Mollie O’Callaghan Blasts 1:49.77 In the 200 Free, First Woman In History Sub-1:50

2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Westmont

Mollie O’Callaghan swam a second faster than she did last weekend in Carmel to set a new World Record in the women’s 200 freestyle at 1:49.77, becoming the first woman in history sub-1:50 in the event.

Women’s 200m Freestyle — Finals

  • World Record: 1:50.31 — Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong (2021)
  • World Junior Record: 1:51.62 — Claire Weinstein, United States (2024)
  • World Cup Record: 1:50.43 — Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (2017)
  • U.S. Open Record: 1:50.77 — Mollie O’Callaghan, Australia (2025)

Top 8 Finishers:

  1. Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – 1:49.77 *World Record, World Cup Record, U.S. Open Record*
  2. Lani Pallister (AUS) – 1:52.06
  3. Anna Peplowski (CLB) – 1:52.54
  4. Erika Fairweather (NZL) – 1:52.66
  5. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) – 1:53.07
  6. Lilla Minna Abraham (HUN) – 1:53.15
  7. Freya Colbert (GBR) – 1:53.51
  8. Ella Jansen (CLB) – 1:55.02

Mollie O’Callaghan was out in first in tonight’s 200 freestyle final, turning in 25.70 at the 50 mark, half-a-second under the World Record pace.

She continued to build her lead over the field, and maintained her lead on the World Record, turning in 53.39 at the 100 mark. and 1:21.89 at the 150.

She ended up splitting 27.88 on her final 50 to break Siobhan Haughey‘s 2021 World Record by nearly half-a-second and become the first women in history to break 1:50 in the event. Her first 50 and last 50 were the only ones that were faster than Haughey’s previous World Record swim.

Her swim tonight was a whole second faster than the 1:50.77 she swam to win the event last weekend in Carmel which was also her former best time. Most of the difference came from the beginning of the race, but she was faster on all four 50 splits than she was last weekend.

World Record Split Comparison

Old World Record- Siobhan Haughey New World Record- Mollie O’Callaghan 1:49.77
Mollie O’Callaghan 1:50.77 (Carmel World Cup)
50 26.20 25.70 26.05
100 53.81 (27.61) 53.59 (27.89) 54.19 (28.14)
150 1:22.03 (28.22) 1:21.89 (28.30) 1:22.76 (28.57)
200 1:50.31 (28.28) 1:49.77 (27.88) 1:50.77 (28.01)

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Kent
7 months ago

27.88 for the last 50 is amazing

Troyy
Reply to  Kent
7 months ago

Closed in 27.9 in long course in Paris.

Last edited 7 months ago by Troyy
Swimmingly Sorry
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

🤯

And I thought her 28.11 in 2023 Fukuoka was FAST

Nick the biased Aussie
7 months ago

I love her strategy.
Go out faster and finish faster.
Classic Mollie

SwimMaxxing
7 months ago

Shoutout DJ

Oceanian
7 months ago

Wasn’t expecting this. Go MO!!!

GOATKeown
Reply to  Oceanian
7 months ago

I was expecting it in Toronto but she got it early. Wonder if she can push it further

sjostrom stan
7 months ago

How will they make this into alt right AI slop now 🤔

EMG2020Transform
Reply to  sjostrom stan
7 months ago

Do I even want to know?

(No)

GOATKeown
Reply to  EMG2020Transform
7 months ago

There’s a Facebook page making AI slop mainly of MOC but also occasionally about McKeown and Chalmers basically trashing Lia Thomas and saying they will withdraw from the Olympics if Lia isn’t banned (despite the fact that Lia hasn’t swum in ages)

Swimmingly Sorry
Reply to  GOATKeown
7 months ago

In NBC sports YouTube video on MOC WR swim posted in the other Swimswam article, someone made a comment:

“Finally a real woman broke a woman’s record”

It’s staggering how fake news are accepted as a reality by Americans, and slowly but surely by the rest of the World

Even AI is churning out fake news because they regurgitates what’s on internet.

The world has gone mad.

Troyy
Reply to  Swimmingly Sorry
7 months ago

I doubt that has anything to do with the recent AI slop targeting Mollie. There are often comments like that under posts about women’s sports including videos on NBC’s YouTube channel.

Swim Observer
7 months ago

Haughey so quickly removed “World record holder” from her instagram profile desc.

Alison England
Reply to  Swim Observer
7 months ago

Bless her. I’m sure she will have congratulated Mollie. Siobhan is one of my favourite swimmers.

