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Regan Smith of the USA had the top swim of the day on Saturday night in Shanghai as she tied the American record in the 100m backstroke (54.89) also set last night by Gretchen Walsh competing in the USA.
The swim puts Smith tied for second all-time with Walsh and Australia’s Minna Atherton.
Smith won by over a second over fellow American Beata Nelson (56.26) as she broke the old World Cup record set in 2009 by Shiho Sakai at 55.23.
“It was a good swim,” Smith said. “That was about what I thought I could be tonight. I am glad that I executed a good race. I didn’t want to think about world records or any record, it’s so early in the season. I am just trying to race the clock.
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France’s Leon Marchand won the 200m IM final in one of the most highly-anticipated races of the meet. The entire Paris podium reunited in the race, with Marchand setting a World Cup record at 1:50.30, beating Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (1:51.08) and China’s Wang Shun (1:52.40). Marchand beat Shaine Casas’ 1:50.37 World Cup record from 2022 as he moved up to third all-time. This is Marchand’s second win of the weekend.
“I am really happy with this time,” Marchand said. “I didn’t know that I was going to be that fast today. I really didn’t sleep well last night. So this morning was a little tough. I took a big nap and I was ready for tonight.
Wang, who finished fourth and off the podium behind Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (1:51.78) after winning bronze in Paris, wasn’t disappointed with his swim.
“There hasn’t been much recovery time since the Olympics, and my targeted result for this competition was similar to what I wanted,” Wang said. “Therefore, I’m quite happy with today’s result, although it’s a pity I didn’t make it to the podium. A time of 1:52.40 seconds is actually much faster than this morning. I have been training for this event for a long time, and my technique has been honed extensively, so I got some new experience. Moving forward, I need to identify areas for adjustment and improvement. I will review the details once I return.”
The third World Cup record of the day went the way of Australia’s Isaac Cooper from this morning’s heats in the 50m backstroke as he swam 22.58 in the heats and won the final at 22.75.
“I think this morning’s prelim was a pretty good race,” Cooper said. I knew that I would have to do something special if I wanted to beat that time. I think I was a little bit deep on my dive, and the same with my turn. I probably didn’t nail the kicks as well as I would have liked to do. There is always room for improvement. The best thing is that I get to race this event again next week and the week after that, so I have more chances to improve.”
In front of a packed crowd, Qin Haiyang won the 50m breaststroke at 25.38, tying himself for fifth of all-time, as last year’s World Cup overall winner beat Ilya Shymanovich (25.51) for the second time this weekend.
“I was aiming for breaking the World Cup Record and was really close,” Qin said, who just missed Cameron van der Burgh’s record of 25.25 from 2009. “I hope that I can achieve that for the following events. Because of the busy and tight schedule, I didn’t really have time to enjoy myself after the Paris Olympics. I hope I can take some time off to relax after all the competition is over.”
The time is an Asian record for Qin as he beat Sun Jiajun’s 25.72 from last month. Sun finished third in this race in Shanghai with a time of 25.79.
China’s Tang Qianting also came close to the 100m breaststroke world record as she won the final at 1:02.53, improving her own Asian record to sit fourth of all-time.
Tang excited the home crowd, winning by nearly two full seconds over Alina Zmushka (1:04.48).
Tang said. “Their enthusiasm means a lot to me, so I’m really happy. Competing in this venue brought back the familiar feeling from my earlier days.”
Italy’s Thomas Ceccon scored a big upset over China’s Pan Zhanle in the 100m freestyle final as Ceccon won from lane eight over the Olympic champion 46.32 to Pan’s 46.35.
Ceccon won a swim-off to get to the final this morning over Liu Wudi, as Ceccon collected his first win of the World Cup.
“I am feeling better swimming the freestyle rather than the individual medley,” Ceccon said. “I am feeling good with the freestyle. I have a great feel for the water. I swam in lane 8, and in this kind of race, it’s the best lane. You get a chance to swim your race and be ready for the finish.”
Pan, who won the Olympic gold medal this summer and set the long course world record, wasn’t disappointed with the swim.
“I don’t think it’s regretful at all,” Pan said. “No one is perfect, and it’s impossible to win every competition. Achieving such a result in this event is something I am very satisfied with.”
Fellow Olympic champion Kate Douglass won the 50m butterfly final at 24.54, setting the American record in the process as she beat China’s Zhang Yufei (24.94) to the wall.
“I am really happy with that time,” Douglass said. “I am very happy with that, I didn’t know what to expect in the 50 fly. I have always loved this race. To race at this level is exciting. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the rest of the field. I focused on sprinting my own race. There are a lot of things I could tweak, for example my stroke counts are a little off compared to short course yards. So there’s a lot of things that I am sure I can fix. I am very excited to keep getting better.”
In her first race of the 2024 World Cup series, Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China, won the 200m freestyle at 1:51.46 as the world record holder swam the 23rd fastest time of all-time.
“I haven’t done a 200 free short course in the past two years,” Haughey said. “I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. I haven’t been training much since Paris. I really wasn’t expecting much so anything was good for me. Hopefully I will get faster throughout the stops.”
Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey won the 400m IM at 4:28.03.
Trenton Julian and Charlie Clark also collected wins while representing the United States as Julian won the 200m butterfly (1:51.24) and Clark won the 1500m freestyle (14:40.57).
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