Toronto (Canada) (AFP) – Australian Lani Pallister crushed Katie Ledecky’s 800m freestyle short course world record on Saturday, roaring to victory in 7min 54.00sec as the Toronto World Cup closed with five world records on the day. Pallister sliced 3.42sec off the world record that US great Ledecky set at a World Cup meeting in Indianapolis on November 5, 2022, and easily out-paced runner-up Erika Fairweather of New Zealand, who was second in 8:09.69.
Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands threw down a short course world record of 1:59.52 to win the men’s 200m breaststroke, becoming the first to break the two-minute barrier as he bettered the previous mark of 2:00.16 set by Russian Kirill Prigoda at the 2018 short course world championships in Hangzhou, China.
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American Kate Douglass lowered her own short course world record in the 100m freestyle, clocking 49.93sec to become the first to duck under 50 seconds and beating the mark of 50.19 she set last week in Westmont, Illinois.
Hungarian Hubert Kos also got in on the world record action, winning the 100m backstroke in 48.16sec to complete a perfect nine-for-nine run in this season’s World Cup backstroke events. Olympic 200m back gold medallist Kos, who set a 200m backstroke world record two days earlier, broke the previous short course world record of 48.33sec set by American Coleman Stewart in 2021.
Fellow Aussie Kaylee McKeown added another world record highlight to the final day of action in the three-event World Cup series, clocking 1:57.33 to win the 200m backstroke ahead of American rival Regan Smith, whose 1:57.86 was also below the old world mark of 1:57.86 McKeown set at the World Cup stop in Westmont six days earlier. It was the second straight week that McKeown led Smith in a 200m back finish that saw both swim faster than the previous world mark.
© 2024 AFP