Swimmingly Sorry
Reply to  Alison England
7 months ago

She has one of the best personality among elite swimmers.

She’s unlucky that her peak coincided with peak McKeon and Titmus (2021Tokyo), peak MOC (2023 Fukuoka), and peak Sjostrom and MOC+Titmus (2024 Paris)

chilly
Reply to  Swimmingly Sorry
7 months ago

The second sentence is so unnecessary to say

Verram
7 months ago

Really hope this translates to a 1.51 or even 1.50 long course time .. in time for LA28 .. we need all the firepower we can get for that 4×200 now that Titmus is gone

Captonic
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

A 1:50 point would be the best world record on the books by a long shot and is probably not happening for decades. 1:51 could happen, and would be insane.

Verram
Reply to  Captonic
7 months ago

I think if swimming is to continue being exciting sport we need to start thinking of what seems impossible to witness …

Troyy
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

Her long course PB is still the better performance.

Verram
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

I’m just thinking ahead who else do we have in the pipeline for that 4×200 relay for LA28 .. we can’t just rely on Mollie to win it for us 🙂

Troyy
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

Casey just improved her PB by almost 2.5 seconds this year. She might be our next sub 1:55. Perkins could get there too and there’s also Lani. While Arnie’s retirement makes the task of retaining the 4×2 title in LA a lot harder we’ve still got a good chance.

Verram
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

Our team needs to be “solid” against the patriotic USA crowd I’d imagine haha

Captonic
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

She did improve her PB to 156.09 at trials, but then split, 157.6 in the prelims relay. Wunch also went a little slower at worlds than at trials. Hopefully, they can maintain their form from trials to the big meet moving forward. Particularly, Wunch. She is crucial to the future success of the 4×100.

Last edited 7 months ago by Captonic
Troyy
Reply to  Captonic
7 months ago

A regression like that isn’t uncommon after a big breakthrough.

Southerly Buster
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

Jamie Perkins is looking pretty good (1:55.1 split). I’m sure she can get faster over the next 3 years. MOC and Lani are locks.

Whichever one of the youngsters pops over the next 3 years should end up filling the other spot – Casey, Jansen, Wunsch, Inez Miller or even possibly Amelia Weber.

Troyy
Reply to  Southerly Buster
7 months ago

Yep there are plenty of possibilities and enough time for them to develop in time for LA.

Verram
Reply to  Southerly Buster
7 months ago

Shayna Jack may also wish to join the discussion as well for that 4×200 relay

Troyy
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

I have a feeling Shayna might be retired from the 200.

Troyy
Reply to  Southerly Buster
7 months ago

De Lutiis should also be added to that list. Dropped her PB from 1:59.5 to 1:57.2 this year. She’s just moved to train with Wunsch at Carlile.

Southerly Buster
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

That’s great that Wunsch and De Lutiis can train together. That sort of thing looks to be working at Bond with Casey and Jansen pushing each other forward.

Miss M
Reply to  Southerly Buster
7 months ago

Don’t forget Casteluzzo!

RMS
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

USA or China will win this relay in LA.

Mark69
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

Don’t underestimate how good 1.52.4 is. No one still swimming is even close to breaking 1.53 – Summer might if she focused on it but it’s probably her 6th best event so she never will just focus on it. And with Lani swimming 1.54.7 and likely to go lower and Brittany C coming through, I think the 4×2 is in safe hands.

Eduardo
Reply to  Mark69
7 months ago

Yanks have excellent prospect tho!

GOATKeown
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

This won’t translate to anything. If anything her LCM PB should translate to a 1:47 SCM

Alison England
Reply to  Verram
7 months ago

Titmus is gone?

Troyy
Reply to  Alison England
7 months ago
Alison England
Reply to  Troyy
7 months ago

Thanks. I’ve been very busy. My daughter had premature twins a few weeks ago. I’m behind with all sorts of things.

Swimmingly Sorry
Reply to  Alison England
7 months ago

Congratulations!

Alison England
Reply to  Swimmingly Sorry
7 months ago

Thank you. Beautiful identical boys. Doing well.

ACZ
7 months ago

She definitely has more room to improve too. I’ve noticed that she tends to breath into the walls a lot — seems like an easy fix?

Snowpipers of Alaska
Reply to  ACZ
7 months ago

i noticed that. maybe it helps with her underwaters, getting the extra air? but either way shes def not in peak form rn