The roar of the crowd in the stands was deafening, as the two swimmers Leon Marchand of France and Noe Ponti of Switzerland came storming home in the men’s 100m individual medley final in Stop 1, it was impossible to choose who would win – going stroke for stroke as they headed into the wall.
There was a brief silence as both swimmers went into the wall at the same time, impossible to tell who managed to seal the victory. Quickly, the silence was broken by a loud applause as Leon Marchand had narrowly taken the win by 0.01 of a second. This was one of what would be many stand out races in the 2024 swimming world cup held over 3 separate weekends with leg 1 in Shanghai from October 18-20, leg 3 in Incheon October 24-26 and leg 3 in Singapore October 31-November 2.
Leg 1 in Shanghai had many impressive results from many swimmers with Noe Ponti standing out, managing to break the world record in the heats of the 50m butterfly. With a blistering time of 21.67 in the heats beating the previous world mark of 21.75 before backing up at night, swimming a 21.68. On the women’s side of the competition, there were two stand out athletes, Regan Smith and Kate Douglass both from the USA had a masterclass at this year’s world cup. In the 100m backstroke Regan Smith smashed the world cup record with a time of 54.89 beating the previous mark by almost half a second! Whilst Kate Douglass showed her skills in the 200m breaststroke, dropping a respectable 2:15.96, beating her nearest opponent by 4 seconds.
Leg 2 was just as enticing with more world record swims and outstanding performances by top swimmers. Leon Marchand was one of these swimmers, having won the medley trifecta in Leg 1, he set his sights on another big hit out in leg 2. The 400m and 200m Individual Medley seemed to be no problem for Leon, winning comfortably with some impressively fast times. But the real challenge would be the 100m Individual Medley in which Noe Ponti would be a big contender. Remarkably Leon and Noe went even closer than leg 1 and ended up with a dead heat – both taking away the win for the 100m Individual medley, meaning Leon had won the trifecta in both legs so far.
But this wasn’t the only stand out performance in this leg – many other impressive swims took place, including a shock upset from Australia’s own Bella Grant, who narrowly managed to take the win in the 200m Fly, over the clear favourite and USA sensation, Regan Smith with a personal best time of 2:03.13. That wouldn’t be the only win for Australia though, with Jamie Jack – younger brother of Olympic gold medallist Shayna Jack, taking the win in a stacked 100m freestyle field with a very respectable time of 46.48. But just when you thought it couldn’t get any more exciting, the two stand out swimmers from the women’s side of the competition – Regan Smith and Kate Douglass both dropped a world record with Regan Smith smashing the 100m Backstroke record and Kate Douglass taking out the 200m Breaststroke record both continuing their dominance, with Douglass taking a slight lead into the third and final leg of the world cup.
If you thought the world cup was high quality with all the world record swims already – nothing could’ve prepared you for leg 3 in Singapore, with so many world record swims and incredible races, it was by far the highlight of this world cup series!
This time in the 100m Individual Medley, Leon Marchand gave Noe Ponti no chances producing an incredible 49.92 being the only man reaching the sub 50 second mark all series. But Leon Marchand didn’t just want the triple Individual Medley trifecta, he wanted more. In the 200m Individual Medley Leon Marchand broke a long standing 12-year-old world record held by American legend Ryan Lochte, Leon’s time of 1:48.88 not only took 0.75 of a second off the previous world mark but made him the first man ever to go sub 1:49.00 in the 200 medley. The excitement didn’t stop there – with 2 world records coming from the USA’s Regan Smith and another world record from Kate Douglass. Regan Smith took out the 100m Backstroke world record once again with a time of 54.27 whilst also managing to break the 200m Backstroke as well this time, with a blistering time of 1:58.83. But Kate Douglass was determined to hold onto her lead and take out the win for this world cup, which showed during her 200m Breaststroke swim, with what is highly regarded as the swim of the series taking almost 1 and a half seconds off her world record the week before which had taken down a super suit swim held since 2009. Kate Douglass didn’t stop there though, with multiple swims only narrowly missing out on a world record, giving her some solid points to try and take out the world cup.
With such an incredible finish, everyone was anticipating who would be crowned the world cup champions – on the men’s side Leon Marchand and Noe Ponti’s names were thrown around. However, on the women’s side Regan Smith and Kate Douglass were the clear favourites to win, but it was hard to tell who would end up in front. But before long the results came in and Leon Marchand was able to take out the win for France and Kate Douglass managed to hold on to her lead and take out the series for the USA. Both swimmers took home the crown and the $100 000 dollar cash prize.
