Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown have made a striking entrance into the post-Ariarne Titmus era for Australia by breaking short course world records at the World Cup event in Westmont, Illinois.
O’Callaghan, the Olympic 200-meter freestyle champion, set a new record of 1:49.77 in the same event on Saturday, surpassing the previous mark of 1:50.31 held by Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong in 2021.
McKeown then triumphed over her fierce competitor Regan Smith in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:57.87 on the event’s final night on Sunday, erasing Smith’s previous best of 1:58.04 from the short course world championships last December.
The victory for McKeown marked a turnaround from Smith’s win in the 100 backstroke on Saturday when she equaled her own short course world record of 54.02 seconds. McKeown, known for her strategy of allowing Smith an early lead before catching up, took the lead from the start in the 200 backstroke and maintained it until the end.
Reflecting on her performance, the 24-year-old McKeown, a double Olympic gold medalist in the 100 and 200 backstroke, mentioned, “I wanted to see what I could do tonight. Regan pushed me through all the way. I wanted to go out hard and hold on; it’s not something that I’m used to doing.”
McKeown currently holds both the short and long course 200 backstroke world records, while Smith holds records in the 100 backstroke.
These exceptional achievements by the Australian swimmers follow Ariarne Titmus’ surprising retirement announcement at the age of 25, the former Olympic 400 freestyle champion.
In another notable feat, Kate Douglass of the United States broke a world record with a time of 50.19 in the 100 freestyle, surpassing the previous record of 50.25 set by Cate Campbell of Australia in 2017. This marked Douglass’s third short course world record, having previously set records in the 200 individual medley and 200 breaststroke events.
Expressing her excitement, the 23-year-old Douglass shared, “I kind of wanted to go for it tonight. It’s definitely crazy to think that I have a breaststroke and freestyle world record. Pretty cool.”
The upcoming third and final meet of the World Cup series will kick off in Toronto on Thursday.