Cam McEvoy Confirms His 100m Freestyle Return on the World Aquatics Silk Road World Cup Tour
The world’s fastest man Cam McEvoy will officially launch his comeback to the 100m freestyle at this year’s World Aquatics World Cup Tour in October.
McEvoy, the world record holder in the 50m freestyle, has revealed he will contest the 50 and 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly on The Silk Road Tour and will bypass the Australian Short Course Sprints Meet in Sydney at the end of September.
The 2024 Paris 50m freestyle Olympic champion wants to add the 100m to his repertoire in the countdown to LA28 – which is a huge plus for Australia’s 4x100m freestyle aspirations in what could well be one of the real blockbuster showdowns against the U.S. in font of 40,000 people at SoFi Stadium.
The 32-year-old Australian still holds the longstanding Australian long course record for 100m freestyle with his textile suit time of 47.04, set at the 2016 Australian Olympic Trials.
The $US1.2 million World Cup short course tour will see three stops across Eurasia:
Stop 1: Baku, Azerbaijan (October 1–3)
Stop 2: Tashkent, Uzbekistan (October 8–10)
Stop 3: Astana, Kazakhstan (October 15–17)
The Australian SC Championships and World SC Championship Trials will be swum over four days from September 29-October 2 – clashing with stop one in Baku.
The World SC Championships will be swum in Beijing from December 1-6, with news also breaking today that the International Swimming League will return with the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to host an all-star match on Saturday, December 19, 2026.
McEvoy is certain to be on the ISL shopping list.
The overall Series champions (men and women) will take home $100,000 for first; $70,000 for second and $30,000 for third. There is a world record bonus of $10,000 for any athlete who breaks or equals a World Record during the World Cup series receives $10,000 per record. Winning the same individual event across all three legs (Baku, Tashkent, and Astana) also yields a $10,000 crown bonus.
McEvoy’s personal short course bests are:
50m freestyle: 20.75 (2015)
100m freestyle: 46.19 (2016)
50m butterfly: 23.66 (2012)
Current World Records, 50, 100m freestyle; 50m butterfly
| 50m Freestyle | Jordan Crooks | (Cayman Islands) | 19.90 secs | Dec, 2024 |
| 100m Freestyle | Kyle Chalmers | (Australia) | 44.84 secs | Oct, 2021 |
| 50m Butterfly | Noè Ponti | (Switzerland) | 21.32 secs | Dec, 2025 |