Leon Marchand, Pan Zhanle, Kaylee McKeown headline S’pore leg of Swimming World Cup 2024

SINGAPORE – Olympic four-gold swimming sensation Leon Marchand will be among a star-studded cast pencilled in for the upcoming Singapore leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.

The Frenchman was the toast of the Paris Games two months ago, winning the 200m events in breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley while adding the 400m medley title.

Besides the 22-year-old, a host of other Olympic and world champions will be participating in the Oct 31-Nov 2 short-course event at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, organisers announced on Oct 8.

They include China’s Pan Zhanle, who also impressed in Paris where he bettered his world record to win the 100m freestyle gold before anchoring the 4x100m medley relay team to victory, ending the United States’ 64-year unbeaten run in the process.

Others who will feature are Pan’s compatriot Qin Haiyang, who was the men’s overall champion at the 2023 World Cup series, as well as Olympic and world champions Thomas Ceccon and Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy and South African Chad le Clos.

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, who won the 100m and 200m backstroke titles in Paris, headlines a stellar women’s line-up that includes world and Olympic champions Zhang Yufei of China, American Kate Douglass and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey.

McKeown, Zhang and Douglass have also achieved the rare golden treble of individual gold medals at the Olympics and both the long-course and short-course world championships.

Singapore Aquatics president Kenneth Goh said: “The Singapore leg of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2024 is shaping up to be an exciting one with some of the best in the world set to compete here...

“It is not every day that we get to watch such world-class swimmers in our backyard, so soon after their Olympic triumph as well.”

Singapore is the third and final stop of the Swimming World Cup, which will begin with the Oct 18-20 Shanghai leg, before heading to Incheon from Oct 24 to 26.

Goh added that this is a good opportunity for Singaporeans to pit themselves against the world’s best.

The hosts will be represented by 40 swimmers, of whom 26 will be making their World Cup debuts.

He said: “This is their chance to test themselves against the best in the business and I’m sure there’s going to be an electrifying atmosphere at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.”

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Teong Tzen Wei is looking forward to his competitive return in Shanghai next week, after an elbow injury kept him out of action for eight months and caused him to miss the Olympic qualifying trials.

Teong, 26, said: “The (recovery) process was pretty hard. I had some dark days but what kept me motivated was that I didn’t want to end my career on a low so I’m just training to get better.

“I just want to go out there and get some racing done and do some proper swimming rather than just training and recovering all year round.”

Before the injury, the multiple SEA Games gold medallist had enjoyed some creditable performances on the world stage.

At the 2022 world championships, he became just the third Singaporean to make the final in the last four decades, before he set an Asian record in the 50m butterfly and narrowly missed out on a medal at the short-course world meet a few months later when he finished fourth.

He said: “I feel really excited to race against the best swimmers in the world because I’ll get to see where I place. I’m looking forward to racing in front of the home crowd because it’s something we rarely get to do and I hope to put on a show for my fellow Singaporeans.”

Also looking forward to racing at home is Amanda Lim, who has been training and competing overseas for most of the year. Her exploits saw her swimming in Australia, Hong Kong and Canada before she resumed training here a few weeks ago.

The 31-year-old, who started on a new training programme in 2024, expressed confidence in her preparations. In June, the multiple SEA Games champion broke the 25-second mark in her pet 50m freestyle (long course).

She said: “After doing extensive physical and technical analysis and comparing myself to the top female sprinters in the world, I am up there with them and that’s where my team comes in to help with the fine-tuning.

“I’ll admit that I’m swimming in uncharted waters and I don’t know what the future holds. But the most important thing is that I am feeling good and positive about my process right now and I’m enjoying myself.”