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≡ WORLD AQUATICS WORLD CUP ≡
Olympic and World Champion Kate Douglass grabbed four wins and two American Records at the opening 2024 World Aquatics World Cup in Shanghai, China last weekend. That, apparently, was just a warm-up, as she scored a brilliant world record of 2:14.16 to win the women’s 200 m Breaststroke and shatter a 15-year-old mark from the “super-suit” era on the first day of the second leg, at Incheon (KOR).
American Rebecca Soni – the two-time Olympic 200 m Breaststroke winner in 2008 and 2012 – had held the women’s short-course 200 Breast record since 2009, swimming 2:14.57 at the “Duel in the Pool” against Australia in December.
Coming in the time when non-textile suits were legal, the mark has stood unchallenged; Douglass swam 2:15.96 in Shanghai to win the event there. But in Incheon, Douglass – the Paris Olympic champion in this event – flew off the blocks and destroyed the old mark. Splits:
● 50 m: Douglass 30.68, Soni 31.05
● 100 m: Douglass 1:04.75, Soni 1:05.18
● 150 m: Douglass 1:39.20, Soni 1:40.00
● 200 m: Douglass 2:14.16, Soni 2:14.57
Australian Tara Kinder was a distant second in 2:19.21. Said Douglass:
“It was a surprise to come away with a new world record time; I never thought I would be capable of getting that. It’s a very exciting feeling, and I look forward to seeing how I improve in the 200 m breaststroke this year.”
She wasn’t done for the day, coming back for the final event of the day in the women’s 100 m Medley, winning – as she did in Shanghai – and bettering her time to 56.97, remaining no. 3 on the all-time list.
She was one of two double winners on the first day at Incheon, with Swiss Noe Ponti – who set the men’s 50 m Fly world record in China – taking the men’s 100 m Butterfly in 48.81, even after losing his goggles on the entry dive, and then coming on to tie Olympic hero Leon Marchand (FRA) at the touch in the 100 m Medley, in 51.00.
American star Regan Smith won the women’s 50 m Backstroke in 25.71, ahead of Canada’s Ingrid Wilm (26.09) and fellow American Beata Nelson (26.17), then returned about 10 minutes later for the 200 m Fly. She just missed the double, with Australia’s Bella Grant holding on for the 2:03.13 to 2:03.21 victory.
China’s Olympic 100 m Free champion Zhanle Pan surprised the field with a win in the men’s 400 m Free in 3:36.43, with Shanghai winner (and Tokyo Olympic silver winner) Duncan Scott (GBR) in 3:37.04, and American Kieran Smith third in 3:37.15.
Two other Shanghai winners repeated in Incheon, with Peter Coetze (RSA) taking the men’s 200 m Back in 1:50.05, and Poland’s Kasia Wasick winning the women’s 50 m Free in 23.51.
Douglass also won the 50 m Fly in Shanghai in a U.S. record of 24.54 and the 200 m Medley – in which she is a two-time long-course World Champion – and she’s already entered in the 50 Fly, so she’s not done in Incheon, with the meet continuing through Saturday.
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