By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam
2025 SWIMMING WORLD CUP – CARMEL
Day two of the first stop of the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup brought the heat with multiple national, U.S. Open record, and even a world record being broken in Carmel, Indiana.
We’re treated to a plethora of domestic talent paired with a strong international contingent, with swimmers stemming from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe and beyond.
After the dust settled, several of night two’s winners took to the mic to convey details about their performances, their mentality and excitement over racing the world’s best.
All quote excerpts are courtesy of World Aquatics.
WOMEN 400M IM, GOLD – Abbie Wood (GBR)
“My advice to myself anytime I am swimming the 400 IM in short course is to keep the first 200m big and relaxed and to work my underwaters, which is my strength. I then put a big shift in on the breaststroke, which is my strength. So as long as I’m calm on the first 200, I’m back myself for the breaststroke, it seems to like balance but better that way for me.
“The girls were really on giving me some heat, so that probably made me go out quicker otherwise I would have been a bit more lazy, but it worked out,
“I think the last 50m on the freestyle was a bit more frantic than I wanted it to be. I think I lost my cool a bit. I was just trying to keep my head in the race, but I was able to get my hand on the wall first, so I couldn’t have gone too badly.
“My training’s been just a lot recently, working to get my fitness back. I didn’t have a massive break after Singapore, because I wanted to swim in the World Cup events. This is my first time doing all three in a row.
“After Budapest short course championships last year, I wanted to see what I could make of myself here, and then I’ll have a bit of a break after this before going into the long course season. I kind of switched it around a little bit, had a bit of a smaller break. I took a couple weeks, but not as many holidays as I might have liked to.
“Oh, my gosh to find out that this is a high school (with these great pools) just blew my mind. I come from a small town with a small pool. In Carmel they have two 50m pools in one school which is just crazy to me. I think we got one of them in all of England, so this is very different. This is a place where young swimmers will come for autograph signing sessions, perhaps even swimming lessons and they will soon want to get more involved in the sport and they will be inspired.
“I think it’s great for the World Cup because it is really competitive but not as time focused, which I think brings out the best.I think it kind of shows off our personalities as swimmers.”
MEN 1500M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Sam Short (AUS)
“I was 14:30 and I didn’t really know where I was going to be. I thought I was going to be slower than that.I went 14:25 last week, feeling pretty good I think. The travel (to the USA) affected me more than I thought. It’s a 16 hour time zone difference. So I feel like I’m just waking up as I would be in Australia. I’m happy with that. I think I can improve upon that.
“I was prepared for Carson (Foster) to come back. I probably could have pushed myself to the vomiting stage if someone was there, but, you know, I had a 10 second lead at 1,500, I was going like, do I really push that vomiting stage or not? Carson is a fantastic person and I was ready for him to be there. I’m very excited to race some better people in the next couple stops.
“I wasn’t very happy with my 400m freestyle last night. I think I can do a lot better in that, but I’m obviously fit. I’ve just been doing a lot of, I’ve a lot of speed work. A 14:30 short course isn’t really my thing, so I’ll see where my speed is tomorrow in the 200m free.
“I really like racing in the U.S. The field here is amazing, like 400m free last night was stacked. I wouldn’t get that anywhere else in Australia. I’d be winning by 10 seconds. So I love it. I mean, the food here is great. Everyone has been so nice and I’m planning to come back a lot next year as well.
“Being from Australia we probably don’t travel and race internationally enough. We are trying to change that because there’s so much different racing when someone is right next to me and pushing me. At Australian trials, I would be winning by half of the pool, that’s never going to happen internationally or at the world championships. So I come here to race the best and it will make me a better athlete.”
WOMEN 200M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS)
“It felt different. I feel like the short course event is a different race than long course. I don’t have the training under me to do short course, so it’s a nice little surprise to pop a 1:50.77, especially as this is probably my third 200m free short course ever. So I’m pretty happy with it.
