DOUGLASS' HALLOWEEN TREAT

She breaks pact over 'trick' headbands, then breaks 200m breast world mark

- David Lee

American swimmers Regan Smith and Kate Douglass made a pact to respectively wear contrasting angel and devil headbands during their walkout at the short-course World Aquatics Swimming World Cup on Halloween night.

While Smith upheld her end of the bargain before she won the women's 50m backstroke final with a personal best of 25.48sec, Douglass did not.

Instead, the 22-year-old put up wicked performances on the first of three nights of star-studded swimming at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, smashing the women's 200m breaststroke world record, before setting another personal best in the women's 100m individual medley en route to being awarded two tiaras for her triple crown achievements.

Swimmers can claim a US$10,000 (S$13,200) triple crown bonus if they sweep the same event at all three stops of the World Cup in Shanghai, Incheon and Singapore. Another US$10,000 is awarded for each world record they set, which meant Douglass made US$30,000 in just 30 minutes on Oct 31.

She told The Straits Times: "We were supposed to wear our costumes but I felt good about my 200m breaststroke today, so I didn't really want any distractions going into that race.

"I knew I had the ability to break that record if I focused on it. And so, I was like, sorry, Regan, I'm not wearing the costume."