World Cup Carmel – Day Two Finals: Hubert Kos Adds Another Title, This Time in 50 Backstroke (Live Recap)
Some of the biggest names in the sport will be in action on the second night of the World Cup stop in Carmel, Indiana. Four-time Olympic champion Leon Marchand will contest the 200-meter individual medley, where he’ll battle American Shaine Casas, while the women’s 100 backstroke will feature the lastest showdown between Australian Kaylee McKeown and the United States’ Regan Smith.
Coming off a victory in the 100 individual medley on the opening night of the meet, American Gretchen Walsh is expected to make a run at her world record in the 50 butterfly. During the morning prelims, Walsh was just .19 off the standard, which she established at last year’s World Short Course Championships in Budapest.
Here is an event-by-event recap of the Day Two finals:
Women’s 400 Individual Medley
Great Britain’s Abbie Wood took command of the 400 medley by the midway point and rode that advantage to a victory, behind a performance of 4:27.14. The event was missing world-record holder Summer McIntosh, who withdrew from the meet due to illness earlier in the week, and Wood stepped through the opening offered by McIntosh’s absence.
Wood was second after the opening butterfly leg, trailing only Aussie Ella Ramsay. But a strong backstroke effort lifted Wood into the lead and there she remained. Ireland’s Ella Walshe picked up second place with a swim of 4:28.47 while Ramsay ended up third in 4:30.25.
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Aussie Sam Short made his visit to the United States a worthwhile won as he cruised to victory in the 1500 freestyle. Short surged into the lead right from the start and posted a time of 14:30.00, which was more than 11 seconds clear of Carson Foster, who was the runnerup in 14:41.33. The finish was a reversal of the previous night, when Foster defeated Short in the 400 freestyle.
Men’s 50 Backstroke
After tying for the top seed during prelims, Hungarian Hubert Kos significantly picked up the pace at night and walked away with a first-place finish in 22.65. Kos was .27 faster in the final and complemented his Friday victory in the 200 backstroke. The University of Texas standout will go for the backstroke sweep when the 100 distance is contested on Sunday.
Estonian Ralf Tribuntsov was the only other swimmer to go under 23 seconds, as he touched the wall in 22.91. Taking third place was Dylan Carter of Trinidad & Tobago. Carter shared the top seed with Kos, but was slightly slower at night in 23.00.
Women’s 200 Freestyle
Mollie O’Callaghan packaged a wire-to-wire victory in the 200 freestyle, setting an Australia record of 1:50.77 in the process. O’Callaghan’s time, which is the sixth-fastest in history, took down the 2018 Aussie record of Ariarne Titmus, who owned the record at 1:51.38. O’Callaghan took the lead from the start and went through the midway point of the race in 54.19.
Lani Pallister, coming off a victory in the 400 freestyle from the opening night of the meet, made it a one-two showing for the Australians. Pallister touched in a time of 1:52.41, which was ahead of the 1:53.08 by American Anna Peplowski for third place.
Men’s 200 Individual Medley
In a flip-flop of the outcome at last summer’s World Championships in Singapore, the United States’ Shaine Casas set an American record en route to victory in the 200 individual medley. Casas led from start to finish and touched the wall in 1:49.43, which was .30 quicker than Frenchman Leon Marchand, the world-record holder in the event. Marchand went 1:49.73, a little less than a second off his global standard of 1:48.88.
Casas broke the American record he set at last year’s World Short Course Championships, when he delivered a performance of 1:49.51.
