Regan Smith On 100 Back WR: “That Wasn’t On My Radar” (Day 2 Westmont World Cup Quotes)

2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Westmont

• October 17-19, 2025
• Westmont, Illinois
• SCM (25 meters)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Live Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

Day two of the second stop of the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup brought the heat, with multiple national, U.S. Open, and two world records falling in Westmont, Illinois.

• If you missed the action, check out our live recap of the session.

After the dust settled, several of night two’s winners took to the mic to discuss their races, mindset, and excitement about competing against the world’s best.

All quote excerpts are courtesy of World Aquatics. 

WOMEN’S 400M IM, GOLD – Ellen Walshe (IRL) – 4:25.33

On racing strategy and sticking to her plan, Walshe said, “When you come to a race like this, everyone has a different plan. People have strengths and weaknesses throughout the race, so it’s exciting to watch. I think you need to stick to your own race plan, and hopefully, at the last two or three walls, maybe you can see people and fight for it.”

Walshe reflected on managing pressure and building confidence after a difficult stretch: “I was around my best time for a while, and I think staying calm in the moment and trusting your own process can be kind of hard at times. Last week was my first 400 in quite a while, and I think to go back with more confidence, I just went for it.”

Looking ahead to next week’s competition, she added, “Anything can happen, and anyone can get their hand on the wall. It’s going to be a dog fight next week.”

MEN’S 800M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Zalan Sarkany (HUN) – 7:29.50 

Sarkany admitted the record-breaking swim exceeded his expectations, saying, “No, I did not expect to swim that time. I thought I would be around my PB because I swam it last year at the World Championships. I wanted it to be like 7:30. I was like, ‘If I go around the time and I win it, I’ll probably be happy.’ I just saw my chance and took it at the 600. I was like, ‘I had to go for it,’ and I did. It’s a PB too and World Cup record too. It was a pretty nice one.”

“I knew we were going to go out fast, and I knew I was going to be able to go for it based on the yardage training I’ve been doing in short course yards,” he said of his race strategy. “I knew I was going to be able to keep up the pace and even improve it and not die. I think I executed it well, and that’s where I came away.”

With his sights set firmly on NCAAs, Sarkany explained his season priorities, noting, “The NCAAs are the number one race that I’m preparing for this season. I have short-course European Championships in December. I want to do well there. But the NCAAs are one of the most important things for me now. It’s my last season in college swimming, so I just want to do the three-peat that I’ve been dreaming of in the mile, 100 percent. The mile is on the first day now, so that’s going to be interesting. That’s all in my mind right now—my training, my coaches in Indiana, and the whole team is just preparing for that.”

His message heading into the rest of the season was simple, he said, “Let’s beat records! That’s all I got to say.”

“I’m going back home to practice. I’m not going to swim tomorrow or in Toronto,” Sarkany said of his upcoming schedule. “I’m preparing for the meet season at Ohio State. I’m preparing to do well over there. I just dropped 4:29 last week. I don’t think I need to taper for that too much. I want to support my team and be there for them. And then short-course Europeans—that’s the only two races I have left in this year.”

MEN’S 50M BACKSTROKE, GOLD – Hubert Kos (HUN) – 22.91

“Yes, it was an interesting 50. My start was terrible,” Kos said. “I had to play catch-up the whole leg, but I’m happy I got there at the end, and I needed a good touch for it.”

Asked if he has more of a training base than he thought, he replied, “Maybe, maybe not. All I know is there is another 100 back tomorrow, and I have to get ready for it.”

Reflecting on the potential for “Nine for Nine” World Cup backstroke victories, Kos said, “It feels great obviously. It feels good to win. This for me is all about having fun and racing the guys. It’s always a great feeling to get your hand on the wall, especially on an event that isn’t really yours. There is definitely still a lot of work left to do for me in that event, as you saw today. I really need to work on my start if I want to keep up with these guys.”

“I want to go a best time,” he said of his goals for Sunday’s 100 back. “Obviously, I was pretty close last time. See if I can do it this week. I was pretty fast this morning in the 50. Obviously, if I get a good start going and keep the pace up in the last 50, I can do a good time.”

On his training group, Kos emphasized the bond they’ve built, saying, “It’s the best feeling ever. It was so special at Worlds when we did it in the 200 IM, stood on the podium. To do it here again at the World Cup reinforces the idea that we train so well with each other every day that we are ready for any obstacle that comes our way.”

“Let’s hope so. It’s always something I want to do,” he said when asked about the 200 back world record. “I still haven’t gotten a world record yet. That’s the one I’m closest to, so we’ll see what we can do.”

