Leon Marchand headlines star-studded short-course Swimming World Cup 2024 line-up
The French star will be joined by fellow Olympic champions like Kaylee McKeown, Kate Douglass, Nicolo Martinenghi, and Pan Zhanle, in the three-stop World Aquatics series in Asia.
Swimming
A star-studded line-up including Leon Marchand will lock horns at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2024.
The French star, fresh from winning four gold medals at Paris 2024, will be joined by a so-called 'Tremendous 12' of Olympic medallists for races, taking place in short-course pools (25 metres / 8 ft 0 inch) rather than the Olympic length (50 m / 164 ft 1 in).
The three-stop series begins in Shanghai, People's Republic of China (18-20 October), before moving on to Incheon, Republic of Korea (24-26 October), and finishing in Singapore (31 October-2 November) for the finals.
Elsewhere on the men's side, Itay's 100m backstroke Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon will join his compatriot Nicolo Martinenghi - who pipped Adam Peaty to 100m breaststroke gold in Paris - for all three competitions.
Heading up the Chinese contingent, 100m freestyle Olympic champion and World Record holder Pan Zhanle is confirmed, while 2023 men's overall winner and three-distance breaststroke world champion Qin Haiyang will be hoping to defend his title.
Joining Martinenghi and Qin in the breaststroke is flying Dutchman Arno Kamminga, a double silver medallist in Tokyo and 22-time World Cup winner, while four-time Olympic medallist Chad Le Clos is also signed up for action.
The star name in the women's draw is Australia's Kaylee McKeown, who defended her 100m and 200m backstroke Olympic titles in the French capital.
Having lowered the 100 back World Record to 54.56 at last month’s national short-course championships, she is the strong favourite to retain her overall World Cup title from 2023.
Kate Douglass and Regan Smith of the USA, both of whom left Paris 2024 with multiple gold medals, are also set to compete in all three legs.
Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China, who finished second overall in 2023, is in great form having won double Olympic bronze in the 100 and 200 free, and together with Zhang Yufei, will look to challenge McKeown once again in the three Asian events.
Two world records and 33 Swimming World Cup records were set during last year’s tour, which took place in European cities Berlin, Athens, and Budapest.