Both on and off the field of play, 2025 brought historic milestones, record-breaking performances and meaningful structural progress. Women in aquatic sports are achieving more, leading more and inspiring more than ever before, and World Aquatics is committed to ensuring that momentum continues to grow.

Historic milestones for aquatic sports

The World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 made history when, for the first time ever, female athletes outnumbered male athletes in the competition field. This served as a powerful symbol of the tangible progress made across all six aquatic sports in breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for female athletes from around the world.

From the incredible victory for Katie Ledecky (USA) in the highly anticipated Women’s 800m Freestyle for her seventh consecutive World Aquatics Championships title in the event, to Moesha Johnson’s (AUS) 5km and 10km double in Open Water Swimming and Chen Yiwen’s (CHN) treble triumph in the 3m Springboard, 3m Synchro and the Mixed Team event in Diving, Singapore 2025 showcased spectacular performances and remarkable stories from female athletes.

Women's water polo has achieved a landmark of its own, with 12 teams set to compete in the tournament at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. This means it will match the men’s tournament for the first time, and provide even more opportunities for female athletes from around the world to excel on the world’s biggest stage.  

Growing women's voices in leadership

Off the field of play, progress is equally visible. Following the elections to the World Aquatics Bureau at the 2025 World Aquatics General Congress in Singapore, there are now 16 female members of the Bureau. This represents 42% of its membership, which is the World Aquatics Bureau’s strongest female representation to date. This is helping to ensure decisions about the future of aquatic sports are being shaped by female leaders from diverse backgrounds.

Moreover, World Aquatics has taken steps to empower women in aquatic sports, including through the launch of the Women in Water Polo Leadership Programme in cooperation with Official Match Ball Supplier KAP7. This programme is designed to help female coaches and technical officials in water polo develop their leadership skills, advance their technical expertise and support their long-term career progression.

Webinars devoted to women’s health

World Aquatics also ran the successful Women's Health Webinar Series throughout 2025, breaking down barriers and creating supportive environments for discussing menstrual health in aquatic sports.

Hundreds of participants from around the world joined sessions covering breaking the taboo in the menstrual cycle in aquatic sports, understanding the impact of the menstrual cycle and managing symptoms, optimising training and performance across the menstrual cycle, and the practical importance of tracking the menstrual cycle for athletes, coaches and support staff in aquatic sports.

Looking ahead

While positive progress has been made in the past year, World Aquatics acknowledges there is more to do. The organisation remains determined to ensure that opportunities for female athletes, coaches and leaders in aquatic sports continue to grow at every level, from grassroots participation to elite competition.

On International Women's Day, World Aquatics salutes every woman who gives dedicates their passion to aquatic sport as an athlete, a coach, an official or a leader.