As the 2024 Swimming World Cup heads into the final weekend of competition in Singapore, 13 swimmers could claim a Triple Crown—winning the same event at all three stops—and the associated $10,000 bonus.
This is the same number of swimmers eligible for a Triple Crown heading into Budapest, the final stop of the 2023 Swimming World Cup. Last year, 13 swimmers were chasing 23 Triple Crowns, and this year there are 22 events where a crown could be handed out. Swimmers chasing a Triple Crown in 2023 converted in all but two events.
Kate Douglass: 200 Breaststroke/50 Butterfly/100 IM
Only two swimmers are chasing three Triple Crowns—Douglass and Leon Marchand, the overall World Cup leaders heading into the final stop. Douglass could have been after four, but she skipped the 200 IM in Incheon after winning it in Shanghai.
Douglass has been unstoppable over the World Cup. She’s undefeated, with the highlight of her series so far coming in Incheon, where she broke the 200 breaststroke world record. She won that race by five seconds and has been able to separate herself in the 50 butterfly and 100 IM as well.
Leon Marchand: 100 IM/200 IM/400 IM
The other swimmer eligible for three Triple Crowns this year, Marchand is eyeing an IM sweep. Though he gets pressure from Duncan Scott in the 200 IM, his biggest obstacle to a triple-triple is Noe Ponti in the 100 IM. Through two finals, there’s only a .01 second margin between them; Marchand touched a hundredth ahead of Ponti in Shanghai, and then the two tied in Incheon.
Regan Smith: 100/200 Backstroke
Smith’s 100 backstroke world record helped her edge out Douglass by two-tenths to win the women’s overall rankings in Incheon. She closed the gap to just a tenth for the overall series, setting up a close battle for the grand prize.
Smith will be relying on her backstroke skill to help her, which has also put her in a position to claim Triple Crowns in the 100 and 200 backstroke. It would be an upset if anyone was to stop her; not only is she now the world record holder in the 100 back, but she won the 200 by 1.91 seconds in Incheon.
Noe Ponti: 50/100 Butterfly
Noe Ponti was the first person to break a world record at this year’s World Cup, smashing the men’s 50 butterfly world record and becoming the first Swiss swimmer to own a world record in nearly 40 years.
He’s been on fire in the butterfly events; though he didn’t match his world record in Incheon he still won the event, and overcame a goggles mishap to hold off Nyls Korstanje to keep his streak alive in the 100 butterfly. Tying with Marchand gave Ponti three event wins in Incheon and he won the stop’s rankings by a tenth over the French superstar. Ponti sits second in the overall rankings and needs to make up 1.4 points to overtake Marchand for the grand prize.
Siobhan Haughey: 100/200 Freestyle
Siobhan Haughey is a rangy freestyler and has even shown off her breaststroke speed on the international scene. But where she really shines is the 100 and 200 freestyle in both the long and short-course meters pool.
Haughey is well positioned to sweep the women’s 100 and 200 freestyle for an incredible third-straight World Cup series. The last women to win one of these events at a World Cup besides Haughey were Emma McKeon (100 free) and Madi Wilson (200 free) at the final stop of the 2019 World Cup series in Kazan.
Pieter Coetze: 100/200 Backstroke
On the men’s side, it’s Pieter Coetze looking for the 100 and 200 backstroke Triple Crowns. Coetze’s swum a lifetime best in each backstroke distance during the World Cup, lowering his own African record in the 50 and 100 back. He still has a way to go before nearing the 200-back continental record, but he took a big step forward by breaking 1:50 for the first time in Shanghai.
He’s been largely unchallenged in the 200 backstroke. There’s more potential for upset in the 100 back; in Incheon, Kacper Stokowski finished .24 seconds behind him for second. After finishing third in Incheon, Coetze sits fourth in the men’s overall World Cup rankings.
Tang Qianting: 50/100 Breaststroke
The 20-year-old Olympic medallist Tang Qiangting gave her home nation fans a lot to cheer about at the opening stop of the series in Shanghai. Tang snagged gold in both the 50 and 100 breaststroke in Asian record time, resetting standards she’d set only a month earlier at the Chinese Short Course National Championships.
Tang was a bit slower in Incheon but still earned wins in both events, keeping her Triple Crown hopes alive heading into Singapore.
Duncan Scott: 200 Freestyle
Duncan Scott has taken on a wide range of events during the World Cup, swimming events from the 100 IM to the 400 freestyle. He’s been on good form through the first two stops, resetting his 100 IM British record and coming close to the marks in both the 200 and 400 freestyle.
It’s his “bread-and-butter” event, the 200 freestyle, where he’s aiming to snag a Triple Crown. The event’s field has been crowded with swimmers like Hwang Sunwoo, Kieran Smith and Danas Rapsys. Though Scott, Smith, and Rapsys often battle stroke-for-stroke in the 400 free, Scott’s been able to separate himself in the 200 free, posting 1:40.92 in Shanghai and 1:40.29 in Incheon while no one else has broken 1:42 this series.
