Running from 1-3 October at the Aquatic Palace in Baku, the competition will make history as the first-ever World Aquatics event held in Azerbaijan. It will kick off a three-week tour that also stops in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (8-10 October) and Astana, Kazakhstan (15-17 October), providing qualifying opportunities and a competitive lead-in to the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Beijing this December.

With a prize pool of USD $1.2 million on offer, plus bonuses for World Records and Crown-winning performances, it is all to play for on the Silk Road Tour.

A new wildcard system means a top-three finish in the finals of an individual event with an A-standard time at any of the three stops will earn swimmers a direct ticket to Beijing.

We take a look at some of the stars of men’s swimming, for whom the road to Beijing begins in Azerbaijan.

Ones to Watch

At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Cameron McEvoy (AUS) became the oldest Australian to win an individual Olympic swimming title at the age of 30 with his triumph in the 50m Freestyle, and he has gone on to add even more to his lengthy list of career achievements. McEvoy clinched a second World title in the event in Singapore in 2025, and earlier this year he smashed the long-standing 50m Freestyle World Record by clocking 20.88 in Shenzhen. He makes his return to the Swimming World Cup still searching for more from the sprint blocks.

Qin Haiyang (CHN) remains one of breaststroke's most dominant forces. The 2023 World Aquatics Male Swimmer of the Year swept all three individual breaststroke titles at that year's World Championships in Fukuoka, breaking the 200m World Record along the way. After contributing to China’s Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Qin reclaimed his 100m and 200m Breaststroke crowns in Singapore in 2025. An overall Swimming World Cup winner in 2023, when he swept Triple Crowns across all three breaststroke events, Qin will be the man to beat in Baku.

The versatile Shaine Casas (USA) is a 17-time Swimming World Cup gold medallist, who finished runner-up in the overall standings last season after sweeping Triple Crowns in the 100m and 200m Medley. He also holds five World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) golds and contributed to a World Record-setting effort from the US team in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay in Budapest two years ago, making him one of the Silk Road Tour’s most dangerous all-rounders.

A Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist in the 200m Breaststroke, Caspar Corbeau (NED) became the first man in history to break two minutes in the event last October, clocking a short-course World Record of 1:59.52 at the Toronto stop of the World Cup. He backed that up with a run to silver in the 200m Breaststroke at this year's European Aquatics Championships in Paris, and heads to Baku as one of the leading athletes in his signature event.

Still only 22, Egor Kornev (RUS) is one of the sport's fastest-rising sprinters. He has already won short-course and long-course World titles in the Men's 4x100m Medley Relay, and moved into the all-time top 10 for both the 50m and 100m Freestyle this year, clocking 21.06 at the Russian National Championships and 46.96 at the European Aquatics Championships respectively. A haul of six medals in Paris at the European Aquatics Championships included 50m Butterfly, Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay and Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay gold, confirming his status as one of the sport’s biggest emerging talents.

Also in the Mix

Elsewhere, watch out for Trinidad and Tobago's Dylan Carter, who has strong Swimming World Cup pedigree as the 2022 men's overall champion and an 11-time series gold medallist across the sprint strokes. South Africa's Pieter Coetze is looking to add to his 11 career Swimming World Cup gold medals, fresh off a Commonwealth Games sweep of 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke titles, while the USA's Carson Foster is building back towards top form after winning three golds across the 400m Medley and Freestyle events on last year’s series.

With the countdown now well underway, all eyes turn to Baku for the first stop of a Silk Road Tour across three historic cities.