World Cup Carmel – Day Two Finals: Regan Smith is Golden in 100 Backstroke; Mollie O’Callaghan Sets Aussie Record
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.
Women’s 100 Backstroke
Following up on her triumph in the 200 butterfly from Night One, Regan Smith emerged victorius in her latest duel with Australian rival Kaylee McKeown. After trailing McKeown through the first lap, Smith pulled ahead by the midway point and stayed in front to the finish, winning in 54.92. McKeown was next in 55.05, with Bella Sims going 55.25 for third place.
McKeown and Smith have been the undisputed backstroke queens for several years, with McKeown claiming Olympic and world titles in the 100 and 200 distances over the past two years. Smith was the silver medalist in all four of those races.
Men’s 50 Breaststroke
There wasn’t much separating the top three finishers in the 50 breaststroke, which was won by South African Chris Smith in 25.75. Smith was third at the turn, but had the second-fastest homecoming split to narrowly prevail. Second place went to Dutchman Caspar Corbeau, who also rallied in the back half of the race and moved up from a tie for fourth. Corbeau touched in 25.78, which was .01 quicker than the 25.79 of Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich.
Women’s 50 Butterfly
Gretchen Walsh shredded her world record in the 50 butterfly with a time of 23.72, which cut .22 off the standard she set at last year’s World Short Course Championships in Budapest. Walsh obliterated the field, winning by nearly a second over the 50-meter event, an almost unheard of margin at the elite international level. Aussie Alexandria Perkins was second in 24.64.
Men’s 100 Freestyle
The United States’ Jack Alexy backed up his No. 1 seed with a comfortable decision in the final, going 45.32 for the victory. Alexy trailed countryman Chris Guiliano (46.00) at the halfway point, but the Cal product had too much over the last two laps. Alexy split 23.51 for the back half of his race, compared to the 24.33 of Guiliano, who held off Kaii Winkler (46.11) for second place.
Women’s 100 Breaststroke
American Kate Douglass turned to her breaststroke endurance to win the 100-meter distance of the stroke. Douglass covered her four laps in 1:02.90 to defeat Estonia’s Eneli Efimova (1:03.35) and Germany’s Anna Elendt (1:03.83). Douglass was in third place at the 25-meter mark and sat in second at the halfway mark, but she pulled into the lead at the 75-meter turn and came home with the fastest closing split.
Men’s 200 Butterfly
The runnerup in the 100 butterfly on Night One, Canadian Ilya Kharun bumped up a place at twice the distance. Kharun, the Arizona State standout, registered a swim of 1:50.65 to finish ahead of American Gabriel Jett, who was second in 1:51.01. After leading for the first 125 meters, Kharun dropped to second place at the 150 and 175, but he came home in 14.18 to catch Jett, who closed in 14.66.