Mary-Sophie Harvey: 400 IM
From a placement perspective, Mary-Sophie Harvey has found the most success this World Cup in the 400 IM. She’s another versatile swimmer on this series and over the last 12 months broke out in the long-course 200-meter freestyle.
This series, that versatility has helped her claim two victories in the 400 IM (and another in the 400 freestyle). In Incheon, Harvey used her breaststroke and freestyle prowess to overcome Yu Yiting’s front-end speed and win the 400 IM by 1.58 seconds.
Qin Haiyang: 50 Breaststroke
The men’s breaststroke events have been hotly contested across all three distances as Qin Haiyang, Ilya Shymanovich, Caspar Corbeau, and Joshua Yong have gone toe-to-toe. Though Qin—the 2023 men’s overall World Cup winner—won the 100 breast in Shanghai and the 200 breast in Incheon, he’s only eligible for the 50 breast Triple Crown this year.
The men’s 50 breast in Singapore should be another close affair; last week, he triumphed by just .02 seconds over Shymanovich. As he won the 50 breast Triple Crown last year, Qin is aiming to extend his streak to six straight wins in Singapore.
Kasia Wasick: 50 Freestyle
So far, Wasick has won the 50 freestyle in 23.87 and 23.51. No other swimmer has broken 24 seconds, giving the Polish sprint specialist a huge advantage heading into the third stop. It would take a big upset for Wasick to be denied the 50 freestyle Triple Crown, and another factor in her favor is the dramatic improvement she made from the first stop to the second.
Trenton Julian: 200 Butterfly
The men’s 200 butterfly races have been close in Shanghai and Incheon. But both times, Trenton Julian has successfully employed his typical “fly and die” strategy and held off a charging Chad le Clos.
He’ll need to do it one more time in order to claim a Triple Crown—le Clos narrowed Julian’s margin of victory in Incheon to just .07 seconds.
Laura Lahtinen: 100 Butterfly
Finland’s Laura Lahtinen has looked great at this year’s World Cup, resetting several national records in the process. She’s two-for-two in the 100 butterfly so far, winning in a national record of 55.58 in Shanghai and then swimming 55.76 in Incheon.
Yu joined Lahtinen sub-56 in Shanghai but couldn’t get under that barrier in Incheon. A strong swim from her or Lily Price could cancel Lahtinen’s coronation.
The overall title may boil down to Regan Smith in the W 50 BK (who is overdue for a big swim) versus Kate Douglass in the W 50 FL (who would have thought).
With McKeown out and Zhang underperforming, Smith and Douglass were really the only 2 ever in contention for the overall title.
Katie Grimes could ruin the Mary-Sophie Harvey coronation in the W 400 IM.
She clearly (probably) will. the question to me is more if she’ll be up to challenge McIntosh at SC world given McIntosh is worse in SC
Anyone else wish that Ponti swam NCAA?
Also I’m sure that bro could throw down a nasty 50 free there’s no way he can’t
I don’t blame him wanting to return to Switzerland. It’s a beautiful country. (I’m dual nationality Brit/Swiss).
So is North Carolina, I hear.
Michael Andrew has pulled out of the World Cup
Softie!!!
It’s probably a dumb question, but wasn’t McIntosh supposed to compete in the World Cup? Or only SC Worlds?
I never heard anything indicating she was going to the World Cup…
Ok thanks, it was all in my head then.
She announced she was going to SC worlds.
The rules confusion is becoming worse than the ISL, and with that my interest wanes.
They ruined the WC. It was way more fun during the Katinka era and before with more stops and less gimmicks with the points and triple crown bonuses.
Would love to see Dougie incentivized to go after 5+ events every stop and and properly show off her versatility to the world
Totally
So if Marchand wins 100IM he gets $10k, but if Ponti wins neither athlete gets a bonus… I suppose they’re still competing for the overall rankings prize but is there a world where Ponti “sandbags” the 100 and they share in the bonus? If hypothetically, the overall rankings weren’t as close?
Like, after two swims, a very naively-calculated chance of Marchand victory would be 75%, meaning his expected return is currently $7.5k. If he gave Ponti $2k to guarantee victory, then the expected return is $8k, which benefits both athletes
Two things:
1. 75% seems way too high considering they’ve essentially tied twice.
2. If Ponti can win 3 events and Leon only wins 2, Ponti likely wins the overall series which is worth an extra $30k
I suppose it’s possible. But they ultimately do this for our entertainment, and for many of us I’m sure, nothing has been quite as entertaining as the Ponti vs Marchand showdowns in the 100 IM. I would be immensely disappointed if we didn’t get it at the last stop.