2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Westmont
- October 17-19, 2025
- Westmont, Illinois
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
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The women’s 100 backstroke saw Regan Smith tie the World Record as she set new World Cup and US Open records to win the event by more than a second.
Women’s 100 Backstroke — Finals
- World Record: 54.02 — Regan Smith, United States (2024)
- World Junior Record: 55.75 — Bella Sims, United States (2022)
- World Cup Record: 54.27 — Regan Smith, United States (2024)
- U.S. Open Record: 54.92 — Regan Smith, United States (2025)
Top 8 Finishers:
- Regan Smith (CLB) – 54.02 *=World Record, World Cup Record, U.S. Open Record*
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 55.04
- Bella Sims (CLB) – 55.51
- Katharine Berkoff (CLB) – 56.18
- Miranda Grana (CLB) – 56.52
- Mylie Masse (CAN) – 56.68
- Rhyan White (CLB) – 56.79
- Ingrid Wilm (CAN) – 57.53
Smith won the 100 back last week in Carmel, but her swim tonight made a statement, tying the World Record and winning the event by more than a second.
Her time of 54.02 equaled the time she swam at the SC World Championships in Budapest on the leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay, and is the fastest individual swim ever. This swim also marked her 2nd individual win against Australian rival Kaylee McKeown since 2019, the 1st coming last weekend.
Tonight, she was out in 26.45, leading the field by two tenths of a second. She only built her lead from there, splitting a blistering 27.57 to come home eight tenths faster than McKeown’s 28.39.
Her closing split was also two tenths faster than the 27.77 she closed in when she set the World Record leading off the women’s 4×100 medley relay last winter.
Split Comparison
| 2024 SC World Championships- Regan Smith (54.02) | 2025 Westmont World Cup Stop- Regan Smith (54.02) | |
| 50 | 26.25 | 26.45 |
| 100 | 27.77 (54.02) | 27.57 (54.02) |
She broke her own U.S. Open record in the event, coming in nine tenths faster than the 54.92 she swam last weekend in Carmel, and she broke her World Cup Record of 54.27 from last year’s Singapore leg.
She now holds the top six times in history in the event, and seven of the top 10 times in history.
Top 10 All-Time Performances
- Regan Smith (USA)- 54.02 (2024/2025)
- (tie)
- Regan Smith (USA)- 54.19 (2024)*
- Regan Smith (USA)- 54.27 (2024)
- Regan Smith (USA)- 54.41 (2024)
- Regan Smith (USA)- 54.55 (2024)
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS)- 54.56 (2024)
- Gretchen Walsh (USA)- 54.89 (2024)/Regan Smith (USA) (2024)/Minna Atherton (AUS) (2019)
*set leading off mixed medley relay. If we exclude that time, 10th place would be Smith’s 54.92 from Carmel
This was her 2nd World Cup record of the stop, and she is still in the running for the Triple Crown in the event as long as she wins next weekend in Toronto.
America’s Regan-nomics when it comes to short course vs. long course is the swimming equivalent to Trump’s tariffs. Both are laughable.
So much for crowning kaylee as the GOAT for female backstroke . The chapter isnt closed yet, there is more to come… Sometimes people speak to soon.
She isn’t the Goat of female backstroke; she is the backstroke period.
She is the goat of backstoke, male or female. There is no debate anymore.
Look up Krisztina Egerszegi.
Exactly. You can tell an out of towner a mile away with no knowledge of Egerszegi.
Kaylee McKeown:
FOUR Olympic backstroke gold, SIX World Championship backstroke gold, broke WR in LCM 50, 100, 200 back and SCM 100, 200 back.
Regan Smith:
ZERO Olympic backstroke gold, TWO world championships backstroke gold, broke WR in LCM 100, 200 backstroke, SCM 50, 100, 200.
Kaylee McKeown is undoubtedly backstroke GOAT.
Stay mad. She has four Olympic backstroke gold medals in four attempts and has broken World Records in every long course backstroke distance. For anyone to even come close to her (and the only one who does retired in 1996), they would have to beat her in 2028 in BOTH backstrokes, and then hang on to win them both again in 2032.
A lack of respect for Kaylee. No one can erase her achievements. And as much as they don’t want it to be that way, she has achievements that put her on par with the best in history (I’m only debating Egerszegi, sorry).
shhhh no one tell Mondo he gets the payout by perpetually tying his WR
Regan made Kaylee her b
Step by step, Smith is conquering her demons around racing McKeown. First getting into a better mental state around pressure/performance, then beating McKeown in relays (pretty consistently), then now beating her in SCM head-to-head multiple times.
I’m not making any solid predictions, but I’m just saying that I think the conditions have never been this good for Smith to beat McKeown at a LCM worlds/Olympics
It’s shortcourse
Sorry your point is?
they are different stages of prep for this series. Some playing the long game, some clearly going for fast times.
Olympics and World Aquatics Championship are held in LCM.
Regan Smith is great but his point is nobody really cares about short course around the world as much as long course.
I think I made it, it’s short course.
Congratulations Regan!
Raygun!
absolutely insane what they’ve done to the top 10 times list in the last year or so
i was just looking at this and realizing that before last fall (it AUS nationals when kaylee broke the WR???) only one of those times was there. And IIRC walsh and smith went 54.89 on the same day on opposite sides of the world