As the 2025 season draws to a close, it’s time to revisit some of this year’s open water swimming highlights.
Johnson Dominates Women’s Field
Moesha Johnson enjoyed one of the best seasons in her career to date in 2025, becoming double world champion in Singapore across the 5km and 10km races - the fifth woman in history to do so.
Her individual golds in Singapore marked Australia’s first open water world titles, where she said, “This is huge for my country. I know we've had silvers and bronzes, so this is just historic for my country, and I'm just so proud to be setting the standard for everyone.”
Johnson’s stellar form continued throughout the Open Water Swimming World Cup stops, where she claimed two wins in the 10km event (Somabay and Setubal) as well as gold in the newly introduced 3km Knockout Sprint race format in Golfo Aranci. The Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist topped the overall women’s rankings at the close of the season with 12,384 points.
Wellbrock’s Clean Sweep in Singapore
It’s impossible to overlook Florian Wellbrock’s unprecedented performances at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore when reviewing this year’s highlights. The German took a clean sweep of all three men’s events in Singapore - becoming the first open water swimmer in history to do so.
Wellbrock, a teammate of Johnson’s, is a member of coach Bernd Berkhahn’s group who train out of Magdeburg - a city which recently announced plans to become a new national centre for aquatics. Speaking after his third win of the competition, he said: “It wasn’t my goal to come here for three golds, but it’s so nice to be on top of the podium three times in a row.”
Wellbrock followed up the three individual world titles by anchoring Team Germany to gold in the Mixed 4x1500m Relay, to cap an unprecedented week of open water racing.
Ginevra Taddeucci’s Poetic Overall World Cup Win
Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci delivered a poetic end to the World Cup season as she was crowned overall leader on home soil after claiming her first individual gold medal in Golfo Aranci.
The fourth and final stop of the tour saw athletes racing in Sardinia’s mild, crystal blue waters, which played to the strengths of the Italian as she stormed to her first individual win in the Women’s 10km.
“I am very happy,” she said after the race. “It was the perfect close to the year because of all the work I've done throughout the season and also because it was the easiest conditions I could ever find myself in. So I'm glad that I got to win the overall, and this was the best year to do it for me, so I'm very happy.”
Taddeucci has consistently featured on podiums this year, taking home a haul of four silver medals from the World Championships as well as four World Cup medals - a gold, two silver, and a bronze - to take her tally to 15 total.
Ana Marcela Cunha to Swim English Channel
As one of open water’s most decorated athletes of all time, Ana Marcela Cunha revealed at the final World Cup stop in Golfo Aranci that she has big plans for 2026 - swimming the English channel.
This feat will mark the first time that the Olympic gold medallist from Tokyo 2020 will take on one of the infamous ‘Oceans Seven’ events. Speaking on the challenge, she said: “My mind after this 10k will change for the English Channel - we start to prepare for this after [Golfo Aranci].
“The distance is 34km but in a direct line, so doesn’t consider currents etc. So maybe we swim eight or 10 hours. I was really happy when I swam in 25k in the world championships. Now, we don't have that anymore, but I feel better when I swim more distance, long distance, so I'm happy to be doing the English Channel. It's just me and myself, my mind, it's not a competition with anyone else. It's my race, I put this in my mind, so I think that it's a great time to do it.”
The 33-year-old Brazilian has a staggering 60 World Cup medals to her name, as well as 16 World Championship medals, and has competed on the world stage since the age of 14.
Logan Fontaine Tops World Cup Series
It was France’s Logan Fontaine who topped the Men’s World Cup rankings at the close of the season in October, earning himself his first Overall Leader trophy.
The 26-year-old ensured the trophy remained in the hands of his nation following his countrymate’s - Marc-Antoine Olivier - victory in 2024.
Fontaine was a regular feature on World Cup podiums throughout the season, medalling in three of the four stops. The previous World Champion in the 5km (Doha, 2024) said after his win that the result came as a ‘surprise’.