“I didn’t swim at Australian Short Course Nationals. We kind of had a break after Worlds and then it’s been a gradual build back into training. I have been trying to build the K’s (kilometers). It hadn’t really been focusing on anything too hard. I have done the tiniest bit of short course training. This meet is about just racing, having fun but also training behind it and trying to get that strength back.
“I know the Aussies have been struggling. We came here on Sunday, so it’s a bit of a quick turn around. Normally, we have a month beforehand, kind of get accustomed to the time zone, so this week it’s been trying to avoid napping as much, try and sleep the whole way through, so everyone’s doing a very good job of trying to get accustomed to it. I think we’ve had a lot of practice at changing times zones.
“I’m definitely signed on for all three World Cup stops. It’s new for me, I have not done World Cup before. So to do this and enjoy each stop, maybe change events, I don’t know yet, but just enjoy it.
“I’ve came back and I had a little bit of a problem with my shoulder just a bit aggravated recently. Over the past while training, so I had to modify that a bit. But that’s swimming. So just trying to build back, build the Ks up, trying to get that aerobic (base) back. Especially the speed hasn’t really been there that much. We haven’t really done main sets. I would say it’s just about coming back and enjoying it and having found a life outside swimming too while we’re at it.
“It’s a hard one because last time it was a three year cycle but this time, it’s a four year cycle. So we have a year to play around with. But this year hasn’t been a lot about just taking time, building back into it, trying something new, especially we haven’t had from last year having five months off and then injuring myself and then trying to get back to normal without having that base that we normally do. So that’s been a bit of a hard one, but it’s nice to try something new this year and have fun with it. At the end of the day, this year is just a refresher for the next cycle. Something we’re gonna nail down in the next three years.”
MEN 200M IM, GOLD – Shaine Casas (USA)
“It’s good. I hurt a lot less than the last time I did a fast 200m IM. I’m pretty happy with that. It’s kind of as great of a start as you can get, and a best time on the first stop.
“I think a lot of that has to do with Leon (Marchand) being next to me. I said (to myself) let’s just go for it. And that was the strategy. So now just kind of using that, I mean, see what we can do, even when he’s not here, just kind of keep pushing myself and see how far I can go.
“That is probably my best event, so I definitely hold that up there with my focus and attention and my drive. So I think the best thing I can do is just keep focusing on details and execution and just honestly racing. Like that’s like the most important part of this whole thing. The times and medals whatever, even the money’s whatever. It’s just like, you got to keep racing and keep getting better. So if I can do that, I’ll be good.
“I was actually thinking that the fear of losing is so daunting, especially in a sport where you don’t get redemption in one game or even in the next week, it’s like months or even years. You kind of just got to wait for your turn. Having that happen to me, I’ve kind of learned how to deal with that and process that and use that as fire. And I think, maybe during the years where it wasn’t at the top or swimming super well, that’s definitely fueled me and given me guidance throughout this time that I am doing well again.
“I kind of know the why and what to do a little bit better. I don’t know everything. I don’t try to. I used to try to act and talk like I knew everything, but I don’t. I think the best thing I can do is listen to my coach and just follow the taper. And I mean, the swims are showing in themselves.
“I’m fit, but I’m probably going to get chewed out because I should be in the water right now cooling down, but I feel good. I’m not collapsing. Last year at Short Course Worlds, I was (close) to passing out, so that’s a good step!”
WOMEN 100M BACKSTROKE, GOLD – Regan Smith (USA)
“It’s was really tight race, I feel. As far as 100 backstrokes go, not great. And Shanghai a year ago was a bit faster, so I’m hoping that I can clean it up and feel a little bit better as the stops go on, but at the end of the day, like, we’re racing for points and for places and to get a first place is important. It’s strategy of racing for points and places really, very important to you and you.
“Backstroke with Kaylee in the mix is a tall order for me. I mean, I haven’t beat her head to head outside of a relay in a very long time, so I knew that it would be difficult racing for points and getting first place and seeing, you know, how well I could stack up against her and the other girls at the stop and all the combined stuff, but, I mean, I think it’s pushing me to really challenge myself and my potential and my goals.
“It feels really good to beat Kaylee. It’s been a while, and so it’s just like, I know I can, right? It’s like, what she’s done is absolutely incredible, right? But it’s just like, oh, my gosh, I’ve been right there for so long, and so I think, with LA on the very distant horizon, it feels good to finally do it head to head. I think it was a bit of a mental thing and of just, you know, have the [mindset of] you’re capable of doing this. Hopefully, I can keep snowballing that, but I know she’s a beast so we’ll just keep going back and forth.”
MEN 50M BREASTSTROKE, GOLD – Chris Smith (RSA)
“I think my start was just a little bit off, just like this morning, I was a little bit off my best time, but overall I am very happy with it. I glided into my touch, but I think if I took another stroke, they would have untouched me.
“I want to thank my family for their support and thank my coach Michelle Vlasakova, for teaching me how to swim and for getting me to this level.
“The short course world championships in December 2024 was my first international meet in Budapest. This year I made the finals in the 50m breaststroke in Singapore. I came in sixth in the 50m breaststroke, so I think definitely I just got a lot faster in the last year. I think all of my training paid off and I just got the hang of it now.”
WOMEN 50M BUTTERFLY, GOLD – Gretchen Walsh (USA)
“I felt really good. I think I was feeling really strong in the water and powerful, and I felt fast this morning too. There was just a little something different about my strokes here tonight, maybe less gliding, and I just knew that the timing was kind of perfect.
“For me, everything’s about stroke count and kick count. So once I kind of reminded myself, and got familiar again, it kind of came back naturally. When you race enough times, and I know I’m going to be racing a lot over the next three weeks. So, just building off of every single swim, learning from every single swim, I think it’s going to be really important for me.
“I didn’t say my speed was gone, I just didn’t know where I was at. I think my butterfly speed is clearly doing really well, and I felt that way in the 100m IM as well. And that’s probably why I chose IM over freestyle yesterday. I think that choosing to do the 50m fly today, even though there’s no other options for me really, was the right choice.
“Yeah, It’s hard sometimes because we’re here without a coach, but I’m definitely communicating with Todd (DeSorbo) a lot over the phone. He wanted me to take another kick on my start but I didn’t do that. I think there’s a lot of thought that goes into a swim like that where you really do want to perfect every detail and make every part of it exactly how you need to execute it to go your best time. And so for me, I felt confident in doing my normal routine, and I just made sure that I was really putting a lot of power and effort into every single stroke. There’s just not many in a race like that.
“I really heard the crowd last night during my 100m IM. I can hear a lot of people cheering. I kind of listen for them, just to get me amped up. I think everyone’s been so kind here and very supportive of me, so I can definitely hear my cheerleaders in the crowd.”
MEN 100M FREESTYLE, GOLD – Jack Alexy (USA)
“It definitely was a battle tonight. I have raced all those guys in college, and it’s really cool to see that competitiveness on the World Cup stage. It’s really fun racing those guys, these guys are my friends. It creates a pretty intense environment in the ready room for a little bit, but then it’s really fun stepping the blocks next to those guys and racing them, especially in a close race, like the 100m freestyle
“I was really focusing on the second 50. I knew the first 50 would kind of take care of itself. I practiced that first 50, the easy speed, so I know it’s there. At a time like this in October, it’s a little strange to be racing at this high level. But it is really cool to have an opportunity to do that. A a huge shout out to all aquatics, Carmel, Indiana for having us here. I mean, it’s truly an amazing opportunity. And I’m really grateful and excited for my races tomorrow, and over the next two weeks.
