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World Aquatics catches up with the top swimmers from the Singapore competition pool deck as the athletes get in their final preparations before the Singapore swing of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup gets underway on Friday.
The last stop of this year’s annual international swimming tour, USA’s Regan Smith leads her compatriot Kate Douglass by the slimmest of margins (118.4 to 118.3) with both bagging World Records on the first two legs of the Swimming World Cup. Siobhan Haughey (HKG) currently completes the podium with 109.2 points. On the men’s side, France’s Leon Marchand (116.4 points) leads Switzerland’s Noe Ponti (115 points), with last year’s men’s overall tour winner, Qin Haiyang of the People’s Republic of China, in third (112.6 points).
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To be honest, I’m not really too concerned about the overall rankings. I just wanted to come to this meet to travel a bit and practice racing and enjoy myself. I really like Singapore. I’ve been here a couple times, and I’ve really been enjoying racing over these past couple stops. So I’m just excited to try to finish it out strong. But I’m not taking it terribly seriously.
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I’m excited. I mean, I really like this city. We’ve had training camps here a couple of times, and it’s fun to be here and then hopefully I’ll come back here next summer. I also recognize that I’m not really taking this entire year very seriously. So if next summer doesn’t happen, that’s okay. It’s a great city to host sports competitions, so I think they’ll do a good job regardless.
I wasn’t expecting that record either, so I was very pleasantly surprised. But if I add four seconds on the 100 backstroke on Friday, or if I break another world record, I think I’m gonna feel the same way about it, just because that wasn’t really my intention. And I don’t want to, again, take things too seriously right now and put pressure on myself that’s unnecessary. So again, I’m just trying to enjoy the process. I’m gonna give it my best shot no matter what. But regardless of the outcome, I’ll be content.
The past two stops were pretty good. Shanghai was amazing, and in Incheon, I was able to almost complete my time. Now we’re in Singapore. It’s an amazing city, and the pool is very nice. Of course, I’m starting to feel a bit tired, but I think it’s going to be good. I can’t wait to start and also to finish.
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I’m enjoying racing against the guys. I think the nice thing about the World Cup is that we all move together. We always see each other, and there’s time to spend with the other guys. We do also some practice together. So it’s been really nice and very good experience so far.
When it comes to racing, of course, we don’t look each other in the eye, but otherwise, it’s just lots of fun. I’m really enjoying it.
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I’ll just try to confirm the times I had last week and the week before. I’ll aim to enjoy it and not put too much pressure on myself because anything can happen. You might not be in the best shape either. So, whether it’s really fast or whatever comes, I’m going to take it.
Of course, I think so. I heard the tickets are sold out, and there will be around 3,000 spectators. We’re already here in Singapore, and I know we’ll be back next year, so it’s a really nice experience. It’s great to get to know the city and the crowd. Next year’s World Championship will be a bit bigger and more important, too. I’m glad I can be here now and get to know the city.
It’s definitely been an exhausting few weeks but coming to Singapore, this is really exciting location and there’s just a lot to do. I definitely been enjoying the city. Last night, we had a nice dinner, got to see a view of the city. It was very cool. I loved it. So I feel like that’s kind of revived me at least a little bit just getting to a new location. I’m excited to race this weekend and for it to all be over.
I would definitely say the goal for kind of the spring of this year would be to focus my efforts on making the world championship team. I mean, you never know what’s going to happen with US trials because it’s always very competitive. But, yeah, my goal would be to be here next summer competing. I think that’d be a lot of fun.
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I definitely didn’t expect that record at all but I definitely think when it comes to short course meters, I don’t swim it a lot, and so I feel like every time I do get to swim a race, I figure out how to fix my walls and my stroke counts a little bit better, and it all just came together for that race. Now I think if I go into the race knowing I’m capable of that time and actually really gunning for a world record, it is possible I could go faster. I feel optimistic about that, but if I don’t, then it’s all just a learning process. and I’ll be ready to swim that again at the Short Course Worlds in a month.
It’s definitely a bit more tired than the previous two stops, but the whole tour has been so much fun, and it’s nice to be traveling with the same group of people. And like I said at the beginning of the tour, I’m not really expecting for any fast times. It’s more just to get some racing in and work on the race strategies. So I think it’ll be a good one here in Singapore. I know a lot of people from Hong Kong. They also are flying to Singapore to watch. So it’ll be a nice crowd.
I think in the past few years we have a bit more racing in Asia, but still, I think it’s rare to have big meets here. And I think with the success that Asian athletes have in the past few years, it’s nice that these meets are held in Asia and so the fans can come to watch. And I think it really means a lot to me, especially. I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to do World Cups right after Paris, because I wanted a break, but I knew it was in Asia, so I felt like, ‘I have to do it. You have to come back.’ And I don’t regret it. It’s been so much fun.
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I think my goal is just to have fun, enjoy racing, and I try to get better each stop. And hopefully here, there are some small details that I’ve been working on in the past, so hopefully I can execute it in the race, and we’ll see if I go faster or not. I am a little bit more tired, but just to have fun.
Definitely. And I think it’s nice to get used to the city. I’ve been to Singapore for holidays a few times, but I’ve never raced here, so this is my first time. And I think it’ll be a good rehearsal for World Championships next year.
Definitely I will focus on medley events and try to win as many gold medals as I can again. I will also have fun in 200m freestyle in the last day. My goal here is to keep repeating great races, so we will see. After this, I will go back to France and prepare for the Worlds.
Even though it’s not the same venue, it’s great to be here in Singapore as preparation for the World Championships next year. It will be really exciting.
🇫🇷 Leon Marchand going 2 for 2 in the 400m IM,🥇 Shanghai 🥇 Incheon ❓ Singapore for the triple crown 👑 #SWC2024 pic.twitter.com/WXx78E3GnG
A younger swimmer gave it to me. I think it’s really fun to change my cap because the regulations here are a bit more relaxed, so I can wear any cap I want in every race during the heats. I wore the Korean cap in Incheon, and I got one for tomorrow’s heat, so I’ll wear the Singaporean cap.
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