—- Seven of a possible ten Triple Crowns were claimed on the first night of the last stop of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2026 in Astana.

Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands was the swimmer of the night as she claimed a $10,000 Triple Crown in the 50m Backstroke, and busted another Triple Crown attempt in the 200m Freestyle, claiming a $2500 bonus in the process.

Steenbergen’s 200m Freestyle was a best time at 1:50.23, taking down Siobhan Haughey’s attempt at three wins in three weeks. Steenbergen moved to second all-time while Haughey finished second at 1:50.87, the fastest time for her on the Silk Road Tour.

“Of course, it’s always fun to be a crown buster,” Steenbergen said. “I mean, for me, not for her. But I did it because this is my qualification meet for the worlds, and I had to qualify somewhere. So yeah, this was the last stop to do it, so that’s why I did the 200m Freestyle here. So not to be the Crown-buster… but of course, it’s a fun bonus to have.”

Steenbergen returned later to secure her own Triple Crown in the 50m Backstroke at 25.67. Her European record of 25.47 still stands from last year, but she is leading the overall World Cup standings with two days remaining on this stop. With only three swims counting towards each athletes’ total score, those rankings could shift around drastically by Saturday night.

One of the other notable crowns busted came in the men’s 100m Freestyle, where two of the world’s best sprinters, Egor Kornev and Cameron McEvoy, went head-to-head with the World Record that Kornev tied two weeks ago on watch. It was one of the marquee races on the program and it lived up to it.

McEvoy, age 32, took the lead early by a half second, flipping well under world record pace and the race was over from there. In the event that started it all for him when he won his first World Junior title in 2011, and the event that catapulted his senior career back in 2014, vintage McEvoy was on full display.

“So, I’ve only been training for ten weeks for the 100 Free, and I needed exposure to racing because I haven’t raced short course since 2019,” McEvoy said. “So, back-to-back-to-back weekends, I’ve scraped a lot of data. Each 100, I raced it differently so I could learn where I’m at, what I need to do. So I think I’m now in a really good spot for Beijing coming up.”

McEvoy won on Thursday night at 45.11 as Kornev touched second at 45.23. It was a lifetime best for McEvoy and it put an extra $2500 in his pocket.

“The battles between Egor and I, it’s been pretty spectacular,” McEvoy said.

“The feedback from social media, a lot of people around the world are very invested. I think it’s really good hype for the sport, really good engagement, really good advertisement.

“And from the competitive side too, it’s crazy to have these types of battles consistently. It’s not the last time we’re having good battles here, but we’re going to continue to have really good battles all the way through to LA 2028. Yeah, it’s a special rivalry, and I have a lot of respect for Egor.”

Despite the loss, Kornev still leads the overall World Cup standings with 134.4 points ahead of South Africa’s Pieter Coetze with 134.1.

Coetze claimed his own Triple Crown in the 100m Backstroke on Thursday with a 48.40, just off his own African record of 48.21. Hubert Kos’s world record of 48.16 will live to fight another day as Coetze had a relatively easy win over Russian Pavel Samusenko (49.29) in second.

“Oh, very happy to get the crown,” Coetze said. “I was kind of hoping for a faster time after getting so close to the World Record last week, but I have to be happy with that outcome. I think coming into the World Cup, if I saw this time, I would be happy, so I have to take it.”

Coetze and Kornev will be expectedly fighting to the finish the rest of the weekend as they have both set world records on this tour; Coetze in the 50m Backstroke and Kornev in the 50m butterfly. If anyone is to take them down, they may need to set another world record themselves.

“I’m keeping my eye on the points and checking how many points I have and stuff,” Coetze said. “It’s very different. It makes it exciting… I think it’s good for the sport.”

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