Kate Douglass became the first American swimmer to break a 100m freestyle world record in 21 years, while Australian Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith each went under Smith’s 200m backstroke short-course world record on Sunday.
Douglass, the Olympic 200m breaststroke gold medalist, clocked 50.19 seconds in the 100m free at a World Cup in Westmont, Illinois.
She broke the world record of 50.25 set by Australian Cate Campbell in 2017, the second-oldest women’s world record in short-course swimming (25-meter pools).
World Cups are held in 25-meter pools (short course). Most major meets, like the Olympics and World Championships in the summer, are held in 50-meter pools (long course).
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Douglass became the first American to break a world record in a 100m free (short course or long course) since Ian Crocker in men’s short course in 2004.
Douglass is the first American woman to hold the short-course 100m free world record. The last American woman to break the long-course 100m free world record was Jenny Thompson in 1992.
Douglass, arguably the world’s most versatile swimmer, now owns short-course world records in the 100m free, 200m breast and 200m individual medley.
McKeown, who swept the backstrokes at the last two Olympics, clocked 1:57.87 in the 200m back to break Smith’s world record of 1:58.04.
Smith nearly chased McKeown down, touching in 1:57.91 to also go under her world record.
McKeown and Smith combine to share the six world records in the backstrokes (50m, 100m and 200m in 25-meter and 50-meter pools). Each owns three.
Also Sunday, Australian Lani Pallister swam the second-fastest women’s short-course 1500m free in history — a 15:13.83.
Katie Ledecky holds the world record of 15:08.24 from 2022, the only time she has ever contested the event in short-course meters.
Pallister, 23, nearly beat Ledecky in the long-course 800m free at this past summer’s World Championships. Pallister finished 36 hundredths of a second behind in an event that Ledecky hasn’t lost at a major meet in her career.
The World Cup concludes in Toronto from Friday through next Sunday with daily prelims (10 a.m. ET) and finals (6 p.m.) live on Peacock.
