Baku Recap: Shaine Casas & Kasia Wasick Open the 2026 World Cup

Five medals. Two athletes. One weekend. Shaine Casas and Kasia Wasick opened the 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan (October 1–3) with two golds, two silvers and a bronze between them.

This year's World Aquatics World Cup runs as a three-stop Silk Road tour through Baku, Tashkent and Astana. It's short course meters, it's fast, and it's the final competitive tune-up before the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) later this year. 
Here's how our athletes raced it.

The Legend's Final Lap

Shaine left Baku with gold, silver and bronze… across three different strokes. That range is the whole story.

200 Free — Gold, 1:41.50. Shaine handled a field that included China's He Yubo (1:42.37) and Belgium's Lucas Henveaux (1:42.88), winning by almost nine-tenths. He's now within a second of his best ever, the 1:40.88 he split on the US 4x200 free relay at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.

100 IM — Silver, 51.58. Gold was 0.01 away. One hundredth. That's a fingertip, a slightly longer glide into the wall, a breath not taken on the last five meters. It's also a reminder that in the 100 IM there's no room to settle into anything.

100 Back — Bronze, 49.89. Shaine started the final session on the podium behind South Africa's Pieter Coetze, who set a new African Record (49.11), and Russia's Pavel Samusenko (49.24). He then turned it around for the 200 free win in the same session. Shaine has been 48.84 in this event, so there's more in the tank.

Worth remembering: Shaine also holds the World Cup Record in the 400 IM (3:56.13, set in 2025). Sprint, middle distance, backstroke, medley. Few swimmers in the world cover that much water at this level.

Kasia Wasick: Gold in the 50 Free

Kasia Wasick is a World Cup champion again. The five-time Olympian won the women's 50 free in Baku in 23.40, taking gold in the event she has built her career on.

Kasia is Poland's fastest woman in history, and the 50 free is where she's most dangerous. In a race decided in about 23 seconds, the start, the breakout and the finish all have to be right. In Baku, she got every one of them right.

She then backed up the gold with silver in the 100 free in 52.12. The only swimmer ahead of her was Marrit Steenbergen (50.78), and Kasia finished in front of Canada's Taylor Ruck (52.38). Her 100 free best, the Polish record of 51.44, came in the 2021 ISL season.

Kasia raced in the goggles that went on for her medal swim: THEMAGIC5 Pink Magic Mirror Gold, coming back in stock soon! 

What competitive swimmers can take from Baku

Finishes decide medals. Shaine missed 100 IM gold by 0.01. In short course, races are won and lost on walls: eight walls in a 200, four in a 100. Practice your finish like it's an event, because it is.

Doubles are a skill. Shaine went from a 100 back final to winning a 200 free in the same session. Racing tired, recovering fast, and resetting mentally is something you train, not something you hope for on the day.

Range makes you dangerous. Kasia, a 50 specialist, medaled in a 100 free against a world-class field. Shaine medaled in free, back and IM. Training outside your best event isn't a distraction from it.

Lifetime bests aren't the only measure. Shaine's 200 free and 100 back and Kasia's 100 free were all off lifetime bests, and all three won medals. Early in a series, racing well and building toward the big meet is the job.

What's next

The tour moves on to two more stops before the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m).

Follow Shaine and Kasia through Tashkent and Astana on our channels Instagram @themagic5 , and track the series ranking on World Aquatics. One hundredth is a lot of motivation.