"VAN" (Sports Desk - 10.10.2026) :: The women’s overall World Cup standings are currently led by Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands, who won her third race of the weekend on Friday with a 55.32 in the 100m Backstroke. It was not a best time for her but enough to get her to 116.3 total points.
“It was a good race,” Steenbergen said. “I tried to go out a bit faster than last week; I also died a bit more. So I’m trying to see if I can get the pace right next week and see what I can do then.
“I think my turns were good. I think that’s really how I swim fast in short course — it’s the underwaters. So, yeah, I’m trying to use that strength.”
Steenbergen holds a sizable points lead over Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk (106.9 points), who collected her first win in Tashkent on Friday after two silvers yesterday with a win in the 50m Butterfly at 24.75 for a new national record.
“It was a great race,” Vanotterdijk said, who moved to tied for 21st all-time with her swim. “I went in with the attitude of really wanting to go fast — to open as fast as I could and then just come home with it. And I felt like I nailed it pretty well.”
Vanotterdijk is just narrowly ahead of China’s Yu Yiting in the overall standings as Yu is third at 106.2 points. Yu won the 400m IM at 4:27.09 tonight, which is off her 4:24 from last week. However, her best event, the 200m IM.
Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China won her second straight 200m Freestyle at the World Cup, swimming 1:51.02 on Friday, which was 0.06 faster than last week. Haughey had been out of the water this week to prioritize recovery and is still unbeatable in this event.
“I think I even surprised myself,” Haughey said. “I mean, I swam maybe 100 metres two days ago, and then yesterday I did about 1000m, just to see how I was feeling. So I definitely was not expecting that time. But, yeah, I think it’s just really important for me to remember that sometimes resting gets you further.
“I think swimmers always think about the hard work — working hard — but we kind of forget about the resting part.”
Ireland’s Mona Mc Sharry held on to win the 100m Breaststroke at 1:04.25 for her second straight win on the tour in the event. China’s Chen Juner also collected a win in the 200m Butterfly at 1:49.98, just off his national record of 1:49.37 from last week.
The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2026 will continue tomorrow with Day 3 from Tashkent with the heats starting at 10:00 local time and the finals following at 18:00.
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