Men’s 100m breaststroke - Qin Haiyang back on top

Redemption was the word on Qin Haiyang’s mind throughout the 2025 calendar year. After he dominated the year 2023, winning the World title and moving up to number two on the all-time list in the 100m breaststroke, he didn’t medal at the Olympics last summer despite coming in as the gold medal favorite.

On Monday night, in front of a raucous crowd in Singapore that mostly consisted of supporters of his, Qin took down the reigning Olympic champion, winning the 100m breaststroke gold medal at 58.23 in the loudest race of the night.

“This definitely helps with confidence,” Qin said. “In the last 10 meters, we were all spent, maybe this was when my technique gave me a little bit of an advantage. This win gives me confidence. To win this gold medal is not something that’s easily said and done for me.”

Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi (58.58) won the silver medal, despite leading at the halfway mark. Martinenghi still has the speed he showed in Paris last year, but he didn’t have the endurance as Qin overtook him at the end. Even though he took a lengthy break and switched training based to Verona after winning in Paris, Martinenghi made his fourth straight World Championships podium in this event, just 0.3 seconds behind his best time.

"I’m really proud of myself tonight,” Martinenghi said. “That silver was a goal for me, especially after yesterday. Even though I did good yesterday night. I threw up the whole night so I’ve got nothing inside me right now. I’ve got only my heart and my brain working right now, so I compete with that today. That’s why this silver medal feels like a gold for me.”

Martinenghi and Qin, both born in 1999, have dominated this event the last four years, with the Italian winning gold in Budapest 2022, and silver in Fukuoka 2023 and Doha 2024.

Martinenghi was initially disqualified in the semi-finals last night, but his disqualification was overruled, allowing for a nine person final.

"It was really strange, you know?” Martinenghi said of the disqualification. “I had two different feelings. One, really bad straight after the race. And then, really good when they told me there was a mistake. You know, the sport is like that, you have to be ready to restart again everything from zero.”

The bronze went the way of Kyrgyzstan's Denis Petrashov (58.88), who swam a huge best time, coming in with a national  record of 59.20 as he won his first medal at the World Aquatics Championships and the first for his nation. Petrashov, age 25, swims for coach Arthur Albiero at the University of Louisville in the United States, and is making his seventh trip to the World Aquatics Championships as this was his first time in the final.

“I’m not an emotional person, but this is very emotional for me,” Petrashov said. “First medal for my country at the Worlds, so very proud and happy. I was not expecting this at all. I had no idea where I was in the race. I saw the turn, we were close to each other, but I didn’t see anything.

“Of course we all want to win something. This was the final, I had nothing to lose. If you have a lane, you have a chance. It means a lot…Hopefully, we’ll get more resources for swimming. We don’t have an Olympic-sized pool in Kyrgyzstan. Hopefully this is a big step to more things.”

Caspar Corbeau (59.06) of the Netherlands finished fourth, just off his lifetime best of 59.03 as he was ahead of Italy’s Ludovico Viberti (59.08) and Germany’s Lucas Matzerath (59.14)

Josh Matheny (59.26), Danil Semianinov (59.55) and Kirill Prigoda (DQ) also competed in the championship final.

Women’s 100m butterfly - Gretchen Walsh finally wins a long course gold medal

After nine world records at the World Short Course Championships in December, the world watched with awe when Gretchen Walsh tore the record books apart in short course meters. In May, she became the first woman inside 55 seconds in the 100m butterfly in long course meters and looked unbeatable.

But the final hurdle remained - a World title in Singapore come the end of the summer. Acute gastroenteritis ravaged the US team at its training camp in Thailand earlier this month, leaving the team weakened at these championships. Although it’s unclear which athletes were directly affected, Walsh was a late scratch from last night’s 4x100m freestyle relay, presumably as a result to save herself for other swims.

On Monday night, Walsh swam 54.73, the second fastest in history - a new championships record and catharsis for Team USA, who won its first gold medal of the swimming programme.

“I feel great about it,” Walsh said. “I was not expecting that time for myself. I think I've had to reevaluate my expectations for myself over the course of this meet. I know it's only been two days, but I wanted to go in just executing the race like I knew how. If that was gonna be a 55, that was gonna be 55, and I was gonna be happy with that, but the fact that it was a 54.7, second fastest time ever, very close to my personal best and the world record. I'm over the moon. I'm really happy that when it mattered, I was able to do that and just get my hands on the wall.”

This is also the first individual gold medal for Walsh at a Worlds or Olympics, after she won silver in this event at last year’s Games in Paris, despite coming in as the world record holder.

“With the illness that's been going on, I faced it back the last couple days, my body has just been fragile, and I think that I've needed to give myself grace,” Walsh said. “Luckily, I had the morning to recover and rest, and I used that, and that helped me enormously going into tonight, so I tried to make the most of it.”

Belgium’s Roos van Otterdijk had a huge swim in winning silver at 55.84, moving herself up to eighth all-time and the ninth woman to break 56 seconds. Van Otterdijk, who is a rising star for Belgium, won her nation’s first swimming medal at the World Aquatics Championships since Fred Deburghgraeve won the 100m breaststroke in Perth 1998.

“It’s really incredible, so I’m really happy about that,” Van Otterdijk said. “That’s seven years before I was born. All the hard work that I’ve put in is paying off and I’m really just enjoying myself and just really happy with these results.”

Van Otterdijk looked to give Walsh a serious run for her money after the two turned in identical times in the semi-finals, but van Otterdijk delivered nonetheless with her first career medal at age 20.

“I think I had some good nerves, like the healthy ones,” Van Otterdijk said. “But I was not really super stressed. I was so happy with my heats and my semi-final swims so I didn’t really have any expectations. I was like, ‘This is already unbelievable, incredible, anything else is just a really great bonus. I was just there to enjoy myself, give my best and then see what happens. I’m really happy with this.”

Australia’s Alexandria Perkins (56.33) also won her first career individual medal at the World Championships after four medals in relays at last year’s championships in Doha. Perkins was just off her best time, but held off the 2023 World champ Zhang Yufei (56.47) of China.

“I couldn't be happier, honestly,” Perkins said. “I tried not to expect anything going into that final. I just wanted to put my best foot forward and be proud of what I've done. Coming away with the medal is just a bonus.

“I feel like I've always been a hard worker with my training, but I think a lot of it's probably just come from the confidence in racing and having that self-belief and backing myself a little bit more.”

2024 World champ Angelina Kohler (56.57) finished sixth behind Daria Klepikova (56.53). 2022 World Junior champ Mizuki Hirai (56.83) of Japan, and Yu Yiting (57.36) also swam in the championship final.

Men’s 50m butterfly - Maxime Grousset turns on the after burners to out-touch Noe Ponti

It was expected to be a barn burner in the final of the men’s 50m butterfly and it certainly lived up to expectations. The newly added Olympic event has seen new vigor this year as France’s Maxime Grousset took the World title at 22.48 to move himself up to fourth all-time at age 26.

Grousset, like Walsh and Qin, received a little bit of redemption after he won the 100m butterfly World title in 2023 but was unable to replicate that at a home Olympics last year, finishing off the podium entirely in the 100m in Paris.

"I feel very good,” Grousset said. “And I don't know how I swam this final... a very fast final. Noe swam fast too. Overall, I am proud of myself.”

Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, who dominated this event in short course meters last year, setting the world record four times in 2024, was leading for about 35 meters before Grousset got the touch. Alas, Ponti won his first career World Championships medal in long course at 22.51, moving himself up to fifth all-time at age 24.

“I think I did almost a perfect race,” Ponti said. “I took it out fast, and I knew that Maxime would be faster than me in the last metres, we saw it yesterday. It was almost enough to beat him, but not quite yet. I think it was the fastest final in the 50 butterfly ever, so it's good to be part of it and win a medal.”

