Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown set new short course world records in the World Cup meet held in Westmont, Illinois, marking the beginning of Australia’s era after Ariarne Titmus. O’Callaghan, the Olympic 200-meter freestyle champion, achieved victory with a time of 1:49.77, surpassing the previous record set by Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong in 2021. McKeown triumphed in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.87, defeating her rival Regan Smith and breaking the American’s previous best time of 1:58.04.
In a reversal from the previous day, McKeown took the lead early in the 200 backstroke race and maintained it until the end, overtaking Smith. The Australian swimmer expressed her determination to push herself in the competition and highlighted the challenge presented by Smith. McKeown, who has claimed gold in the 100 and 200 backstroke events at the last two Olympics, holds the world records in both short and long course for the 200 backstroke, while Smith dominates the 100 backstroke records.
The exceptional performances by the Australian swimmers followed the surprising retirement announcement of Ariarne Titmus, the former Olympic 400 freestyle champion. Kate Douglass of the United States also made headlines by setting a new world record of 50.19 in the 100 freestyle, surpassing Cate Campbell’s previous record of 50.25 from 2017. Douglass, known for her versatility, now holds three short course world records, having previously set records in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke events.
The upcoming third and final meet of the World Cup series is scheduled to take place in Toronto starting Thursday.