“It’s [racing at the meet] been pretty cool. Everyone has a kind of different journey. through college, and it’s really comfortable to see how those friendships mold over the years. They are carried from dual meets to conference championships to the NCAA championships, and then you get to race them again at USA qualifying meets and then at international meets. So it’s really cool that the university system really sets that up to have a great team and great bonding between all those guys. And it’s really cool thing to experience, especially when you’re in the ready room, and you’re pretty nervous for your race, but then it’s just another race that you’ve done a few other times with the guys that you race in college with. So it’s a really cool experience.
“I was sitting by myself in the ready room and I was thinking of the goal time in mind; just thinking of some details and looking at the crowd getting a little nervous. I think it’s just kind of a cool experience and a privilege to feel that pressure, and feel these nerves. And I think it’s good for practice for now.
“Now if we can just get more races the end from now until the summer, and again in 2027 and 2028. Not only myself, but Team USA is in really good hands in the leadup to the Los Angeles Olympics.”
WOMEN 100M BREASTSTROKE, GOLD – Kate Douglass (USA)
“I think I do a really good job of getting faster when it goes from prelims to finals. I think that’s something that I just have some confidence in myself that I know I’m gonna get faster in finals. And I think I’m really good at using my prelims races to kind of find things that I can fine-tune each week to just make my final still a little bit faster.
“This morning was the first time I raced in the 100m breaststroke in short course. I kind of went in with a stroke count plan and I was kind of all over the place. So tonight, I kind of knew what stroke count to switch it up to and to try to hit, and I did that, and I went faster.
“I feel like I’ve always struggled with sprint breaststroke. It’s not something I really focused on in college just because I was never really the best at it. I feel like these last few years, I’ve really been trying to focus on it, especially for long course racing. I was just excited to swim it this weekend.
“I really think I’m building off of what I did last spring. I feel like I focused a lot on trying to get my rate up and stay powerful in the water. I try to avoid swimming too hard in the race where I just start to go slower. I think, honestly, and in a lot of my races, when I try too hard in a race and I take too many strokes, I’m not getting as much out of them and I go slower and I’m wasting more energy.
“I feel like I’m really trying to build off of everything I did to prepare for Worlds last summer and see what I can do in the short course pool. It’s definitely been a little difficult. We definitely did a few weeks of aerobic training, which is not my favorite. We’re coming to this meet feeling a little bit broken down, and not feeling like we’re at our best when it comes to our training cycle. We all think that we’re going to kind of improve a little bit as we go throughout these weeks and maybe get a little bit more rest than we’ve had.”
MEN 200M BUTTERFLY, GOLD – Ilya Kharun (CAN)
“I was tired at the end. I’m still in the middle of training. But, yeah, I’ll know, like, a race felt pretty good, kind of smooth. I just thought of it as a dual meet, in a way, since I am in the college season. It was like a dual meet, but like a harder meet, and it was really fun.
“I’m just trying my best and doing my own thing. I work hard every day and it shows during meets. I do love racing.
“The (college) season has just started, but the training has been really good. I’m happy about that. I have asked Herbi (Behm) my coach for a bit harder training, because last year wasn’t really too hot. I think it’s working for now, which is good. I hope it will keep working. We do test sets and things like that, and it shows. We switched up the training to more and longer sets.
“I think (racing in) yards is a bit easier, short course meters are a bit longer. I haven’t really had much practice with it. I would say the 200 fly is definitely a bit harder in meters than yards because of strokes and I guess more underwaters in a way. I just think of it as both yards and meters kind of the same, except as a bit longer.
“I think we got a really amazing group of guys this year, and they push me and each other to the next level. I’m really happy about that. We didn’t really have much of that last year. But this year, I think it should be really good, especially for the NCAA season.
“I will be racing in Westmont and also in Toronto. I might trim for the third World Cup stop in Canada, my home.”
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Regan Smith: “It Feels Good To Finally Do It Head To Head” & Other World Cup Day Two Quotes
