Marrit Steenbergen rounded off the first of the three scheduled World Cups by winning a fourth title on the third day of action in Baku.

The 26-year-old Dutch swimmer, who retained her world 100m freestyle title last year and broke the world record for that event this year, finished her work in the Azerbaijan capital with victory in her signature event.

She clocked 50.78 to finish well clear of Poland’s European long and short course 50m champion Katarzyna Wasick, who clocked 52.12.

Steenbergen had previously won the 100 individual medley as well as the 50m and 100m backstroke events. She rounded off her evening’s racing with silver in the 200m individual medley, where she recorded 2:05.09 behind China’s Yu Yiting, who set an Asian record of 2:02.80, with Great Britain’s Abbie Wood third in 2:05.69.

A day after equalling the men’s world 100m freestyle record, Egor Kornev won the 50m butterfly – the event at which he won European gold for NAB in Paris – in a national record of 21.64, trimming 0.09 off the mark he set last November.

Belgium’s 21-year-old Roos Vanotterdijk earned her second win of the opening World Cup as she led the women’s 100m butterfly from the start, finishing in 55.29, well clear of China’s Wang Yichun, who recorded 55.87.

Vanotterdijk’s compatriot Florine Gaspard was another European winner in the women’s 50m breaststroke, where she finished strongly to clock 29.75, with Ralina Giliazova second in 29.81 and Ireland’s Paris 2024 medallist Mona McSharry, winner of the women’s 100m breaststroke, taking third place in 29.83.

Dutch swimmer Caspar Corbeau became the first swimmer to better 2.00 for the men’s 200m breaststroke last year, but he had to settle for second place in this event tonight in 2:01.80, with America’s Luke Barr winning in 2:01.73.

The 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup continues on its Silk Road Tour with subsequent stops at Tashkent in Uzbekistan from October 8 to 10 and at Astana in Kazakhstan from October 15 to 17.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics