A World Cup record and two Asian records fell at the Aquatic Palace on the opening night of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2026 in Baku, the first stop of the Silk Road Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, the long-course world record holder in the 50m freestyle, produced the swim of the night. Competing in his first short course race for several years, the reigning Olympic champion won a thrilling race in 20.22, lowering the World Cup record of 20.31 set by Josh Liendo of Canada last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was good. 11 years since my personal best, so I think I’m due for one,\u201d McEvoy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c20.2 \u2013 I\u2019m relatively close to that sub-20 which would be really nice, so it’s a good start to the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McEvoy was pushed hard throughout the race by Russia’s Egor Kornev, who had to settle for silver in 20.26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Netherlands’ Sean Niewold took bronze in 20.82.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRacing Cam, racing Egor, it’s an honour to be honest, so getting on the podium with them is great,\u201d Niewold said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Women’s 50m Freestyle, Poland’s Katarzyna Wasick, the Triple Crown winner in the event at last year’s World Cup, stormed to gold in 23.40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She held off Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, who clocked 23.48 for an Asian record. Canada’s Taylor Ruck took bronze in 23.75.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am really happy. I wanted to win, so to start the World Cup like that I can’t complain,\u201d Wasick said. \u201cI’m really happy and I hope I can improve from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haughey admitted she was not sure what to expect coming off the back of the Asian Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just had Asian Games a few days ago, so I’m actually quite tired with that, but so far it’s going well,\u201d she said. \u201cI also haven’t swam short course in nearly two years, so we’re off to a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another Asian record on day one came courtesy of China’s Yu Yiting, who won bronze in the Women’s 100m Individual Medley in 56.99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The race produced one of the tightest finishes of the night, with Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands triumphing in 56.83 and Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk 0.01 behind in 56.84.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cReally happy. It was so close, but happy to get out with the win,\u201d Steenbergen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I still need to get better, but really happy with the time \u2013 it’s only a couple of tenths above my PB.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yu said: \u201cI’m very happy to come to Baku and swim a new Asian record, I’m very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Steenbergen had already won the Women’s 50m Backstroke in 25.75, finishing clear of Russia’s Mariia Osetrova (26.59) and Vanotterdijk (26.60).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA bit messy, but I think it’s a good starting point for the 50 Back, so I think if I can improve on that I can go a little faster, and curious to see where I can go!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Men’s 100m Individual Medley (IM) produced an exciting finish, as Luke Barr snatched the win in 51.57, just ahead of fellow American Shaine Casas (51.58). South Africa’s Pieter Coetze placed third in 51.60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barr had also swum the 100m Breaststroke earlier in the session, narrowly missing out on a medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just wanted to survive that after the 100 Breast. I had a good swim, finished fourth, got out-touched a little bit so I just wanted a little bit more. Maybe the luck turned my way a little bit more on the 100m IM,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reflecting on a difficult few months leading into the competition, Casas said, \u201cI told myself in this year’s World Cup to not really bring in any expectation compared to the past. I’ve got to start somewhere. I think tonight was solid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coetze, racing his second final of the night, said: \u201cI haven’t done IM forever, so just wanted to see what I could do. As most people do, I do a little bit of breaststroke here and there in training, and a little bit of Fly and Free, but had no idea what to expect and that\u2019s a very solid time, so I\u2019ll take that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had already won the Men’s 200m Backstroke in 1:49.84, after a quieter heats swim, with Canada’s Blake Tierney (1:50.74) and Russia’s Dmitrii Savenko (1:51.10) taking silver and bronze respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI took a long time off after the Commonwealths, and the last time I raced short course was about two years ago. I’m glad I could start off with a win,\u201d Coetze said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great Britain’s Freya Colbert won her first Swimming World Cup gold, claiming the Women’s 400m Freestyle in 3:59.91, with Anna Peplowski taking silver in 4:00.47 and China’s Yan Tiaoshan third in 4:00.70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colbert said she had been thinking of Australia’s Lani Pallister, the Triple Crown winner in this event on last year\u2019s Swimming World Cup, midway through the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI got to about 100m or 150m and was like if I can actually do it I’ll feel like Lani. They did chase me down at the end, I was expecting it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peplowski said: \u201cI feel like I paced it really well. I don’t do short-course much, so any chance I get to race it is always a new learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, American Carson Foster claimed a dominant victory in 3:36.07, with Belgium’s Lucas Henveaux taking silver in 3:37.44, and He Yubo bronze in 3:40.99.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a hard race to start with, first time I’ve even put a technical suit on since mid-August, so overall really happy with it. Hopefully they’re going to get a lot easier!\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia’s Kirill Prigoda won a gripping Men’s 100m Breaststroke final in 56.08, holding off Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands, who took silver in 56.33. China’s reigning world champion Qin Haiyang was third in 56.37.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is a first step. We have two more hard weeks,\u201d Prigoda said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy but I am ready to train. Thank you to the boys. It was a great time, a great final. I don\u2019t think we made a sensation, but the race was good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Women’s 200m Breaststroke, Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova won in 2:17.20, ahead of Ireland’s Mona McSharry (2:18.45) and Vitalina Simonova (2:21.21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause it’s the first stop of the World Cup, right now, 200 on the first day it’s a little bit hard for me, but I think I am doing well and this is a good sign,\u201d Chikunova said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China’s Chang Mohan won the Women’s 200m Butterfly in 2:04.15, with the 15-year-old beating Ireland’s Ellen Walshe who placed second in 2:05.58, and China\u2019s Zhou Xinyang who was third in 2:05.65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a little worrying not doing the heats this morning just because especially for the 200 it\u2019s nice to have a \u2018feeler\u2019 with a bit less pressure. But to rise to the occasion, I\u2019m really happy with that as a season-opening swim. It\u2019s close to my PB, so I\u2019m happy with it,\u201d Walshe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the Men’s 100m butterfly, China’s Chen Juner took gold in 49.70, ahead of Japan’s So Ogata (49.79), with Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter earning bronze in 50.74.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m happy with a medal. It’s not a race that I typically do, and I wanted to approach this Swimming World Cup doing some new things and trying to rediscover the childish love, so happy for bronze in the Fly!\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A World Cup record and two Asian records fell at the Aquatic Palace on the opening night of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-16213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-swimming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t