World Cup Shanghai, Day 2 Finals: Regan Smith, Kate Douglass Notch American Records; Leon Marchand Breaks Series Record
Five swimmers who won individual medals at the recent Paris Olympics were victorious during Saturday’s finals at the World Cup in Shanghai.
Among the standout performances, Leon Marchand earned his second medley victory in as many days as he closed in on Ryan Lochte’s 12-year-old world record in the 200-meter race. Marchand broke the European record in his win while Qin Haiyang recorded his second Asian record in breaststroke at the meet. Meanwhile, Americans Kate Douglass and Regan Smith each set domestic marks in their efforts, with Douglass lowering the 50 butterfly record by one hundredth and Smith tying the mark in the 100 backstroke.
Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey was the clear top performer in the opening event of the day, winning the lone heat of the 400 IM by almost 17 seconds. Harvey touched in 4:28.03, well ahead of Slovakia’s Nikoleta Trnikova (4:44.81), with Malaysia’s Rouxin Tan (4:55.27) another 10 seconds back.
The top time here belonged to American Charlie Clark, who built up a lead on Australian Benjamin Goedemans and Estonia’s Kregor Zirk beginning with the opening stages of the race. Clark ended up winning by almost eight seconds in 14:40.57, with Goedemans second (14:48.46) and Zirk third (14:54.47).
Australia’s Isaac Cooper has become one of the world’s premier 50 backstrokers in recent years, and the talented 20-year-old swam away from one of the most experienced and successful swimmers in the stroke over the last decade.
Cooper won the 50 back by two tenths in 22.75 while fellow up-and-comer Pieter Coetze closed well to take second in 22.95, with China’s Xu Jiayu, a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 100 back, taking third in 22.98.
The world-record holder in the event finished just over a second off her own top mark, but Siobhan Haughey had to put in extra work here when Poland’s Kasia Wasick, a veteran sprinter who has won World Championship medals in the 50 free, showed some of her signature speed on the front end. Wasick led Haughey by almost a half-second after 50 meters, but Haughey quickly made up the deficit and pulled away.
Haughey, fresh off winning medals in both the 100 and 200 free for the second consecutive Olympics, touched in 1:51.46 to win the event by almost two seconds. Mary-Sophie Harvey, back in the pool after racing the 400 IM, came in second at 1:53.36 while China’s Kong Yaqi took third in 1:55.21, with Wasick fading back to fourth (1:58.91).
He will surely make a bid for Ryan Lochte’s world record of 1:49.63 later on in the World Cup circuit or at December’s Short Course World Championships, but Leon Marchand started out with a World Cup record in the 200 IM, his final time of 1:50.30 taking seven hundredths off the mark set by American Shaine Casas (1:50.37) two years ago in Toronto. He also took down the European record of 1:50.85 set by Greece’s Andreas Vazaios five years ago.
Marchand did not lead wire-to-wire here, with Switzerland’s Noe Ponti dominating the Frenchman on Ponti’s signature butterfly, but Marchand crushed the field over the middle portion of the race. Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, who has won silver in the event at the last two Olympics, actually closed on Marchand on the freestyle as he placed second in 1:51.08, with Ponti taking third in 1:51.78. Wang Shun, the 2021 Olympic champion and bronze medalist this year, came in fourth at 1:52.40.
With Kaylee McKeown making the decision to end her World Cup series after a lone victory in the 50 back Friday, Regan Smith had a clear path to victory in the 100 back. She indeed won the event by 1.37 seconds, and in the process, she tied the American record in the event at 54.89. That equaled the time recorded by Gretchen Walsh Friday at Virginia’s dual meet against Florida. Smith, Walsh and Minna Atherton now sit in a three-way tie for second all-time in the event, with only McKeown quicker at 54.56.
The Americans finished 1-2 here, with short course specialist Beata Nelson clocking 56.26 for second place while Canada’s Ingrid Wilm placed third in 56.64.
China’s Qin Haiyang won his second breaststroke event in as many days, but just like in Friday’s 100 breast, this one took some extra effort as he had to fend off Ilya Shymanovich, a native of Belarus competing as a neutral. Qin clocked 25.38, 13-hundredths clear of Shymanovich’s 25.51. China’s Sun Jiajun came in third at 25.79.
Qin moved into a tie with Shymanovich for fourth all-time in the event, with only Emre Sakci, Cameron van der Burgh and Nic Fink ahead of them, and he also broke the Asian record, which previously belonged to Sun at 25.72, set last month.
Kate Douglass set the American record in the 100 IM Friday, only for that mark to be quickly rendered obsolete as University of Virginia teammate Gretchen Walsh clobbered the world record. Douglass returned for another record shot Saturday, this time beating Chinese hometown favorite Zhang Yufei by a half-second while earning her own domestic mark by one hundredth.
Douglass recorded a time of 24.54, clipping the American record of 24.55 set by Claire Curzan (now another teammate at Virginia) in 2022. Douglass also surpassed Curzan for fourth all-time in the event, trailing Therese Alshammar, Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Sarah Sjostrom. China’s Zhang Yufei, a medalist in the 100 fly at the last two Olympics, took second in 24.94, followed by a third-place tie including China’s Yu Yiting and Australia’s Lily Price at 25.07.
A favorite of the home nation was upset in the 100 free as Pan Zhanle, the Olympic champion and world-record-setter in Paris, could not get the better of Italy’s Thomas Ceccon down the stretch. Ceccon is better known as a backstroker (he is the 100 back Olympic champion and world-record holder), and he has also won a world title in the 50 fly, but he is also a valuable member of Italy’s 400 free relay squad.
Ceccon, swimming in lane eight, held off Pan by three hundredths down the stretch, 46.32 to 46.35. South Africa’s Pieter Coetze finished among the to-three swimmers for the second time Saturday as he was third in 46.59.
The final women’s race of the day featured a world-record scare, with China’s Tang Qianting taking a serious shot at a mark untouched for a decade, the 1:02.36 shared between Ruta Meilutyte (2013) and Alia Atkinson (2014). Tang came up just 17-hundredths short, leaving her with two months of racing opportunities to make up the deficit.
Tang dominated the Shanghai field by more than two seconds as she clocked 1:02.53, knocking a half-second off her previous best time of 1:03.15. She now ranks behind only Meilutyte, Atkinson and Lilly King all-time in the event. Neutral athlete Alina Zmushka took second (1:04.48), with South Africa’s Rebecca Meder third (1:05.25). Benedetta Pilato, the Italian who won the 2022 long course world title in the event, placed fifth in 1:05.50.
Trenton Julian’s signature fly-and-die strategy paid off here as he kept a surging Chad le Clos at bay down the stretch. Julian, representing the United States, opened up a lead on the third 50 ahead of Great Britain’s James Guy, but le Clos, the 32-year-old who won Olympic gold in the event at the 2012 Olympics, made it a race down the stretch with his 13.84-second closing length. Eventually, le Clos ran out of room, with Julian touching first in 1:51.24, with le Clos second (1:51.46) and Italy’s Alberto Razzetti third (1:51.88) while Guy faded to fourth (1:53.86).
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