“I was not expecting the overall win, but I did everything to not lose my second place [in the 10km]. When I began the season last year, I was looking for the overall win. I was hoping for a second place after Setubal, but that's a big surprise and a really good surprise.”
Monaco and Japan Claim First World Championship Medals
Two nations enjoyed their first ever World Championship medal wins in 2025 in the form of Lisa Pou and Ichika Kajimoto. Pou claimed Monaco’s first piece of hardware on the world stage in the Women’s 10km, winning bronze behind Johnson and Taddeucci. In fact, her podium finish marked Monaco’s first world medal in any aquatic sport, something she acknowledged ‘means a lot’ to her.
“This means a lot,” Pou said after the race. “It wasn’t easy, especially at the start of this season, I had some trouble with my body. This is a good gift to end this season very well. Today was really tough for everyone. We overcame it and finished really good today.”
Kajimoto established herself as a firm favourite when it comes to the shorter distance open water events - winning two World Cup medals this year in the 3km Knockout (bronze in Ibiza, gold in Setúbal) before taking gold for Japan in the same event at the World Championships.
The 21-year-old also won bronze for her country in the Women’s 5km after an impressive race that saw her move from 15th position after the first lap to 11th after the second before getting her hand on the board in third.
Pou and Kajimoto’s results from the 2025 season meant that they ended the year in fourth and sixth position, respectively, in the world rankings.
Young Talent Emerging
Finland’s Louna Kasvio and Brazil’s Leonardo Brandt De Macedo topped the World Cup Junior rankings in 2025, continuing the thread of young talent emerging on the open water scene.
Kasvio is one of very few Finnish athletes to have competed in open water having only recently made the switch from the pool herself. The 19-year-old achieved a top 25 finish in the Women’s 10km across all four stops of this year’s tour and said she’s ‘excited’ for what’s to come next season.
“Open water is new for me this year and it was my goal [to win] - it's been really fun and I really love the sport, it’s amazing.
“The World Cups are amazing and the support is amazing - we're excited for next season. Now I'm going to train for a few months and then I hope I can continue from here and continue to get better next year.”
On the men’s side, Brandt De Macedo retained the World Junior trophy for Brazil after his teammate, Matheus Melecchi, won in 2024.
The 19-year-old achieved his best result of the season in the 10km in Golfo Aranci, finishing 16th in what was a stacked field. Having built and progressed throughout the year, he admitted that the overall win was something he had his eye on since early 2025.
“I’ve been aiming for this since the beginning of the year. So, I planned to do all the stops and when I saw that I was in a good position overall, I knew that I could win it. When I won, I was really happy and really grateful for all my coaches, for everyone who supported me in this journey.
“Last year, I got second place. My teammate Matheus won it, and I thought it would be really cool to maintain the tradition to Brazil to win this ranking. I could see my improvement in the stops.
“I’d like to thank my club, Clube Curitibano because they are sponsoring this, as well as my coach, Ken Sorge. His presence is very good, he motivates me both in the pool and here in the open water competitions as well.”
More Countries Represented on Podium at the World Aquatics Championships
The depth of the open water field continues to grow and build globally, further cemented by the fact that the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore saw a wider range of countries featuring on the podium compared to previous years.
On the women’s side, the overall medals were split as 50% Europe, 30% Oceania, 20% Asia, compared to the previous World Championships in Doha 2024, which saw no medal winners from Asia, 16.67% Oceania and 16.67% from the Americas.
While 100% of gold medal winners came from European countries in 2024, 75% of the women’s gold medal winners in 2025 came from Oceania countries, while 25% came from Asia.
Europe continues to dominate in the men’s field, winning 100% of the gold medals at this year’s World Championships. However, the overall medals saw 11.11% of medals won by Oceania countries; the first time that the overall men’s medals haven’t been solely European winners since Gwangju 2019.