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who won the World title in 2023, couldn’t replicate that same success in 2025, but he returned to the podium with bronze at 22.67 from lane seven at age 24 as he improved his lifetime best by 0.01.

Portugal’s Diogo Ribeiro, who was the World champ last year in Doha and second in Fukuoka 2023, as well as the World Junior champ from 2022, missed the podium in fourth at 22.77, albeit breaking his own national record.

Great Britain’s Ben Proud (22.79), the World champ from 2017, finished fifth ahead of Nyls Korstanje (22.84) of the Netherlands, Germany’s Luca Armbruster (22.84) and Brazil’s Gui Caribe (22.92).

Women’s 200m IM - Summer McIntosh wins #2

Although it was slower than her world record swim from last month, Canada’s Summer McIntosh won her second gold medal of these World Aquatics Championships and her first in the 200m IM.

McIntosh led from the start, taking the win at 2:06.69, off her 2:05.70 world record, but she got to share the podium with fellow Canadian Mary-Sophie Harvey (2:09.15), who won the bronze for the first individual medal of her career in long course meters. The two sang the anthem alongside each other on the podium.

“Definitely the highlight for me tonight was getting Mary-Sophie on the podium,” McIntosh told the CBC poolside. “I didn’t even notice until I was out right before my interview - I was like, ‘oh my gosh, where is she? I need to go find her!’ I gave her a big hug. She’s worked so hard for this and to see her get the result, I think she’s over the moon about and she deserves it and to share that moment for Team Canada was amazing.

Harvey, age 26, had only won medals in relays at the World Championships, finally breaking through for bronze in this event, her previous best being an eighth place showing in this event in Budapest 2022.

“This year, it has been really, really, really challenging, and at times I was wondering if I was gonna have a good meet here,” Harvey said. “Our main facility has been closed. I would drive five hours on Mondays to get to my trainings. I would sleep in my car in between training and eat there. And when it was minus 20 (degrees), I would sleep on people's couches just to be able to do my trainings. I've done that for 10 months now, and it's been really, really challenging to the point where I'm like, I can't be at my 100% in training because I'm travelling so much.

“But I think it just shows that through adversity, if you keep showing up, you're going to be rewarded by the end. It's really exciting, because I feel like this is an off year for me, and stepping on the podium on an off year, I'm just excited for the rest, when my pool is going to be open and I'm going to be in better condition. I think it's exciting for the three years ahead.”

American Alex Walsh gave McIntosh plenty of push on the third 50m as she pulled even at 150m, eventually hanging on to win silver at 2:08.58. The swim is the third medal for Walsh in this event at the Worlds, albeit slower than her 2022 gold medal winning time of 2:07.13.

“I definitely wanted to be faster,” Walsh said. “I’ve been 2:08 a lot of times in my career now. I wanted to be definitely at least a low 2:07 or 2:06, that’s always been my goal for the past couple of years. Kind of bummed with the 2:08 but I thought that was a really good race.

“I was really excited on the breaststroke portion of the race just because I could see Summer and I felt competitive with her, so I was happy about that. But definitely a lot of things to work on heading into the Pan Pacific Championships next year and the rest of the quad.”

Harvey held on to win the bronze medal against a hard charging Yu Zidi of China, who, at 12-years-old, is making headlines at these championships on her age.

“She’s obviously phenomenally talented at such a young age, and I think it’ll be interesting to see how she takes this meet and translates it into the future swims she has, because she’s definitely got a really bright future,” Walsh said.

Yu came home in 30.17 to nearly steal bronze from lane one - she finished fourth at 2:09.21 to lower her best time by a full second. Her better events are yet to come as she is ranked fourth in the world in the 200m butterfly and fifth in the 400m IM.

Japan’s Mio Narita, who was the World Junior champ back in 2022, finished fifth at 2:09.56 ahead of Great Britain’s Abbie Wood (2:09.92), Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko (2:10.26) and Ireland’s Ellen Walshe (2:11.57).

