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≡ WORLD CUP CONCLUDES ≡

The third and final leg of the 2026 World Aquatics World Cup was in Astana (KAZ), where Dutch sprint star Marrit Steenbergen once again dominated the meet, winning five more events and completing triple wins in each of four distances.

She won the women’s 100 and 200 m Freestyles, the 50 and 100 m Backstrokes and the 100 m Medley and won the 100 Free, 50-100 Back and 100 Medley in all three World Cup meets for a “Triple Crown,” worth a $10,000 bonus!

Three other women won two races in Astana and all won Triple Crowns: Belgian Roos Vanotterdijk in the 50 and 100 m Butterfly (plus silvers in the 100-200 m Medleys), China’s Yiting Yu in the 200-400 m Medleys and Singapore’s Ching Hwee Gan in the 800-1,500 m Freestyles.

The men’s swimming saw a triple win from Belgian Lucas Henveaux in the 400-800-1,500 m Freestyles, and a Backstroke sweep for South Africa’s Pieter Coetze (50-100-200 m). There were double wins from Australia’s sprint star Cam McEvoy in the 50-100 m Freestyles and Russian Kirill Prigoda in the 50-100 m Breaststrokes.

In all, there were 22 Triple Crowns completed in Astana:

Men (9 Crowns by 7 swimmers):
● 2: Pieter Coetze (RSA): 100 m Back, 200 m Back
● 2: Lucas Henveaux (BEL): 800 m Free, 1,500 m Free
● Luke Barr (USA): 100 m Medley
● Cam McEvoy (AUS): 50 m Free
● Egor Kornev (RUS): 50 m Fly
● Kirill Prigoda (RUS): 100 m Breast
● Juner Chen (CHN): 100 m Fly

Women (13 Crowns by 7 swimmers):
● 4: Marrit Steenbergen (NED): 100 m Free, 50 m Back, 100 m Back, 100 m Medley
● 2: Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL): 50 m Fly, 100 m Fly
● 2: Yiting Yu (CHN): 200 m Medley, 400 m Medley
● 2: Ching Hwee Gan (SGP): 800 m Free, 1,500 m Free
● Kasia Wasick (POL): 50 m Free
● Evgeniia Chikunova (RUS): 200 m Breast
● Mona McSharry (IRL): 100 m Breast

The small cadre of American swimmers continued to do well at the World Cup, with Anna Peplowski winning the women’s 400 Free and collecting a silver in the 200 m Back and bronzes in the 200 Free and 100 Back. Luke Barr continued his ascension with a win in the 100 m Medley and bronzes in the 100-200 Breast and 200 Medley, while Shaine Casas won the 100 m Medley, was second in the 200 m Free and 200 m Back and third in the 100 m Medley. Carson Foster took silver in the 400 m Free and bronze in the 200 m Fly and 400 m Medley.

That’s 15 U.S. medals among just four swimmers, and three wins.

Coetze won the men’s overall title and the $100,000 champion’s prize with 172.9 points, ahead of Kornev (170.7) and Henveaux (164.1). Steenbergen, of course, won the women’s title, with 175.4 points to 166.5 for Yu and 163.7 for Vanotterdijk.

The World Cup was not the only hot swimming this weekend, as many top American stars were at the University of Virginia’s Pro Elite Worlds Prep Meet in Charlottesville, another short-course (meters) meet with an eye on the U.S. Short-Course Worlds Trials from 28-31 October.

And former Virginia stars Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass did not disappoint.

World-record holder Douglass won the women’s 100 m Free in 50.20, the no. 3 time in history, over Walsh’s 50.32 on night one, then got a U.S. Open record of 22.94 – no. 4 all-time – during a Friday afternoon time trial in the 50 m Free.

On Friday morning, Walsh won the women’s 100 m Fly in 53.04, a U.S. Open record and the no. 3 time in history (she has the top eight now) with Regan Smith second in 55.15. Then she uncorked a world-record effort on Friday evening in the 50 m Free in 22.75, crushing her own 22.83 mark from 2024, ahead of the returning Abbey Weitzell (23.72), and erasing Douglass’ U.S. Open mark from the day before!

Just for good measure, Walsh also won the 50 m Fly in 24.02, the no. 6 performance ever and she now owns the top 12.

Douglass won the 200 m Breast in a world-leading 2:15:65 and the 200 m Medley in another world leader of 2:02.76. Prior Short-Course Worlds silver winners Claire Curzan and Katharine Berkoff tied in the 50 m Back in a world-leading 25.43 and Curzan won the 100 m Back in a world-leading 54.94, ahead of Smith (54.96).

Katie Ledecky, making a rare short-course appearance, won the 1,500 m Free in a world-leading 15:15.91, the third-fastest performance in history. She doubled back to win the 200 m Free in 1:53.28.

Smith won the women’s 200 m Fly in 2:03.41, the top short-course time in the world this season and she got another win – and another world leader – in the 200 m Back in 1:59.71, with Isabelle Stadden now no. 2 in 2026 with her runner-up 2:00.55.

The U.S. Trials will be crazy.

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