South Africa’s Pieter Coetze and China’s Yu Yiting also set continental records on the third night of exhilarating competition in front of a passionate crowd in the Azerbaijan capital. 

Kornev and Steenbergen win again to top overall rankings 

Kornev’s third gold of his Baku haul came in the Men's 50m Butterfly with a time of 21.64, following on from his World Record-matching performance in the 100m Freestyle yesterday.  

Teong Tzen Wei of Singapore was second in 22.01, with China's Chen Juner third in 22.24. Australia’s Cameron McEvoy clocked 22.46 and had to settle for seventh place. 

With three golds and one silver from Baku, Kornev topped the men’s overall rankings with 59.3 points, followed by Luke Barr (CLB, 57.4) and Coetze (55.6). 

Steenbergen amassed the same medal collection from Baku, claiming gold in the Women's 100m Freestyle and silver in the 200m Individual Medley to finish as the top-ranked woman with 58.2 points, ahead of Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk (54.2) and China's Yu Yiting (53.7). 

Reflecting on her golden week in Baku, Steenbergen said, "It has been so much fun and I'm really happy with my races. I've done some things I don't do very often, so I'm really happy with how that's gone. I'm so close to my PBs and I'm really curious to see how I can improve ahead of the next weekend. 

"The standard here has been really good, with good races. I'm happy to be here, especially in the pool. It's a great pool and it's good to be back here after 11 years." 

Coetze and Yu break continental records 

Coetze went one better than his 50m Backstroke silver on day two by winning over 100m in 49.11, setting an African Record. He also won 200m Backstroke gold on day one. 

“I'm very happy with that. I just wanted to get the win and it's a good time too, so I'll take it,” Coetze said.  

“I got some feedback, I'm going to look at the videos and tweak what I need to tweak, and hopefully I can improve." 

Russia's Pavel Samusenko was second in 49.24, with Shaine Casas of the USA third in 49.89. 

Samusenko was upbeat about his progress.  

“This time shows I am going in the right way and the World Championships in Beijing will be awesome,” he said. 

Yu closed the first stop of the Silk Road Tour with an Asian Record of 2:02.80 in the Women's 200m Individual Medley to secure her bronze podium finish, storming home ahead of Steenbergen in second (2:05.09), and Great Britain's Abbie Wood in third (2:05.69). 

“It was a good start for me for the series, the 2:05 is definitely a nice place to start,” Wood said. 

“I was a bit off my best but I haven't been back in the season long, so it's really promising. I think I'll get race fit as I go on.” 

Belgian golds for Vanotterdijk and Gaspard 

Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk clocked 55.29 to clinch a dominant win in the Women's 100m Butterfly, finishing more than a second and a half clear of her closest challenger Wang Yichun of China, with Russia's Daria Klepikova completing the podium. 

“Very happy with this. It's still not how it has to be but I'm getting there, and it's still a personal record so I have to be happy with this,” Vanotterdijk said.  

“I'm finally faster at short course than long course, so that's something!” 

Her compatriot Florine Gaspard gave Belgium a second gold of the evening in the Women's 50m Breaststroke, finishing in 29.75. Russia's Ralina Giliazova (29.81) and Ireland's Mona McSharry (29.83) followed in a tight finish. 

“It's always a bit tight with the girls, 50 [metre] especially. I would like to swim a bit faster, but hopefully I will be able to in the next stops,” Gaspard said.  

“It's the first competition of the year so it's always a bit difficult, but I'm really happy right now.” 

Giliazova said: “I'm so happy to be here. I expected more from delivering the time faster, but it's the 50 metres, so we'll see what I can do in the next stops.” 

US athletes taste success through Barr, Casas, Foster and Peplowski 

Barr completed a successful stop with victory in the Men's 200m Breaststroke in 2:01.73, adding to his 100m and 200m Individual Medley triumphs. He held off Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands (2:01.80), with Russia's Kirill Prigoda third in 2:02.42. 

Barr, who's competing while on leave from his day job in marketing, said: “I'm just trying to have fun. I'm out here with all my friends and I get to take a little vacation from work. Anytime I'm racing next to a World Record holder is a special moment, and to be able to get my hand on the wall first gives me a lot of confidence.” 

Corbeau was encouraged by his opening swim of the season.  

“After only three weeks of training, 2:01 is pretty good. It's kind of where I started off last year and then I got 1:59 in the end, so hopefully in the next three weeks I can continue to build and maybe even go faster than I did last year,” he reflected. 

Shaine Casas followed up Men’s 100m Backstroke bronze with 200m Freestyle gold on day three, clocking 1:41.50 to finish ahead of He Yubo of China (1:42.37) and Belgium's Lucas Henveaux (1:42.88). 

“I felt like I actually woke up and I had a swimming meet today,” Casas said.  

“I didn't come off a great summer, so a rough start was not surprising. Tonight proved a lot more of what I'm still capable of, regardless of where I'm at. I'm a really good racer.” 

Carson Foster won the Men's 400m Individual Medley in 3:57.23, with Russia's Ilia Borodin taking silver in 3:59.05 and Italy's Alberto Razzetti bronze in 4:01.25. 

“I think at the first meet everyone puts a lot of pressure on themselves and sets themselves up for the rest of the trip,” Foster said.  

“This is all of our first meets of the season, so it is encouraging to start like that.” 

Borodin said: “I just feel a bit better because I had a lot of work, and I think in Tashkent and Astana I will maybe get very good times.” 

Anna Peplowski (CLB) won the Women's 200m Backstroke in 2:02.34, completing a full set from Baku after 100m Backstroke bronze and 200m Freestyle silver. 

She finished just ahead of Ruck (2:02.44), with Great Britain's Freya Colbert third in 2:05.61. 

“Starting travel on Monday and getting here on Monday night was a pretty quick turnaround, but I just tried to turn my brain off and focus on having a good meet,” Peplowski said.  

“Having a three-day meet is really exciting. A lot of the meets in the US last year were around four days.” 

Colbert was pleased to reach the podium. 

“I'm happy to come away with the podium finish, just to help my points tally and bump me up in the overall rankings. I think as we race more, everything will actually get quicker, hopefully,” she said. 

Gan Ching Hwee also earned her first World Cup gold medal in the Women's 800m Freestyle.  

“I was really just aiming for a podium finish,” she admitted.  

“The last two days have been kind of rough for me, so just coming to this race and trying to get better with execution and just feeling better as each day goes by was my main goal.” 

The Silk Road Tour now moves to Tashkent (8-10 October) before concluding in Astana (15-17 October). 

Follow all the action across World Aquatics’ website and social media platforms, and find out Where to Watch the remaining stops here. 

Full results from Baku are available here. 

Media covering the Silk Road Tour can find the latest rights-free content from each stop on the World Aquatics MEDIA POOL.