Semis Wrap

Women’s 1500m freestyle - Ledecky going for sixth title

American Katie Ledecky eased through her 1500m heat with a 15:36.68 to grab the top seed for Tuesday’s final. Ledecky, age 28, is going for her sixth World title in the event, as she leads Australia’s Lani Pallister (15:46.95).

“It felt good, and I’m excited for tomorrow,” Ledecky said of her heat swim.

Italy’s Simona Quadarella, who won the World title last year in Doha as well as in Gwangju 2019 in Ledecky’s stead, is seeded third at 15:47.43.

Singapore’s Ching Hwee Gan broke her own national record by nine seconds to qualify for the final as fourth seed - 16:01.29 as she is Singapore’s first swimming finalist at these championships.

“It means the world to me,” Ching said of competing in Singapore. “Swimming in front of my friends and my family - I don’t think that many people I know have watched me live before and I just wanted to do my best and kind of celebrate the wins that come along and thank them for their support.”

China’s Li Bingjie, who won silver in last night’s 400m over Ledecky, is seeded fifth at 16:02.31 ahead of the 10km open water champ Moesha Johnson (16:05.13), Olympic silver medalist Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (16:06.97) of France, and China’s Yang Peiqi (16:08.19).

Chile’s Kristel Kobrich, competing in her 13th World Aquatics Championships, the most of any aquatic athlete alongside water polo player Felipe Perrone, having not missed a 1500m since Barcelona 2003. Kobrich finished 14th at 16:22.66.

“I work,” Kobrich said following her swim. “I love competing with my country. I love trying to keep up with the level. It’s always harder but I still try, I still work. I have an awesome coach. He has always been with me in all these high level competitions so I’m very grateful and I will always try to do my best.”

Men’s 100m backstroke - Hubert Kos leads fastest eight

It’s going to be the fastest field ever assembled as 52.57 sits eighth in tomorrow’s 100m backstroke final. The previous fastest eighth place time was 52.95 at last year’s Olympics.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos, last year’s Olympic champion in the 200m backstroke, is the top seed at 52.21 as the entire final for tomorrow is separated by 0.36 seconds. Kos did not make the final in Paris last year, and is the gold medal favorite for tomorrow.

“This is going to be one of the greatest finals here,” Kos said. “This field is super fast, I need to give everything I have to fight for a medal. This was a PB for me, a new NR, but I need more speed tomorrow and I’m sure I could swim faster. I told before the meet that this is the event I’m really waiting for to see how much faster I could swim, compared to last year. I am on track but the final is as tough as it could be.”

Kliment Kolesnikov, the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo 2020, is seeded second at 52.26 after sitting under world record pace at 50 meters. It may take a world record to win tomorrow’s final as Kolesnikov is the second fastest performer in history.

World record holder and reigning Olympic champion, Thomas Ceccon of Italy, eased through the semis in fourth at 52.35 as he very well could sneak his way to the top of the podium. It’s hardly considered “sneaking” as he holds the world record and won the Olympics last year, but he only had a season best of 53.31 which put him 15th in the world amongst those qualified for the championships.

“These guys are really fast,” Ceccon said. “We need to swim under 52 probably to get a medal.”

South Africa’s Pieter Coetze, who became the eighth man inside 52 seconds earlier this month, is seeded third at 52.29 ahead of Great Britain’s Oliver Morgan (52.41) and Greece’s Apostolos Christou (52.44). France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (52.47) is seeded seventh ahead of last year’s World Short Course champ Miron Lifintsev (52.57) in a race where any of the eight could come out on top.

Additionally, tomorrow’s final will not feature an American after Tommy Janton finished 18th at 53.87 as this is the first time no American made the semis since semi-finals were introduced in Fukuoka 2001.

Women’s 100m breaststroke - Kate Douglass showing the 100m speed

American Kate Douglass cruised through the semis with the top seed at 1:05.49 as the 200m Olympic champ is racing the 100m internationally for the first time in her career. Taking a break from the 200m IM after winning the 2023 and 2024 World titles, Douglass is trying a new event and is in the driver’s seat to take the wide open final.

