By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
Nine of the world’s biggest names in swimming will headline the 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, including several champions making their long-awaited returns to the series.
For the first time since 2022, the circuit is back in North America, with stops in Carmel, Indiana (Oct. 10–12), Westmont, Illinois (Oct. 17–19), and Toronto, Canada (Oct. 23–25).
The nine commitments are headlined by recently crowned individual 2025 world champions Summer McIntosh, Kaylee McKeown, Kate Douglass, Mollie O’Callaghan, and Hubert Kos, along with fellow World Championship medalists Thomas Ceccon, Noe Ponti, Josh Liendo, and Regan Smith.
Athletes Committed to 2025 World Cup:
Summer McIntosh (CAN) Kaylee McKeown (AUS) Kate Douglass (USA) Regan Smith (USA) Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) Hubert Kos (HUN) Thomas Ceccon (ITA) Josh Liendo (CAN) Noe Ponti (SUI)Summer McIntosh stands out as a headline performer. Fresh off being named the World Aquatics Female Swimmer of the Year for 2024 and four golds and one bronze from the Singapore 2025 World Championships, the eight-time world champion has competed at individual stops in previous seasons, but 2025 marks the first time she will compete the entire World Cup circuit, with a fitting homecoming finale in Toronto to close.
Joining McIntosh is 2024 women’s overall champion Kate Douglass, who will be looking to defend her title to start the season before also looking to add to her four golds and two silvers from the Singapore Worlds. Douglass highlighted the unique blend of elite competition and camaraderie the World Cup has to offer, as well as the opportunity to race in front of home fans in the U.S. and neighboring country Canada.
World record holder Regan Smith, who holds the short-course marks in the 50, 100, and 200 backstrokes, will tussle once again with long-course world-record holder Kaylee McKeown, who owns the world marks in the 100 and 200 back. McKeown is coming off another dominant performance in Singapore, where she picked up a pair of wins in the 100 and 200 backstroke after her two Olympic golds in Paris. McKeown last appeared on the World Cup tour in 2023, where she won the women’s overall title before bowing out after the second stop in Atlanta. McKeown withdrew partway through the 2024 World Cup circuit to focus on her mental health following her Olympic outing in Paris.
Smith, meanwhile, narrowly lost out on the 2024 overall title to U.S. teammate Douglass by 0.1 points. She followed that with three short-course world records in Budapest and five more medals from Singapore, including relay gold.
Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan will be joining this year’s World Cup circuit. The 21-year-old is already a five-time Olympic champion and 11-time world champion. O’Callaghan is not only a multi-event threat with her depth across the 100 and 200 freestyles, but she has also been showing great success on the back end, picking up relay medals in Singapore. She looks like a top overall threat for the tour.
Four names headline the men’s initial field: Thomas Ceccon (ITA), Hubert Kos (HUN), Josh Liendo (CAN), and Noe Ponti (SUI).
Ponti, who was the Breakout Male Swimmer of the Year for 2024, just missed out on the overall men’s title in 2024, falling just 3.8 points behind Leon Marchand. Last season’s tour helped leapfrog him to three world titles later in Budapest, and Ponti will be coming into 2025 with his eyes on finishing what he started at the World Cup.
Hubert Kos, of Hungary, also returns to the circuit. The reigning Olympic and two-time world champion in the 200 backstroke was a World Cup debut winner in Budapest back in 2021. However, this season, he adds IM depth to his backstroke prowess, having picked up bronze in the 200 IM in Singapore.
Josh Liendo will provide major hometown appeal at the Toronto stop. Liendo holds the Canadian SCM records in the 50 and 100 fly, and captured an Olympic silver in the 100 fly in Paris last summer.
Thomas Ceccon, a world and Olympic medalist, further adds to the men’s field already loaded with versatility and sprint power.
As usual, the athletes will be racing for more than medals, with a $1.2 million prize purse on the line. There are also world record ($10,000) and “crowns” ($10,000 for sweeping the same event at all three stops) bonuses, which last season produced eight world records and 18 event “crowns”, helping the total payout reach $1.46 million.
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