Marrit Steenbergen continued her record-breaking golden bull run and Gan Ching Hwee lowered the Asian 1500 free record on the first day of the final World Cup stop in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Seven swimmers – five women and two men – completed Triple Crowns with a sweep of a single event over the three stops on the Silk Road tour.
However, others missed out on the chance of a USD 10,000 bonus including Egor Kornev in the 100 free and Siobhan Haughey in the 200 free.
Women’s 1500 Free Timed Final
Gan Ching Hwee topped the podium last week in Tashkent and returned to the pool to take almost seven seconds off her best on Thursday. Not only that but the Singaporean also sliced a 3.39sec chunk from the Asian record of 15:41.80 held by Li Bingjie since the 2022 Chinese Championships. It was also her third distance crown of the tour following 800 victory at the opening leg in Baku. Caitlin Deans (15:48.38) and Chang Mohan (15:55.61) joined her on the podium.
Men’s 1500 Free Timed Final
Lucas Henveaux clinched his second 1500 free and third distance crown of the tour with a seven-second winning margin in 14:33.14. Oliver Papai was second in 14:40.55 with Ilia Sibirtsev third in 14:43.97.
Women’s 400IM Fastest Heat
Yu Yiting clinched the Triple Crown and USD 10,000 after setting up victory in the fly leg to finish in a Chinese record of 4:22.74 as she became the seventh-fastest performer all-time. Waka Kobori was 4.25secs behind in 4:26.99 with Abbie Wood third in 4:27.38.
Men’s 100 Free
The Triple Crown was one win away for Egor Kornev but it was Cam McEvoy who obliterated the start, reaching 25m in 9.83 and 50 in 21.15. The Australian was 0.55 ahead of the Russian at the final turn and came home in 45.11 to 45.23 with Sean Niewold of the Netherlands third in 46.72.
Women’s 50 Fly
Roos Vanotterdijk came into the race with the Triple Crown in her sights. The Belgian was second at the turn behind Aleksandra Kuznetsova but a superb turn and underwaters propelled her clear of the field. She took the sweep in 24.56, her third straight national record in the event, to go joint eighth performer all-time. Arina Surkova (24.99) and Daria Klepikova (25.08) made it two Russians on the podium.
Men’s 50m Breaststroke
The first three men home were separated by just 0.10secs with Kirill Prigoda touching first in 25.77 after arriving in Astana with a silver and bronze in the two-length event. Qin Haiyang was short into the wall and finished in 25.83 with Caspar Corbeau third in 25.87.
Prigoda’s victory meant there were three different winners across the three World Cup stops.
Women’s 200 Free
Siobhan Haughey needed one more win for the Triple Crown with the Hong Kong swimmer focusing solely on the event after contending with injury. Swimming frm lane three, she led Marrit Steenbergen through 50m. The Netherlands swimmer moved ahead although Haughey reduced the deficit to 0.18 with 50 to go. Steenbergen extended the lead on the final 50 to come home in a European record of 1:50.23. Haughey posted 1:50.87 for second as her Triple Crown bid was busted with Anna Peplowski third in 1:52.36.
Steenbergen’s time – which lowered her own European standard of 1:50.33 from last year’s short-course Europeans – elevated her to second all-time behind Mollie O’Callaghan and her top two times of 1:49.36 and 1:49.77 from the 2025 World Cup.
Men’s 200 Fly
Chen Juner led for all but five metres in his Triple Crown bid. He went out hard in the opening stages and found himself with a challenge on either side from So Ogata and Carson Foster. However, the Chinese athlete appeared to have the crown within his grasp only for So Ogata to rip it out of his hands with a flying final 25. The Japanese went 1:49.89 to Chen’s 1:50.13 with Foster third in 1:50.98.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke
Mona McSharry went to the head of the field on the second 25, where she stayed throughout to clinch the Triple Crown in 1:04.03, just two tenths outside her 2025 Irish record of 1:03.84. Evgeniia Chikunova came through late for second in 1:04.76 with Tes Schouten third in 1:05.13.
Men’s 100m Backstroke
Pieter Coetze missed the WR by just 0.05 en-route to his second straight victory in Tashkent last week. The South African has been superb this year and his high stroke rate powered him through the race, finishing in 48.40 to clinch the Triple Crown. There was a little shake of the head as he touched 0.26 off Hubert Kos‘ WR of 48.16 although it was the fourth-fastest time in history with Coetze delivering two of the top four performances.
Coetze’s winning margin of 0.89 over Pavel Samusenko (49.29) illustrates his dominance. Ralf Tribuntsov of Estonia was third in 49.88.
Women’s 50m Backstroke
Marrit Steenbergen returned from 200 free gold for the two-length event in the first of four attempts at a Triple Crown. The Netherlands swimmer came home in 25.67 ahead of Mariia Osetrova (26.19) and her teammate Tessa Giele (26.41).
Men’s 200IM
The final race of the session turned out to be a humdinger. Finlay Knox led through the fly with Luke Barr ahead after the backstroke, followed by Shaine Casas and Alberto Razzetti. The trio retained their places after the breaststroke with Barr 0.12 ahead of fellow American Casas going into the free. Casas took a 0.05 lead at the final turn with the trio battling it out down the final 25. Casas won in 1:51.98 to take his second straight victory followed by Razzetti (1:5216) and Barr (1:52.37).