Gold Medalists Leon Marchand, Kaylee McKeown Returning to Competition at World Cup in Shanghai
Only 11 weeks will have passed since the conclusion of the swimming events at the Paris Olympics when several big-name competitors return to international competition at the Swimming World Cup in Shanghai, the first of three stops scheduled on this year’s tour. The list of entrants includes six swimmers who won individual gold medals, France’s Leon Marchand, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, China’s Pan Zhanle, the United States’ Kate Douglass and Italian swimmers Thomas Ceccon and Nicolo Martinenghi.
Marchand will be making his first foray into racing in the 25-meter course, and given his dominance in yards during his college career and then his four-gold-medal effort in Paris, it would be no surprise if he begins knocking off world records throughout the World Cup circuit as he launches the next chapter of his career.
McKeown, who recently lowered the short course world record in the 100 back at the Australian Short Course Championships, will face off with American Regan Smith in the backstroke events during the World Cup. McKeown edged Smith in the 100 and 200-meter long course races in Paris as the Aussie swept the backstroke events for the second consecutive Games, although Smith did finish the summer with the long course world record in the 100 back as well as the Olympic record.
The host nation, China, will unsurprisingly bring many of its top swimmers to the meet, with Pan coming off an incredible Olympics in which he clocked 46.40 to dominate the men’s 100 free before splitting 45.92 to anchor China to 400 medley relay gold. The delegation also includes breaststroke world-record holder Qin Haiyang and Tokyo gold medalists Zhang Yufei and Wang Shun, plus Paris medalists Xu Jiayu, Tang Qianting, Sun Jiajun, Wang Changhao, Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Wu Qingfeng, Yu Yiting, Ge Chutong, Liu Yaxin, Tang Muhan, Kong Yaqi, Wan Letian and Wang Xueer.
Smith and Douglass, the 200 breast winner from Paris, lead a group of nine Americans scheduled to compete, with fellow Paris swimmer Kieran Smith plus Tokyo Olympian Michael Andrew and as well as veterans Charlie Clark, Jack Dahlgren, Jack Dolan, Trenton Julian and Beata Nelson. Ceccon, the 100 back gold medalist, and Martinenghi, the 100 breast winner, will be joined by fellow Italians Benedetta Pilato, Lorenzo Mora and Alberto Razzetti in Shanghai.
Great Britain will send Duncan Scott, Ben Proud and James Guy, all medal winners in Paris, to Shanghai while the presence of Dutch breaststrokers Arno Kamminga and Caspar Corbeau will make those events some of the most competitive on the program. Additional Olympic-medal winners competing include Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and South African veteran Chad le Clos. Other big names on the entry list include Poland’s Kasia Wasick and Kacper Stokowski, New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt, Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dylan Carter.
The full entry list for the meet can be found here. The series of meets returns to short course meters this year, with competition scheduled for Shanghai from October 18-20, followed by Incheon, South Korea, and Singapore in the ensuing weeks.