2025 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – Toronto
- October 23-25, 2025
- Toronto, Canada
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Recaps
The first day of the final World Cup stopin Toronto, CAnada was electric with two World Records and a ton of National and World Cup records falling over the course of the evening.
The event champions, and newly crowned World Record holders, spoke to the World Aquatics media after the meet, talking about the racing, the Triple Crowns, and the wins.
All quote excerpts are courtesy of World Aquatics.
Men’s 100 fly/50 free — GOLD, Josh Liendo (CAN)– 47.68 **World Record, 20.31 **World Cup and Canadian Record
Josh Liendo was glad to be racing in Canada saying, “The crowd got me hyped up. I was looking around before my race and saw everyone cheering loud and they were getting hyped, so it hyped me up too.”
“Off the start, I knew I was having a good swim and from there, I didn’t look back. I saw ‘World Record,’ and I would have been happy even if it said 48 up there, so that was when I slapped the water.”
Liendo did not have the strongest performance at the first two stops, but he felt comfortable in the pool on night one “(Ponti and Kharun) cooked me on that first stop,” Liendo said, as he was fourth in Carmel two weeks ago at 50.20. “I got a little bit of rest under my belt and was feeling good this stop. Obviously, the home pool, I know it pretty well, I’m used to training in it. I know the dimensions, I know what it’s like, I know how to do a turn…I’m not missing any turns. It’s pretty comfortable for me.”
He also broke the 50 freestyle Canadian record from last week. “I told Ilya, ‘hey, you went 20.7 last week, I’m going to have to take it back now.’ It’s great racing him, we push each other, and having someone like that in Canada…he’s only going to get better. He’s a stud, man, so it’s great to race him and I am looking forward to racing him in the future.”
Men’s 200 Back — Gold, Hubert Kos (HUN) — 1:45.12 **World Record
Hubert Kos broke a 10 year old World Record in the men’s 200 backstroke on night one. He said, “It’s kind of unbelievable. You can’t really process these things straight away and it’s just going to take me some time, especially since I’m still processing the Olympic gold, so who knows how long this will take to process. I knew I could be pretty close, but I also knew that I could be pretty far too, like, it could have been between 1:45 or 1:50.”
Women’s 400 Free — Gold, Lani Pallister (AUS) — 3:51.87
Lani Pallister was the first Triple Crown winner of the meet with her 400 freestyle title. She talked about her improvement week by week, saying “I think it was just important building each week. I wasn’t super stoked with the first week, but I think coming off the flight (into the USA two weeks ago) I guess jet lag hurts you a little bit more than you anticipate. So yeah, pretty happy with the 3:51. I mean, I’d like to be under 3:50 eventually, but we’ll see where that event takes me in the future. I’ll take it as a win”
Pallister also talked about her intention with the World Cup. “It was honestly more about just having fun. I wanted to do (the World Cup) at the start of the year and I had so much fun doing them in 2023. So coming away, getting the American experience, kind of getting used to the culture here a little bit. It’s important (preparation) for 2028, but also important for the Pan Pacific Championships next year in California. So it wasn’t all just about racing. It was almost like a little bit of reconnaissance, just seeing what the environment would be like.”
Women’s 200 Fly — Gold, Regan Smith (USA) — 2:00.34
Regan Smith set a World Cup record in the event last week, but had a different strategy this week by getting out fast. She won the event in a slightly slower time than her WC Record and took the Triple Crown. She said about the race
“I’m happy with three in a row, but I think the biggest thing for me is to be good, better, best. And even if I wasn’t under 2:00, I wanted that to be my fastest one. And that was my slowest. I did go for it, though. I really felt it more than I have in any of the other stops in the last 25… I could feel myself just falling apart. So I’m proud of myself for going for it, but also, I think I’m better than that personally.”
Women’s 200 Breast — Gold, Kate Douglass (USA) — 2:13.45
Kate Douglass set a new season best time in the women’s 200 breaststroke, though she just missed the World Record. She also won the Triple Crown, saying My goal going into tonight was to win the triple crown. It was my best swim of the series so I’m happy with it. I was obviously hoping to maybe dip under into 2:12 again, but I’m happy that I was able to improve from the other weekends.”
Women’s 100 IM — Gold, Gretchen Walsh (USA)– 55.99
Gretchen Walsh was the last women’s Triple Crown winner of the evening, winning the women’s 100 IM. She said, “I’m definitely really pleased with the triple crown. I think at the end of the day, that’s what I wanted out of that race. And, you know, the time is kind of meh, but I just need to let go and move on and continue upon this triple crown journey.
Her biggest threat for the Crown, Kate Douglass scratched the event before the first prelims session. Walsh said, “I think I’m less nervous when (Kate Douglass) is not racing against me, but I think she also pushes me a lot. When I see her, I get motivated. And so maybe in that way, I kind of benefit when she’s there. But I think there was still a great competition today. And I definitely had this inner motivation to hopefully go faster than I did at the last stop. And even though I didn’t, it was fast enough, and that’s all that matters.”
Women’s 50 Back — Gold, Kaylee McKeown (AUS) — 25.35
Kaylee McKeown also won a Triple Crown in the 50 back, despite major competition in the event. She told World Aquatics “This time last year I didn’t even last the World Cup Tour. I did the first day and then decided to run the tail end. So I’m really happy to have made my way through and just be in such a good place. I think I’m just a lot fresher mentally. And like I just want to be in the sport still. I think I’ve just found a new love for it.”
Men’s 100 IM — Gold, Shaine Casas (USA) – 50.28
Shaine Casas was one of the men’s Triple Crown winners. He said, “I thought that was still really sloppy. I feel like I was a little bit tired today, not really sure why – probably from walking around Chicago the whole time, so I think that might be a little bit of it, but it’s still a best time. That’s good. It definitely gives me some momentum for tomorrow. I didn’t go under 50 there, so maybe I can go under 1:49 tomorrow (in the 200m IM). We’ll see.”
Women’s 50 Free — Gold, Kasia Wasick (POL) — 23.31
Kasia Wasick won the Triple Crown in the 50 free, and she set her 2nd best time ever in the event at 33. She said of her Triple Crown, “It means the world to me. To be able to handle the pressure, and when you see the crown going in front of you…it really brings the nerves, and to be able to handle it gives me confidence.”
Men’s 100 Breast — Gold, Caspar Corbeau (NED) — 55.55
Caspar Corbeau won the men’s 100 breast in a National and World Cup record. He said of his strategy “I think in Carmel and in Westmont, and also years before, I would really push the frequency, because naturally you think the higher the frequency, the faster you can go, but that’s not really how I swim. And I think I should focus on my strengths, which is gliding. So tonight, I tried out the four, five, six, six and a half… I didn’t do a last kick in, but it worked, and I think that’s going to be my new plan.”
Men’s 400 Free — Gold, Carson Foster (USA) — 3:36.52
Carson Foster won his 2nd 100 freestyle time of the series, saying “This is the first time in probably two and a half years where I’ve really had fun at a swim meet, the last three weeks. It has been an answered prayer to be able to come here and swim well, and more importantly, have fun, so I just want to take advantage of that.”
Man I feel for Carson. I get going through stretches where you don’t enjoy swimming all the time, but not a single fun meet in two and a half years is something else.
Individual Olympic gold >>> anything else.
Warms my heart to see Kaylee doing so well mentally 🥹🥹 seems the move she made was the right decision!
Me too buddy, me too.