Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown made a remarkable start to Australia’s swimming era following Ariarne Titmus’s retirement by breaking short course world records at the World Cup competition in Westmont, Illinois. O’Callaghan, the Olympic 200-meter freestyle champion, set a new record of 1:49.77 in the same event on Saturday, surpassing the previous mark held by Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong. McKeown then triumphed in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.87 on Sunday, outperforming her rival Regan Smith’s previous record.
McKeown’s victory in the 200 backstroke marked a turnaround from Smith’s win in the 100 backstroke the day before, where Smith equaled her own world record. In a departure from her usual strategy of trailing Smith before overtaking her, McKeown took the lead early and maintained it until the end. The 24-year-old expressed her satisfaction with the performance and acknowledged Smith’s role in pushing her to excel.
Notably, McKeown holds both the short and long course world records in the 200 backstroke, while Smith has achieved the same feat in the 100 backstroke. These outstanding achievements by the Australian swimmers followed Ariarne Titmus’s unexpected retirement from competitive swimming at the age of 25.
Meanwhile, Kate Douglass of the United States set a new world record of 50.19 in the 100 freestyle, breaking Cate Campbell’s previous record from 2017. Douglass, who already holds world records in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke, expressed her excitement at adding the freestyle record to her accolades.
The upcoming third and final meet of the World Cup series is scheduled to commence in Toronto this Thursday.