“Very happy with that swim,” Douglass said. “I think I did a good job of controlling it this morning and then building off of that tonight. Excited to see if I can improve tomorrow.”

Italy’s Anita Bottazzo, who is having a breakout year at age 22, is seeded second at 1:05.61, ahead of last year’s champ Tang Qianting (1:05.87) of China. Tang has the fastest best time of any of the finalists as she is looking to get back on the top of the podium after Olympic silver last year.

Evgeniia Chikunova, the world record holder in the 200m, is seeded fourth at 1:05.97 as she has shown tremendous closing speed this week in Singapore. She has yet to win a medal at the World Aquatics Championships at age 21.

Alina Zmushka (1:06.09), Japan’s Satomi Suzuki (1:06.12), Germany’s Anna Elendt (1:06.13) and Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova (1:06.17) also advanced to tomorrow’s final as 1:06.17 is the fastest it has ever taken to make a championship final at a major meet, surpassing the 1:06.23 it took to make the final in Paris last year.

Notably, the world record holder and two-time World champ from Budapest 2017 and Gwangju 2019, Lilly King (1:06.26) of the United States, finished ninth and out of the final. Last year’s Olympic bronze medalist Mona Mc Sharry (1:06.33) finished 11th while the champion in Barcelona 2013 and Fukuoka 2023 Ruta Meilutyte (1:06.57) of Lithuania finished 13th.

Women’s 100m backstroke - Smith v. McKeown renewed for fourth season

American Regan Smith (58.21) and Australian Kaylee McKeown (58.44) will hold lanes four and five in tomorrow’s 100m backstroke final. This will be the fourth time the fastest two in history have faced off with McKeown winning each time, taking the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and the World title in Fukuoka 2023.

Smith, age 23, and McKeown, age 24, have dominated this event since Smith initially broke the world record in 2019 as the two have traded the world record four times in the last six years with Smith residing as the record holder at the moment.

Canada’s Kylie Masse, who was the last World champ in Gwangju 2019 before Smith and McKeown took over, is seeded third at 58.66 at age 29, ahead of Olympic bronze medalist Katharine Berkoff (58.79) of the United States.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck (59.18), China’s Peng Xuwei (59.19), and France’s Mary-Ambre Moluh (59.35) also advanced to the championship final.

France’s Pauline Mahieu (59.56) tied for eighth with China’s Wan Letian (59.56) as Mahieu won the swim-off at 59.28.

Men’s 200m freestyle - Luke Hobson leads fastest field in history

The swimming has been fast tonight, as evident by the eighth place times in the semi-finals  continuously being the quickest in history. The men’s 200m freestyle field took 1:45.60 to advance to tomorrow’s final, faster than any major meet, previously being 1:45.71 from Tokyo 2020.

American Luke Hobson, who broke the world short course record last year, is the top seed at 1:44.80 ahead of Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo (1:44.84), the two-time World Short Course champ from 2021 and 2022.

Surprisingly, Poland’s Kamil Sieradzki turned in the third fastest time at 1:45.00 ahead of reigning Olympic champion David Popovici (1:45.02) of Romania, who many are expecting to run away with the final tomorrow. Hobson and Hwang are Popovici’s biggest adversaries as they are looking for their first individual World titles tomorrow night.

Italy’s Carlos D’Ambrosio (1:45.23) and Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa (1:45.39), both born in 2007, also advanced to the final as they have a lot of people in their respective nations excited about their futures - this final being the first step in their pursuit of stardom.

Great Britain’s James Guy (1:45.50), who won the World title back in Kazan 2015, advanced to his first major final in this event since 2017 as the seventh seed ahead of American Gabriel Jett (1:45.60), who was sixth in the first semi but fast enough to advance in eighth.

Great Britain’s Matthew Richards (1:45.85), last year’s Olympic silver medalist and the World champ back in 2023, finished 12th and out of the final.