2024 Swimming World Cup Wrap: Stop One Done!

OLYMPIANS Kaylee McKeown, Isaac Cooper and Josh Yong all claimed gold at the first leg of the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Shanghai, China.

An exhausted McKeown pulled out of the remaining two legs of the World Cup Series but not without closing off an historic year with another record and two more medals added to her name.

McKeown broke the Oceanian, Australian and World Cup Record in the women’s 50m backstroke final, touching in first at 25.36, just 11 one-hundredths shy of the world record.

Less than a month earlier, the backstroke queen set a World Record at the Australian Short Course Championships in Adelaide when she clocked 54.56 in the 100m backstroke event.

In McKeown’s final event in Shanghai, she won bronze in the 100m medley (57.76) behind USA’s Kate Douglass (56.99) and China’s Yiting Yu (57.51).

On Saturday morning (October 19), Cooper set a World Cup record in the heats of the men’s 50m backstroke (22.58), beating American Peter Marshall’s old mark of 22.61 set in 2009.

Later that evening, the two-time Olympian topped the podium in the 50m backstroke final with a time of 22.75. South Africa’s Pieter Cotze and China’s Jiayu Xu were just behind the Australian, clocking times of 22.95 and 22.98 respectively.

Meanwhile, Western Australia’s Yong won gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke (2:01.67) ahead of French Olympic champion Leon Marchand who placed fourth (2:02.99) and fellow Aussie Joshua Chu Collett who touched in seventh (2:05.23).

Newly minted Dolphin Milla Jansen secured bronze medals in the women’s 50m freestyle (24.19secs) and the 100m freestyle (52.43secs).

Jansen will make her Dolphins debut in Budapest in December at the World Short Course Championships, alongside eight other rookies, including Ed Sommerville, Lily Price and Enoch Robb (pictured), all of who enjoyed a strong start to their World Cup campaign.

Sommerville secured silver in the men’s 200m freestyle (1:42.14) behind Great Britain’s eight-time Olympic medallist, Duncan Scott (1:40.92).

In the women’s 50m butterfly, Price tied third with Yu in a rare occurrence that saw both swimmers clock identical times of 25.07 in the final.

Robb took out the bronze in the men’s 200m backstroke with a time of 1:51.44 ahead of fellow countryman Noah Millard who placed fifth.

For full results see here.

The second leg of the World Cup swimming series will be held in Incheon, South Korea from October 24-26.

Image Credit: World Aquatics