“Notable Nine” prepared for full World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2025 season

Helping headline the roster of prime athletes is Summer McIntosh, whose spectacular performances on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and World Aquatics Swimming Championships  – Budapest 2024, led to the Canadian being named final 12 months’s World Aquatics Female Swimmer of the Year. Now, coming off 4 golden performances and a bronze medal on the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, this 12 months’s Swimming World Cup would be the Toronto native’s first foray competing throughout all occasions of the annual circuit.

Multiple World Record-holders with a bunch of World and Olympic medals of their collections be a part of McIntosh to headline the preliminary wave of athletes that can compete in Carmel, Indiana (USA) earlier than heading to Westmont, Illinois (USA) and culminating in Toronto, Canada over three consecutive three-day race weekends on this compact tour that returns to North America for the primary time since 2022.

Among the roster of different prime contenders is World and Olympic champion Kate Douglass, who returns because the defending general ladies’s Swimming World Cup winner and is coming off three golds and two silvers earlier this month on the Singapore 2025 Worlds.  

“Last year’s Swimming World Cup series was such a special experience for me, and I’m really looking forward to defending the overall title in 2025—especially with the tour making stops back in the U.S. and Canada. Competing in front of home crowds in Carmel and Westmont, as well as in Toronto, will be incredible,” Douglass said. “The Swimming World Cup has such a great atmosphere, with athletes from all over the world coming together to race, push each other, and have fun between the condensed racing weekends. It’s that mix of high-level competition and camaraderie that makes this tour so unique, and I can’t wait to be part of it again.”

Look for a number of the most spirited racing to happen within the ladies’s backstroke occasions, the place short-course 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke World Record-holder Regan Smith of the United States takes on the long-course 100m and 200m backstroke World Record-holder Kaylee McKeown of Australia.

McKeown is coming off one other stellar world championships marketing campaign in Singapore, one which noticed her full her second golden double of the 100m and 200m backstroke occasions from the pair she gained on the Fukuoka 2023 Worlds – along with successful two Olympic golds in these occasions on the Paris 2024 Games.

“The Swimming World Cup is always a great way to finish the year, and I’m looking forward to competing on the tour again in 2025. The 2023 World Cup tour was a memorable one—not only for winning the overall women’s title but also for experiencing Europe with friends and teammates,” McKeown stated. “It’s always a little more interesting in 25m pools, as it’s a showcase of skills. The standard in women’s backstroke is higher than ever, with Regan Smith setting some incredible short-course records last year, and I’m excited to see what can happen this year.”

Double Olympic relay champion and six-time world champion Smith, in the meantime, is coming into the 2025 Swimming World Cup having positioned second to Team USA teammate Kate Douglass within the 2024 Swimming World Cup ladies’s general crown by the slimmest of margins, 178.5 to 178.4, earlier than setting three World Records – Women’s 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke – on the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest final December. Most not too long ago, Smith earned 4 particular person silver medals and a gold within the Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay on the Singapore 2025 Worlds.

“I had a good time and an exciting battle with my teammate Kate (Douglass) on final 12 months’s World Cup tour. Breaking a number of world information alongside her whereas having the chance to journey throughout the globe was an expertise I gained’t quickly neglect.

“I’m ecstatic for the opportunity to compete in the World Cup stops on home soil in front of a home crowd,” added Smith. “I’m always eager to bring my best performance to every meet, and with Kaylee planning to compete this year, the backstroke field will be about as competitive as it can get. I’m grateful for the challenge and ready to rise to the occasion.”

Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan comes into the 2025 Swimming World Cup as a five-time Olympic champion and 11-time world champion – with the 21-year-old Brisbane native matching Australia’s all-time world title mark with fellow Aussie swimming icon Ian Thorpe.

Having the 2025 Swimming World Cup finale in her hometown of Toronto was sufficient of an incentive for McIntosh – Canada’s two-time female athlete of the year – to compete throughout the complete World Cup tour.

“The Swimming World Cup coming to Toronto is extremely particular for me—it’s my hometown, and I’m so excited to race there in entrance of household, pals, and Canadian followers,” stated McIntosh. “This might be my first time competing within the full World Cup season, and I can’t wait to expertise the ambiance at each cease.

“After the depth and pleasure of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, it is going to be nice to get again to racing to shut out the 12 months, benefit from the competitors, and preserve difficult myself towards the very best swimmers on this planet.”

World and Olympic medallists Thomas Ceccon (Italy), Hubert Kos (Hungary), Josh Liendo (Canada), and Noe Ponti (Switzerland) are set to play vital roles throughout the Swimming World Cup collection and within the males’s general title race.

Last 12 months, the boys’s general crown got here right down to an exciting battle between France’s Leon Marchand and Ponti, with simply 3.8 factors separating the 2.

Ponti, the reigning UPCX Breakout Male Swimmer of the Year, additionally used the 2024 Swimming World Cup tour as a launchpad for achievement, happening to seize three World titles later that 12 months in Budapest.

“Last year’s Swimming World Cup was a real breakthrough for me—not just in my performances, but in understanding what I’m capable of in this sport,” said Ponti. “I had a spirited battle with the incredible Leon Marchand for the overall men’s title in 2024, and now I’m hungry for a little more. It’s especially exciting that this year’s tour is heading to the USA and Canada, with the LA 2028 Olympic Games on the horizon.”

Rising star Hubert Kos additionally seems primed for a return to the Swimming World Cup circuit. The 23-year-old Hungarian made his World Cup debut victory in 2021 at his dwelling pool in Budapest and now returns as a two-time World Champion and Olympic gold medallist within the 200m backstroke.

While Kos has not too long ago established himself as one of many prime backstrokers on this planet, he additionally holds the World Junior Record within the 200m Individual Medley and captured bronze on this occasion on the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025.

“The Swimming World Cup is such a great opportunity to test yourself against the best, meet new challenges, and compete in such a condensed racing programme. Backstroke has always been my signature, and I want to prove I can continue to be the best in the world in both the 25m and 50m pool. At the same time, the World Cup tour gives me the chance to show what I can do in other events, like the individual medley. Seeing my former teammate Leon win the overall men’s title last year was inspiring, and I’m ready to make my own run at it in 2025.”

Athletes might be competing for greater than delight and private bests, with the Swimming World Cup providing a complete prize purse of USD 1.2 million, not together with bonuses. On prime of that, swimmers can earn a further USD 10,000 for breaking a World Record and one other USD 10,000 for finishing a coveted “crown” by successful the identical occasion throughout all three cities.

Last season, these incentives drove quick swimming, with eight World Records and 18 crowns achieved — contributing to a complete prize payout of USD 1.46 million.

Join the joy as Olympic and World Champions race for titles, information, and large rewards. Tickets will quickly be obtainable for all tour stops. Tickets for the Carmel cease might be obtainable for buy later this week HERE.