World Aquatics has launched an extensive programme of activities designed to support and inspire the global aquatics community at the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, where nearly 2,500 athletes from a record-breaking 206 countries are competing.
Among the many standout initiatives is a strong focus on the World Aquatics Scholarship Programme, a transformational platform that nurtures both the personal and athletic development of talented aquatics athletes from around the world.
With 114 scholarship holders currently competing in Singapore in swimming, diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open water swimming, it is a great opportunity to unite these athletes, and to share ideas and experiences in person. The World Aquatics Development team has held the first of two workshops organised for the scholarship holders during the World Championships. This session focused on artistic swimming, water polo and open water swimming. The second workshop, dedicated to swimming and diving, will take place later during the competition.
The first workshop, titled “Making the Most of Your World Aquatics Scholarship,” brought together scholarship recipients for a dynamic workshop led by the World Aquatics Development and Athlete Services team, and James Gibson, Olympian and renowned coach.
Among those scholars attending the first workshop was Lev Cherepanov, an elite open water swimmer from Kazakhstan who reached the Men’s 3km Open Water Swimming semi-finals earlier the same morning!
The workshop explored how the athletes feel about the upcoming programme, what they want to get from it and how they feel it can help them. With many years of experience supporting World Aquatics Training Centres and National Federations, Gibson spoke passionately about the importance of building a supportive and empowering environment for scholarship athletes.
“We recognise who these athletes are, both as people and as athletes,” Gibson shared. “It was great to be able to bring some of the scholars together today to bounce ideas off each other, empower each other and learn new things. I saw one scholar late last year who spoke very little English. I met him again this week and his English had improved massively. He told me that a fellow scholarship holder, who is his roommate back at their training school, helped him to develop the language. That’s what it’s all about!”
Brody McKnight, a Canadian water polo player and fellow scholarship recipient, also spoke with World Aquatics after the session.
“The workshop really showed me what the programme is about,” McKnight said. “It cleared up any questions or nerves I had and I’m totally excited now to represent my country and be a scholarship holder. As part of the scholarship, I will train in Marseille, France, and we have a collective goal as a team to win the Champions League, I’m very excited to be a part of that.”
Continue following the World Aquatics website and social media platforms throughout Singapore 2025 to find out about many more initiatives.
To view all athlete-related activities and registration taking place at the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, please download the World Aquatics Events Insider App using the link below:
Event Category: Athletes and Development Activities
Password: WCH25SGPACT