

Contributing: Gregory Eggert