On his NCAA event lineup, Kos noted the ongoing discussion with his coach, explaining, “I think it’s going to be the 400 IM. That’s what Bob keeps telling me. I don’t think I want to go back to that, but if the team needs me, the team needs me. I think we’ll still discuss it because if there is an option to swim the 200 fly, maybe even the 200 free, who knows. If I have a 1:34 in the 200 back, my 200 free can’t be that bad.”

WOMEN’S 200M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – 1:49.77 *WORLD RECORD*

“I was so nervous all day,” O’Callaghan said. “I knew I was capable of doing that swim. It’s just that a lot of times it might not work out, but I knew I had two attempts left to try and crack it.”

On the experience of racing short course, she added, “Just to swim freely and to enjoy it is nice. It’s nice to do short course. It’s such a big change from long course. It’s a different beast at the end of the day. I have a great support team behind me to uplift me to this moment. I’m thankful for them because truly, I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Discussing her approach to the 200 free, O’Callaghan explained, “I think learning from the past 200s—there have only been two 200s I’ve done before that. From Carmel, I knew I just had to swim it and see what I could do. We looked back at it, and I have a great team who analyzed it and told me what I needed to fix. I will go back to the team and see what we need to adjust, and if I can do it in the next stop, then that would be incredible. I think it’s just chipping away and learning. That’s the whole point of this. Hopefully it helps my 200 long course.”

“At the end of the day, I rely so much on my team,” she said of her training approach. “I think whatever they advise me, I can explore anything. I’m really young, so I have so much room to grow, so are the other girls I was looking at in that final. We’re all so young, and it’s nice that I can race women that compete at the highest level and push me throughout that race. I’m interested to see how I can adapt to that.”

On Ariarne Titmus’s retirement announcement, O’Callaghan reflected on her training partner’s impact, saying, “Obviously, she’s my training partner. We both competed at St. Peters. She’s played a huge role in Australian swimming. She has evolved it. She is the cornerstone of the women’s 200, 400, and even 800 freestyle events. To have her gone, it’s a big missing part of the swim team. She has shown her capabilities—if you put your mind to it, you can do it. I think she has inspired so many young Australian women to compete at a high standard and push distance swimming too.”

“It’s weird that a lot of girls on the Australia team are looked up to,” she said when asked about being a role model. “They are pushing me, and I am pushing them, so it’s a nice little balance. It’s nice to see so many other girls come up.”

WOMEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE, GOLD – Regan Smith (USA) – 54.02 *=WORLD RECORD*

“That wasn’t on my radar, obviously,” Smith said. “I didn’t feel like I had a lot of speed coming into this World Cup Series because Bob and Erik have really been hammering us this season. I don’t know, that felt like a great race. I didn’t die coming home like I can sometimes in the 100 backstroke. I hit all my turns really well. I was proud of my underwaters. I touched the wall and was like, ‘Oh wow, that’s really awesome.'”

She also gave a shoutout to her young supporters, saying, “There are so many girls up there tonight. A really sweet girl made me a gold and pink rainbow-loom bracelet, so that’s in my bag, so shout out to her.”

Asked if she was a bit disappointed with her 200 fly time, Smith had no concerns with her backstroke performance, explaining, “That literally wasn’t on my radar to be 54.0 right now. When I did that last year at Short Course Worlds, I was so on and locked in. Not that I’m not here, I just didn’t think I was going to be that fast. I was motivated by points. The girls’ point rankings are crazy between Gretchen, Kate, Kaylee, Lani, Mollie. It’s like a bloodbath. I wanted to do something to protect my standing in the points. It went a way I didn’t imagine it could go, but I’m thrilled that it did go that way.”

On what she’ll change heading to Toronto, she said, “Last year when I broke the world record, I swam it pretty similarly to this week. In Singapore the following week, I went out like a light and died really badly. So I don’t want to do that and get too excited next week and really hurt coming home. I want to swim it smart and see if I can work my last underwater a little bit. I kind of faded with the two or three kicks, so maybe cleaning up that last breakout.”

Smith set clear expectations for Sunday’s 200 back, noting, “The 200 back is an all over the place race for me. It always has been. I just want to do a time that I’m proud of. I wasn’t happy with two minutes last week. I definitely want to be under. I honestly want to give Kaylee a better battle than that. She’s so incredible in that event, and I know I’m better than that. I just want to push tomorrow. I don’t want to fade and not give her a challenge.”

