Mollie O'Callaghan Pioneers Spitzean-Pace Sub-1:50 In S/C World Cup 200 Free
Dolphin ace and Olympic champion clocks 1:49.77 in 200m free at the World Cup in Westmont and says: "I knew I was capable of doing that swim. It was just if. And a lot of times, it might not work out ... It’s nice to do short course, it’s such a big change from long course. It’s a different beast"
Olympic champion Mollie O'Callaghan mastered the "different beast" of short-course 200m freestyle racing with a 1:49.77 World record that took the pace of the women's race below 1:50 for the first time.
That's $10,000 in the bag for O'Callaghan, on a second day of action at the Westmont round of the World Cup that also put 10k in the bank for American Regan Smith when she equalled her own World record in the 100m backstroke.
The 200m free standard had stood to Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey at 1:50.31 since 2021.
The splits compared:
- 25.70; 53.59 (27.89) 1:21.89 (28.30) 1:49.77 (27.88) O’Callaghan, 2025
- 26.20; 53.81 (27.61) 1:22.03 (28.22) 1:50.31 (28.29) Haughey, 2021
The winning time also took down the eight-year-old World Cup record of 1:50.43 set by Swedish sprint ace and triple Olympic champion Sarah Sjöström in 2017.
O'Callaghan's was a classic swim: fastest ever first 50, fast yet steady as she goes for the next 100, then a last 50 faster than the second and third there and back. Half a second gained going out, 0.41sec gained on Haughey coming home. The Australian ace had believed she could do it, had envisaged it but wondered whether she could pull it off:
“I was so nervous all day. I knew I was capable of doing that swim. It was just if. And a lot of times, it might not work out, but I knew I had two-tenths left to try and crack it. It’s nice to do short course, it’s such a big change from long course. It’s a different beast at the end of the day. I have a great support team behind me to get me to this moment. I’m thankful for them because truly, I wouldn’t be here without them.”
The rest of day 2 action, topped by a mashed WR in the 100m back from Regan Smith:
Craig Lord
The first men's s/c world record was a 1:44.50, by Michael Gross, of Germany, on December 1, 1981, his 200m free Olympic gold a dream to be fulfilled two and a half years on at LA1984.
O'Callaghan is also two and a half years out from an Olympics in LA, and the women's 200m free crown has never been retained since the event was introduced in 1968, and American Debbie Meyer became the first woman to claim three individual golds in the pool, with victories in the 200, 400 and 800m free.
At 1:49.77, O'Callaghan's pace is around that of Mark Spitz's long-course gold and world record of Munich 1972, 1:52.78, a mark no longer as fast as the fastest of women: Ariarne Titmus, the 200 and 400m Olympic champion of Tokyo2020ne and 400m champion of 2024 before taking silver behind O'Callaghan in the Paris 200, holds the long-course mark at a sizzling 1:52.23, set a Olympic trials ahead of O'Callaghan, who had held the standard at 1:52.85. That was the time in which she lifted the 2023 World title.
Now, she holds the s/c mark at a pace - in a race in October a couple of months after reclaiming the 200m free world crown in Singapore - that suggests there's more pioneering to come on the way to LA2028, no longer with Titmus by her side.
Craig Lord
Closest to O'Callaghan in Westmont, on the edge of Chicago, was another Dolphin schoolmate making big waves this year: Lani Pallister, on 1:52.06, with American Anna Peplowski third in 1:52.54.
