After five women lowered world records over the first two swimming World Cups, the men broke through on the first day of the last stop in Toronto on Thursday.
Olympic gold medalist Hubert Kos of Hungary smashed a 10-year-old short course world record in the 200m backstroke. Olympic silver medalist Josh Liendo of Canada clipped the 100m butterfly world record in front of home fans.
Each three-day World Cup stop is held in a 25-meter, short-course pool. That differs from the Olympics and summer World Championships, which are held in 50-meter pools. There are separate world records in short course.
At the first two World Cups in Carmel, Indiana, and Westmont, Illinois, Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, Gretchen Walsh, Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan all broke world records. No men did.
SWIMMING: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
Kos emphatically changed that at the Pan Am Sports Centre. He clocked 1:45.12, crushing the previous 200m back record of 1:45.63 set by Australian Mitch Larkin in 2015. Kos previously came within two hundredths of Larkin’s record at the 2024 World Short Course Championships.
It was the second-oldest men’s individual short-course world record behind the 400m freestyle record set by Frenchman Yannick Agnel in 2012.
About 15 minutes after Kos, Liendo swam the 100m fly in 47.68, shaving three hundredths off Swiss Noe Ponti’s world record from 2024. Liendo went 1.88 seconds faster than he did last week in Westmont.
In women’s events, Olympic champion Kate Douglass took the 200m breaststroke in 2:13.45, the third-fastest time in history. Douglass owns the top five times, including the world record of 2:12.50 from the 2024 World Short Course Championships.
Australian Lani Pallister swam the third-fastest women’s 400m free in history -- 3:51.87. That slots in behind the last two world records: 3:50.25 from Canadian Summer McIntosh and 3:51.30 from China’s Li Bingjie.
The World Cup continues Friday with prelims (10 a.m. ET) and finals (6 p.m.) live on Peacock.
