★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ WORLD CUP CARMEL ≡
Of course there was a world (short-course) record at the World Aquatics World Cup I in Carmel, Indiana, coming from the superstar of the 2024 World Short-Course Championships, American sprinter Gretchen Walsh.
She won three events, the 50 and 100 m Butterfly and 100 m Medley events, breaking her own world mark in the 50 m Fly, winning in 23.72, faster than her 23.94 last year and winning by almost a second over Alex Perkins (AUS: 24.64).
She did beat Perkins by more than a second in the 100 Fly, 53.69 to 54.93 and then swam the no, 3 performance in history to take the 100 m Medley in 55.91, ahead of teammate Kate Douglass.
That was Douglass’ only loss in four events, as she took home three individual wins, in the 100 m Free (50.83), 100 m Breaststroke (1:02.90) and 200 Breast – in which she is Olympic and World Champion – in 2:13.97, winning by almost four seconds!
Australia’s four-time Olympic Backstroke champion Kaylee McKeown renewed her rivalry with American star Regan Smith, the two-time World Champion, with Smith winning the 100 m Back, 54.92 to 55.05. That was Smith’s first win over McKeown since the 2019 World Championships 200 m Back final. But McKeown got to the touch first in the 200 Back in 1:58.86 with Smith second in 2:00.06. McKeown also won the 50 m Back over Freestyle teammate Mollie O’Callaghan, 25.42 to 25.80, in which Smith did not swim.
Smith was busy elsewhere, continuing her surge as a Fly star, taking the 200 m Fly in an American Record 2:00.28, moving to no. 3 on the all-time list! American Alex Shackell was second in 2:02.51. Smith won the Olympic silver in 2024 and Worlds silver in 2025 in this event.
Australian distance ace Lani Pallister won the 400 m Free in 3:54.38 and the 800 m Free in 8:02.02 to go with a second to Olympic 200 m Free champ O’Callaghan in the 200 Free.
American Alex Walsh – Gretchen’s older sister and the 2022 World 200 m Medley World Champion – won the 200 m Medley in 2:04.78 ahead of Britain’s Abbie Wood (2:05.14). Wood won the 400 m Medley in 4:27.15.
¶
What about the men? There was an American Record there too, from Shaine Casas, the 200 m Medley Worlds runner-up in 2025, who won the 200 m Medley here in 1:49.43, smashing his own 1:49.51 mark from 2024 and beating French Olympic hero – and training partner – Leon Marchand (FRA: 1:49.73).
Casas stayed hot, winning the 100 m Medley, 50.86 to 51.13, over 2024 World (short course) champ Noe Ponti (SUI). Ponti won the 100 m Fly over Canadian Ilya Kharun, 48.53 to 49.82, but Kharun won the 50 m Fly over Ponti, 21.86 to 21.90 and also won the 200 m Fly in 1:50.65.
The men’s star was Hungary’s Paris 2024 200 m Backstroke winner Hubert Kos, who swept the Backstroke events. He won the 50 m Back in 22.65, the 100 m Back in 49.08 and beat Marchand and Casas in the 200 m Back, 1:46.84 to 1:47.68 and 1:49.81.
Carson Foster, the two-time Worlds runner-up in the 400 m Medley, won that event in 3:59.58 and also took the 400 m Free in 3:37.80, ahead of Australian star Sam Short (3:38.15), with Marchand third (3:38.25). Short won the 1,500 m Free in 14:30.00, with Foster second (14:41.33).
Caspar Corbeau (NED) doubled in the 100-200 m Breast events in 56.67 and 2:01.63, beating Marchand in the 200 (2:02.00). Corbeau was second to South Africa’s Chris Smith in the 50 m Breast, 25.75 to 25.78.
In the sprints, U.S. stars Chris Guiliano and Jack Alexy traded wins, with Guiliano taking the 50 m Free in 20.83 to 20.88 and Alexy winning the 100 m Free, 45.32 to 46.00. World 200 m Free champ Luke Hobson of the U.S. won the 200 m Free in 1:41.19 to 1:41.58 for Guiliano.
(Yes, you read right: Marchand won three silvers and a bronze. That was it, this time.)
The three-meet World Cup series – all short-course – continues at Westmont, Illinois from 17-19 October and finishes the week after in Toronto (CAN).
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 850-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!