The Germans reclaimed the gold medal in the mixed 4x1500m team relay after missing the podium in Fukuoka 2023 and Doha 2024. The team took no chances in Singapore 2025, putting together its best possible lineup to reclaim the gold medal it won in Budapest 2022. The team of Celine Rieder, Oliver Klemet, Isabel Gose and Florian Wellbrock took the lead on the third leg, giving way to Wellbrock to remain undefeated at these championships after golds in the 10km, 5km, and 3km knockout sprints.

“Yesterday I couldn’t sleep really well,” Wellbrock said. “I was also nervous heading into the relay today. I’m so proud of my team, we did a great job today. Four golds in four events is amazing.”

The team faced plenty of pressure from the Italians on the anchor leg from the likes of Gregorio Paltrinieri, who won his third silver of the championships, matching his efforts from the 10km and 5km.

“I was so scared at the end,” Wellbrock said. “I took a look and realised that it’s Greg behind me – no time for jokes any more.”

The Italians went with a different order from the Germans, leading off with its two women, who kept enough space for its men to close for a medal. Ginevra Taddeucci, who went second in the order, also won her fourth silver medal of the championships.

“Two girls in front and two men behind is what we always did,” Paltrinieri said. “We always did the same strategy as it was good in the past and it was good today. Possibly in the future we will try something new but for now it’s good.”

Paltrinieri and Taddeucci were joined on the podium by Barbara Pozzobon and Marcello Guidi as the team matched its result from Doha 2024.

“It was really good,” Paltrinieri said. “It was really difficult, a lot of good teams today in the water but we did our jobs. It’s good to be back on the podium with silver. We tried to take the gold but for today, silver is good so we’re happy. We knew that four or five teams were battling for the medal so we were in contention but we didn’t know exactly how to do the race, how it was gonna be, so it’s still good to be on the podium.”

Image Source: Istvan Derencsenyi/ World Aquatics

The race for bronze was won by the Hungarians who also went with its two women up front as this is the third straight World Championships in which the Hungarians reached the podium in this event. The team of Bettina Fabian, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem outlasted the team from France, who looked to steal the show on laps two and three.

“It was a great race,” Betlehem said. “We had a plan and we stuck to it, so it was nice that everybody did a great job. In the end, it was a bit easier because Florian wasn’t trusting himself, he waited for us. I had time to pass the Australians and get to Greg’s feet. I’m here at the third, fourth position.

“In the long straight I started to overtake the French guys, so I had a bit of a gap so I can chill on Greg’s legs and maybe catch him in the finish. That was the plan in the end. We’re very happy with a bronze. It’s always a pleasure to swim with this team, especially, because in Hungary we train together. For our club to get a world bronze, is an amazing thing.”

The French lost contact on the anchor leg, falling eight seconds back on the anchor leg after sitting in the top two at halfway thanks to the legs by Clemence Coccordano and Marc-Antoine Olivier. Ines Delacroix and Logan Fontaine could not hang on for a medal as the French have not been on the podium in this event since winning gold back in Budapest 2017.

Australia, the champion from last year, finished fifth, 46 seconds back from gold as the same four from last year couldn’t repeat the magic from 2024. Chelsea Gubecka, Nicholas Sloman, Moesha Johnson and Kyle Lee fought valiantly but couldn’t match the Europeans in the process.

The open water swimming programme from Singapore 2025 has finished as many of these athletes will continue on to the pool portion of the championships which will start on July 27. The final Open Water Swimming World Cup race will be held October 10th and 11th in Golfo Aranci, Italy.