World Cup Westmont — Day One Finals: Australia Picks Up Three Victories to Begin Meet
Swimmers from Down Under put up big performances to open the middle stop of the World Cup circuit in Westmont, Ill., with Lani Pallister and Sam Short opening the session with wins in their respective 400 freestyle finals before Kaylee McKeown came through for her second consecutive victory in the 50 backstroke. Pallister opened the session in sensational form as she lowered her own Australian and World Cup records in the 400 free.
Later in the session, Hubert Kos would continue his dominance of the men’s 200 backstroke while Regan Smith clipped her own American and World Cup records in the women’s 200 butterfly. Further winners in the session included Noè Ponti, Kate Douglass, Ilya Shymanovich, Kasia Wasick and Ilya Kharun before Americans Gretchen Walsh and Shaine Casas blasted sizzling performances in the 100 IM to wrap up the night.
Women’s 400 Freestyle
Two weeks, two dominant wins for Lani Pallister in the women’s 400 free. One week after she pulled away to win by four seconds at the Carmel stop, Pallister jumped on the pace even earlier against a similar field in Westmont and emerged with a record-setting swim. Pallister arrived for this year’s American swing of World Cup meets already the third-fastest performer in history, having gone 3:53.73 for Short Course Worlds silver last year, but Pallister now sits at No. 2.
The 23-year-old Australian motored to a time of 3:52.42, a whopping 1.31 seconds quicker than her previous best time from last December’s global meet. Only Summer McIntosh has ever been faster with the time of 3:50.25 she swam last December. Pallister was two seconds away from that but still under the World Cup record of 3:52.80 that McIntosh swam in Toronto in 2022, and she jumped ahead of Katie Ledecky (3:52.88) in the all-time rankings.
Placing second here was New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, who pulled into second place with a time of 3:57.99. Fairweather was almost a second quicker than she swam last week in Carmel. Bella Sims was the top American and the final swimmer under 4:00 as she came in at 3:58.29 for third.
Men’s 400 Freestyle
Australia’s Sam Short returned to the apex of the world rankings in mid-distance freestyle this year as he grabbed silver in the 400 free at the World Championships, missing out on gold by just two hundredths. Short also dealt with a tough loss in the event last week, albeit in less consequential circumstances, as he fell to second place in the event at the opening stop of the World Cup. At that competition, American Carson Foster had too much closing speed for Short to handle in a race where the top-four swimmers were separated by less than a second.
Different story in Westmont as Short blasted ahead of the field and did not let Foster close the gap down the stretch. Short clocked 3:36.27, more than one-and-a-half seconds clear of the field. Foster placed second in 3:37.93, just a tick behind his Carmel time, while American Kieran Smith placed third in 3:38.79. Luke Hobson, the short course world-record holder in the 200 free, put up a time of 3:38.90 in the early heats that ranked fourth overall.
Women’s 50 Backstroke
The Australian visitors started off the session three-for-three with victories as Kaylee McKeown won the 50 back for the second consecutive meet, overcoming an exceptionally tight field where only 0.13 separated the top-four finishers. The gap at the top was even tighter as McKeown overcame a challenge from Gretchen Walsh. The star sprinter rarely competes in backstroke, at least in long course, but her incredible underwater dolphin kickouts made Walsh the fastest swimmer ever in the 100-yard back, and she once held the American record in the short course 50-meter race.
Australian swimmers flipped 1-2 at the halfway point in this final, with Mollie O’Callaghan under world-record pace and McKeown in second, but Walsh blasted ahead off the wall. At the end, though, McKeown battled back to finish in 25.63, just clear of Walsh’s 25.65. O’Callaghan was a further seven hundredths behind in 25.72, followed closely by American Katharine Berkoff (25.76). Kylie Masse, the Canadian who also has world titles to her credit, took fifth (25.89).
Men’s 200 Backstroke
Nowadays, no one is ever a match for Hubert Kos in the 200 backstroke. Leon Marchand, the individual medley maestro who trains alongside Marchand at the University of Texas, actually led Kos in the early stages of last week’s final in Carmel, but Marchand was one-and-done for the World Cup circuit. That gave the Hungarian the opportunity to cruise to his second consecutive win in this event, even without threatening his European-record time of 1:45.65.
Kos pulled into the wall in 1:47.51, a bit down on the 1:46.84 he notched last week. Kos won by 1.25 seconds here over Thomas Ceccon, the Italian swimmer who is the Olympic champion and long course world-record holder in the 100. Ceccon actually made up ground on Kos in the final stages of the race, and he managed a time of 1:48.76 for second place. Alexandre Desangeles, a French swimmer who training at the University of Arizona, placed third in 1:51.17, just four hundredths clear of Australia’s Joshua Edwards-Smith.
Men’s 100 Butterfly
Switzerland’s Noè Ponti was undefeated in the sprint butterfly events on the World Cup circuit last fall, and he is halfway to going undefeated again in 2025. The Westmont race unfolded nearly the same as last week’s final in Carmel as he edged out Canadian Ilya Kharun by a half-second. Ponti was out in 22.76, two hundredths clear of Kharun, before pulling away down the stretch to swim a time of 48.47. That time was merely seven hundredths slower than his World Cup record of 48.40. Ponti’s world record from last December stands at 47.71.
Kharun picked up second place here in 49.00 while fellow Canadian Josh Liendo came in just behind at 49.56. No one else got under 50 seconds here, with Finn Brooks (50.06) and Simone Stefani (50.08) the best of the rest.
Women’s 200 Breaststroke
There is never any doubt when it comes to Kate Douglass in the 200 breaststroke. In the last 15 months, Douglass has won Olympic gold plus world titles in long course and short course in this event, and she clobbered the world record in the 25-meter format last fall. Last week in Carmel, Douglass became the first woman to ever clock a time in the 2:13-range, having previously skipped straight from 2:14 to 2:12, and here she cruised to a wire-to-wire, four-second triumph.
Douglass recorded a time of 2:14.57 on the way to her fifth 200 breast victory over the past two World Cup seasons. The time actually matched the time that had been the world record set prior to Douglass’ emergence, which was held by former U.S. star Rebecca Soni. Second place here went to Alex Walsh, a training partner of Douglass at the University of Virginia. Walsh clocked 2:18.54, while South Africa’s Rebecca Meder came in third at 2:18.88.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Men’s 50 Freestyle
Women’s 100 IM
Men’s 100 IM