“I would be proud of a 1:59 or 1:58 tomorrow,” she added. “If not, I’ll be very disappointed. I don’t know how fast I can be, but if I’m not under two, I’ll be very upset.”

MEN’S 50M BREASTSTROKE, GOLD – Caspar Corbeau (NED) – 25.52

“I’m really happy with it,” Corbeau said. “I’m figuring out how to swim short course a bit more with doing the same stroke count by doing the 100 going out, but that’s the whole process. It’s all about learning. I’m overall really happy with that.”

On adjusting his approach for short course, he explained, “I’m always really geared towards long course. I’m starting to figure out that when I try to push it a bit frequency, it kind of goes out the door. I’m just trying new things, and I’m happy to see it’s working.”

Asked what he has left in the tank for Sunday, he replied, “We’ll see. We first have to get through prelims, and then I’m going to send it like last week.”

WOMEN’S 50M BUTTERFLY, GOLD – Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 23.90

“I feel like on a night where there were two world records broken, I’m inspired to keep up the momentum,” Walsh said. “I wanted to be able to do that tonight. I wasn’t able to, but I still feel really motivated for the last stop in Toronto. I think when you step on the block and know that’s something you want to do, there’s a lot of nerves involved with that goal. It’s just a harder thing that I think people overlook when they think about me swimming, especially short course meters, because I’ve been able to get world records, and many in a row at a time. Every time I do it, the pressure is on, and I feel that as an expectation out of myself. It’s hard to separate myself from that sometimes and remember that not every swim needs to be a world record for me to be happy with it.”

Asked if she’s proud of posting the second-fastest performance ever, she replied, “I definitely am. In a race like that, it’s definitely about making it perfect and getting all the details right. Even in that race, I felt really confident in the way I executed it. I’m hoping to tune up a little more in the last stop and maybe go a best time.”

MEN’S 100M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Jack Alexy (USA) – 45.84

On the depth of the field in the 100 free, Alexy said, “It hurt a lot more than this morning. It hurt a lot more than the last 100 free in Carmel. Racing these guys is really motivating, and it’s fun getting up and racing against these guys time and time again.”

Looking ahead to the 4×100 free relay in LA, he noted the depth among the American sprinters, explaining, “I think it’s an interesting dynamic throughout the year. I swim with Brooks Curry, and I know that Chris Guiliano trains with a lot of the USA guys on the team. It’s an interesting dynamic when you go through the season competing for events like this, not qualification spots but what’s best for Team USA.”

On the Americans building toward LA28, Alexy stated, “Every race we do is going to prepare us for that 4×100 free relay in three years. I’m lucky to have a lot of guys like Chris and Brooks and a lot of guys here to carry that with me. I’m excited for the team. I was fortunate to put on a USA cap in Paris and am looking forward to doing the same in LA to represent the United States of America.”

WOMEN’S 100M BREASTSTROKE, GOLD – Kate Douglass (USA) – 1:03.14

“That didn’t feel great,” Douglass said of her swim. “I was slower than last week, so I’m not very happy with it. Just practicing racing.”

On the strong performances from her American teammates, she added, “It’s definitely very exciting to see all of us performing pretty well at this time of the season. It’s exciting seeing Regan Smith and Gretchen Walsh dominate their events, and I feel like I’m able to do the same with mine. It’s pretty cool that we’re all here racing.”

Discussing the points rankings and opportunities, Douglass explained, “It’s cool to see how all the AQUA points for each event help mix up the standings a little bit, I guess in my events. My world record from last year makes it a little tricky for me to get points in that event. I think we made it a little more difficult for ourselves with the previous year’s success.”

MEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY, GOLD – Ilya Kharun (CAN) – 1:48.46 

“I didn’t expect the time. I wanted to be here,” Kharun said. “I was very happy with that race. I knew that Noe Ponti was going to be out there. He said it earlier. He said he was just going to go out fast and see what he can do. My goal was to just keep up with him, and I was very happy to do that.”

On his race strategy against Ponti, he explained, “I didn’t expect him to go out that quick, but I knew if I could stick by him, I knew what I could do in the end. I find myself to have that adrenaline and just keep it going and try and catch up to him.”

Looking ahead to Toronto, Kharun said, “I’ll try to go out faster next week. I will try my best. Meters is a bit different than yards, so I actually know what I am doing during that race, but I am sure that next week I will go out faster.”

On his NCAA event lineup, he noted, “I think my events will probably stay the same. Maybe I will add the 100 free, but I don’t think I will change what’s working.”