Round 2 of the swimming World Cup took place in Chicago Illinois over the weekend. A number of swimmers made significant improvements from the previous round just one week ago in Indiana. Surprise winners of events and a slew of World Records made round 2 a very interesting meet, adding to the excitement going into the final round in Toronto Canada.

Perhaps the most impressive swim of the meet was from Australian Mollie O’Callaghan who set a new world record in the Women’s 200 metre freestyle in dominant fashion. She is the first woman to swim sub 1:50 in the event finishing in 1:49.77. She followed that up with impressive swims in the 100 and 50 metre freestyle and 50 metre backstroke claiming medals in all her events. It will be interesting to see if she can further improve the world record in the final round in Toronto in a week’s time.

Other impressive swims were in the women’s 100 metre backstroke where Regan Smith matched her own world record of 54.02 to take a dominant victory. Her Australian rival Kaylee McKeown set a world record of her own in the 200-metre backstroke of 1:57.87. Regan Smith took the silver medal in an American record time of 1:57.91. Regan Smith also took a very dominant victory in the 200-metre butterfly, winning by over 4 seconds in a World Cup record of 2:00.20 in what is her second-best stroke.  These 2 are in a class of their own in the backstroke events and will once again be very close in the backstroke events in the final round in Toronto.

The other World record to fall was a quite a big surprise. American Kate Douglass in the 100-metre freestyle set a time of 50.19 to win by over a second from Mollie O’Callaghan in second place. Douglass being able to set a world record in her 2^nd stroke after breaststroke really shows her versatility and that she is in great form heading into the final round in Toronto. Douglass also took victories in the 200 and 100 metre breaststroke. Each of world record earns the swimmer $10,000 and based on their current form we can expect more records in the 3^rd round adding to the excitement and spectacle.

Hubert Kos of Hungary once again took a clean sweep in the backstroke events. He will be hoping to complete the triple crown in each of the backstroke events in Toronto to secure himself a handsome pay-out in prize money. However, the winner of the 2^nd leg in Chicago went to Shaine Casas of the United States who took a clean sweep of victories in the 3 medley events showing he is in strong form heading into Toronto. Ilya Kharun had a slightly more understated but very impressive meet taking third place in the rankings for the 2^nd round. He took 3 victories in a range of events again showing his versatility, including the 200-metre butterfly, where he set a world cup record,50 metre butterfly and the 50-metre freestyle. He also secured a silver medal in the 100-metre butterfly. He will be hoping to continue his form in Toronto.

Another interesting performance from round 2 was from Adam Peaty. He made significant improvements in the 50 and 100 breaststroke from the first round in Indiana. He will be looking to keep this trajectory and potentially get into the medals in the 3^rd round in Toronto as he continues building back up after his extended break after the Paris Olympics. The other British swimmers taking part had some decent results too. Matt Richards finished in 4^th place in the 100 and 200 metre freestyle just shy of the medal places while Abbie Wood finished 3^rd in both the 200 and 400 metre individual medley events.

With the final round of the World Cup less than a week away, the swimmers have very little time to recover before racing starts again on Friday. Lots will be hoping for further improvements to round off the World Cup series. Swimmers will also be chasing the bonus prize money on offer for world records, triple crowns in events, and overall rankings where the big prize money of $100,000 is on offer. Hubert Kos is the favourite on the men’s side to crowned series champion, while the women’s side is still very much up for grabs with 3 swimmers vying the top spot. The final round in Toronto is to provide some great entertainment and spectacle when racing starts on Friday the 24^th of October.