The Paris Olympics was kind of a whirlwind phenomenon, keeping the fans on the edge. However, after the conclusion of the same, the fans could feel the adrenaline rush dying out as they missed all the excitement. As it turned out, the intermediate time was the lull before the storm. With the Short Course World Championship aka the Swimming World Cup kicking off in Shanghai, champion swimmers from all over the world have flocked to add to their tally of accomplishments. 

And standing up to its hype, the world championship had already witnessed some cracking action in the first few days. While the fastest men’s swimmer in the world, Leon Marchand has won back-to-back golds, Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon has also won his event, getting the better of Zhanle Pan. Interestingly, after suffering a humbling defeat at the hands of Kaylee McKeown earlier in the tournament, US swimmer Regan Smith came out on top to win the women’s 100m backstroke final.

Now, while the glimpse may have been a bit too much to process at once, here’s a more detailed analysis of what went down. Starting with the Golden Boy of Swimming, Leon Marchand is looking set to conquer everything that comes his way. After clocking a time of 50.65s in his 100m individual medley triumph, Marchand spun his magic once again. Competing in the 200m individual medley today, the Olympic gold medalist was once again spotted in his elements. Reaching the finish line in just 1:50.30s, Marchand not only won the gold but also broke the French record, the European record, and the World Cup record all at once. 

Next up, it was time for a shocker in the men’s 100m freestyle final. Chinese swimmer, Zhanle Pan was the firm favorite coming off a fantastic gold medal victory in Paris. Unfortunately, his quest to continue the dream run came to a jolting stop as Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon clocked a time of 46.32s, upsetting Pan by just 0.03s. Now you can sense the true competitive nature of the ongoing World Cup. But there’s more. A redemption-seeking Regan Smith and a resilient Haiyang Qin also made things quite interesting. 

Regan Smith and other US swimmers flourish 

Regan Smith was looking to write her own tale of glory as she came face to face with Kaylee McKeown. Unfortunately, the Australian champion proved to be too much as she sped past Smith in the 50m backstroke finals, dashing her dreams of pulling off an upset. However, Smith is not the one to lament over past losses. 

Seeking redemption, Regan Smith came back strongly in the women’s 100m backstroke finals. She took the gold with a timing of 54.89s as another US swimmer, Beata Nelson, took the second place clocking 56.26s. Lastly, Haiyang Qin of China rounded off the victory podium by reaching the men’s 50m breaststroke finish line within 25.38s. Ilya Shymanovic took the second spot with 25.51s, while another Chinese prospect, Jiajun Sun finished third clocking 25.79s. Thus, with the action expected to get even more intense, the Swimming World Cup is surely turning out to be quite a spectacle for the fans.