"VAN" (Sports Desk - 09.10.2026) :: The Swimming World Cup 2026 Silk Road Tour continued on Thursday evening in Uzbekistan with some of the world’s best putting on a scintillating show for the crowd at the Palace of Water Sports within Tashkent's Olympic City complex.
Australia’s Cameron McEvoy, who has transformed and put intention to action on how to best train for the 50m Freestyle, nearly became the second man to break 20 seconds in the final of the 50m Freestyle. McEvoy swam 20.13 to set the World Cup record, lowering the mark he set last week in Baku at 20.22. The swim puts McEvoy second on the all-time list, and helps him close in on the 19.90 that Jordan Crooks set in 2024.
McEvoy, age 32, has committed to a sprint specific training regime that has seen him only achieve a 3km/week volume set in a given training week, allowing him to unlock the potential of the 50m Freestyle. Since committing to becoming a straight 50m Freestyler where his earlier career saw him as a 100/200m Freestyler, McEvoy has won the Olympic gold and two World titles in the long course pool. It was only this month that he executed a flip turn in the short course venue for the first time in five years.
As for whether the 19.9 was on the table for next week in Kazakhstan, McEvoy wasn’t so sure.
"I need to look at my analysis,” McEvoy said. “My swim speed, beautiful. Skills? Not so much. So I think the more I, I guess, get experience at 20.1, 20.2 speed, the more I'll learn the turn. Then hopefully, hopefully I can find something like 0.14 and go 19.99 or something like that. That would be incredible. So… if not now, I'll try it in Beijing."
McEvoy finished well ahead of Russia’s Egor Kornev (20.61) in second, who tied the 100m Freestyle world record last week and has emerged as McEvoy’s biggest challenger.
“Yeah, the bar is high,” McEvoy said of racing Kornev. “You have to get the second best ever in the 50m free to win, or you have to beat the world record holder in the 100m to win. It's pretty crazy. So I didn't pick the easy events to get a point score at these World Cups, but I think it's very good entertainment for the swim community.”
Steenbergen continues her sparkling form
Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands scored two wins on Thursday with a new European record in the 100m Individual Medley (IM) at 56.18, as well as a win in the 50m Backstroke at 25.70.
Steenbergen’s 56.18 lowered her continental mark she set last year at 56.26 to remain second on the all-time list.
“I wasn't expecting to be doing a PB here so I'm really happy with that and a European record as well," Steenbergen said.
She kept rival Roos Vanotterdijk at bay the entire race, out-splitting her on the Breaststroke and Freestyle to win the event for the second straight week. Steenbergen is currently the early leader for the overall World Cup crown, by virtue of her four gold medals last week and her two today. She currently holds a 9-point lead over Vanotterdijk as we are nearing the halfway mark of the tour.
Vanotterdijk was second in both races to Steenbergen, swimming 56.68 in the 100m IM for a new best time, and 26.31 in the 50m Backstroke.
China’s Yu Yiting was third in that 100m IM at 57.57 after also claiming an impressive win in the 200m butterfly at 2:02.75. That swim put her just outside the all-time top ten in 11th. Yu, who raced to five golds and two silvers at the Asian Games a few weeks ago, sits third in the overall World Cup standings, just over a half point behind Vanotterdijk.
Barr impresses again to claim men’s top spot
The men’s overall race is currently held by American Luke Barr, who swam to a 51.05 to win the 100m IM on Thursday night. That swim puts him tied for 16th all-time as he took down two World champions Shaine Casas (51.59) and Finlay Knox (51.65).
Barr, who holds a full-time day job in Dallas, has made a huge step in his career since graduating from Indiana University, and has taken a new approach to swimming that has helped him balance his life.
“It's definitely a great feeling (winning), I try not to think about it too much,” Barr said. “Trying to still keep swimming it's, like, a fun thing I do on the side, rather than (the) main thing that I'm doing. Otherwise, it'll put too much pressure…So, I'm just enjoying it as it goes."
It was the second final of the day for Barr, who was second in the 100m Breaststroke at 56.42 to Russia’s Kirill Prigoda at 55.98.
“I was just trying to change my mentality after the 100 Breaststroke,” Barr said. “Forget, good and bad of what happened, and just get straight into that 100 IM and see if I can do the repeat.”
Prigoda dominated the 100m Breaststroke field that included three representatives of the all-time top ten and current and former world records. Caspar Corbeau, who was the first man to break 2:00 last year in the 200m, finished third at 56.50 while former long-course world record holder Qin Haiyang was fourth at 56.85.
Barr currently has 93.7 overall points through four racing days at this World Cup, holding a firm lead over South Africa’s World champ Pieter Coetze, who won the 200m Backstroke today at 1:49.32. Coetze is coming off a successful summer where he swept the Backstroke finals at the Commonwealth Games and neared the long-course world record in the 100m Backstroke.
Coetze’s time today was three tenths faster than what he did to win last week.
“I looked at the video, saw what I could improve,” Coetze said. “I think my strategy was a bit different this week. Went out a bit more conservative. So I'm just trying different things and hopefully over the next few weeks and months I can drop a lot from that time.
“I tried to focus on holding my stroke rate into the walls because I tend to slow down a little bit as I get to the walls.”
Wasick’s 50m Freestyle unbeaten run continues
Poland’s Kasia Wasick collected yet another win in the 50m Freestyle, having not lost a race in short course meters since December 2022 or a race in the World Cup since 2024. On Thursday night, she swam to 23.63, just holding off Canada’s Taylor Ruck (23.68).
“It's not easy when you're 18. It's not easy when you're 20. It's definitely not easy when you're 34,” Wasick said. “So, I am very happy and proud that I can represent my country for so many races and for so many years.
“I just focus on the details, and I have the best group here, my coach, my physio and everyone that supports me."
Evgeniia Chikunova of Russia swam to 2:17.23 in winning the 200m Breaststroke for her second straight win in the series as a lot of Russian supporters were on hand to cheer her on.
“So loud,” she said. Last week, she was 0.03 faster, and will go for a third straight win next week in Kazakhstan. She won comfortably tonight over Tes Schouten (2:20.07).
China’s Chen Juner also collected his second straight win in the 100m butterfly, just off his best time to go 49.75 tonight.
Americans Anna Peplowski (4:00.25) and Carson Foster (3:37.39) also collected wins in the 400m Freestyle to open the competition.
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