American Gretchen Walsh capped a record-setting week at the short course swimming World Cup event in Carmel, Indiana, with a dominant triumph in the 100m butterfly on Sunday.
Walsh, who lowered her own world record in the 50m fly on Saturday, couldn’t top her 100m fly world mark, but her winning time of 53.69sec was more than a second-faster than runner-up Alexandria Perkins, who clocked an Australian record of 54.93.
Australia’s five-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown turned the tables on world record-holder Regan Smith in the women’s 200m backstroke with a win in 1min 58.86sec.
Smith, who rallied to beat McKeown in the 100m back on Saturday, settled for second in 2:00.07.
Lani Pallister added another win for Aussie women in the 800m freestyle in 8:02.02.
Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands won the men’s 200m breaststroke, holding off a late charge from French star Leon Marchand to win in 2:01.63.
Corbeau, who also won the 100m breaststroke, led by almost a second at the 100m mark and hung on as Marchand — winner of four gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and two individual medley golds at the World Championships in Singapore this year — closed the gap.
Marchand’s runner-up finish in 2:02.00 means he departs Carmel without a victory, having finished second in the 200m backstroke and third in the 400m free on Friday and second to training partner Shaine Casas in the 200m medley on Saturday.
