2025 World Cup Stop 2 Wrap

FIVE RECORDS – two of them in world record time – has closed out a stunning 24 hours for our Dolphins as Kaylee McKeown (pictured) posted a short course record in the women’s 200m backstroke at the World Cup in Illinois (USA) today.

McKeown posted 1:57.87 just a day after teammate and good friend Mollie O’Callaghan broke the world record for the 200m free with the backstroker slicing 0.17 from the mark US swimmer Regan Smith set at the World Short Course Championships last year.

The 24-year-old from the Sunshine Coast now holds the long-course and short-course world record in the event. And in the 50m backstroke sprint, McKeown held off USA’s Gretchen Walsh to win in 25.63. Walsh touched in second at 25.65, followed by O’Callaghan in third (25.72).

Stop 2 of World Aquatics’ World Cup also saw O’Callaghan break new territory – her 200m free world record of 1:49.77 was the first time a woman has ever swum under the 1:50-minute mark in this event.

The 21-year-old shocked even herself with her cracking time that was more than two seconds quicker than the rest of the field. Fellow Dolphin Lani Pallister won silver in 1:52.06, USA’s Anna Peplowski won bronze (1:52.54).

Pallister kept the record-breaking party going with a World Cup record of 3:52.42 in the 400m freestyle and a Commonwealth record in the 1500m freestyle.

In the 1500m, Pallister shaved almost eight-seconds off her previous best clocking 15:13.83, the second-fastest women’s short course time in history behind the world record of 15:08.24 set by American Katie Ledecky in 2022 at Toronto, where next week’s concluding World Cup races will be contested.

And Alex Perkins joined the party with a Commonwealth record of 24.60 in the 50m fly. The butterflier won silver in the 50m and 100m butterfly events, plus a stunning second place in the 50m freestyle.

In the men’s 400m freestyle, Sam Short upgraded his silver at the first stop of the World Cup. His gold medal-winning time of 3:36.27 proved too quick for Americans Carson Foster (3:37.93) and Kieran Smith (3:38.79) who won silver and bronze respectively.

Adelaide’s Brittany Castelluzzo picked up her first medal of the three-stop world tour with a 200m butterfly bronze. Smith won the event in a World Cup record time of 2:00.20, followed by Ireland’s Ellen Walshe in second (2:04.38). Castelluzzo touched in at 2:05.43.

In total, 23 Australians contested the second stop held over three days and the Dolphins sit second on the medal tally with 16 medals (6 golds-7 silver-3 bronze) behind host nation, the United States (12-4-2).

The third and final stop of the World Cup starts October 23-25 in Toronto, Canada.

Find full results here | Find where to watch all the action here

Image credit: Mike Lewis / World Aquatics