World Swimming Championships Singapore 2025

Posted by George Williams · July 25, 2025

With the World Aquatics Swimming Championships starting in Singapore on the 27^th of July, excitement is building for what is shaping up to be a very interesting swimming meet, full of very fast swimming and some of the sport’s biggest superstars. Speaking of superstars, who are the athletes expected to make the biggest splash at this year’s championships?

Where better to start than the in – form swimmer of the moment, Summer Mcintosh. She had a breakout year at the Paris Olympics in 2024 winning 3 gold medals and a silver medal at the age of 17 cementing herself as a star for both the present and the future. She recently swam at the Canadian National trials, not only qualifying for the World Championships in Singapore but breaking 3 world records in the process. This indicates that she is in incredibly good shape for Singapore and could potentially lower the world record even further. Based on her form from the Canadian trials we could be in for another dominant display.

David Popovici is another huge young superstar to watch out for. After winning his first gold medal in the 200 freestyle at the Paris Olympics in 2024, he has been the number one swimmer in the event since then. Recently at the European Under 23 championships in Slovakia he clocked a time of 1:43.64. He also dropped a time of 46.71 in the 100 freestyle. This puts him at the top of the world rankings for the 2025 season and the hot favourite for the title in Singapore. He will face some stiff competition against Luke Hobson who has dropped a 1:43.73 this season, and also from the Mathew Richards of Great Britain. Pan Zhanle will be a strong contender in the 100 freestyle being the world record holder (46.40) and Olympic Champion from Paris in 2024.

Great Britain will be hot favourites to retain their world title in the 4 X 200-metre freestyle relay with Mathew Richards, James Guy, Duncan Scott and Jack McMillan all swimming very fast at the British Trials. The British have dominated in this event for the last few years with very good strength in depth and 4 world class swimmers in the event.

At the British Championships in London in April, James Guy and Duncan Scott tied for first place in the 200 freestyle. This gave the selectors a really tough choice as Mathew Richards was already selected for the World Championships after winning a silver medal in the event in the Paris Olympics. With there only being 2 spots per nation available in each event at the World Championships and Duncan Scott and James Guy tied for first place at the trials, who gets to swim the individual will be an interesting decision. It will likely be decided by scheduling with other events they are swimming and ultimately who is on best form going into the meet. But either way, there will be 2 very competitive British swimmers in the men’s 200 metre freestyle.

Other British swimmers to look out for at the World Championships are Angharad Evans and Ollie Morgan. The Stirling Swimmer put up 3 very impressive times setting British records and setting a world leading time this year in the 100 metre Breaststroke at 1:05.37. If she can replicate that form then she will be a very strong medal contender in the Breaststroke in Singapore. Morgan also put on a dominant display at the British Championship trials to qualify for the World Championships in all 3 backstroke events and setting British records and putting himself in very strong contention in the 100mbackstroke especially with a world leading time this year of 52.12 set at the British Championships in April.

Other swimmers to watch out for in their events are Lukas Märtens and of course Katie Ledecky. Both of them in the build-up to these World Championships have set World Records in their events. Ledecky broke her own record in the 800-metre freestyle at the age of 28. This is extremely impressive given her incredible career, the longevity and consistency are something rarely seen in swimming and should be commended. Whether she can replicate this performance in Singapore is yet to be seen, but history has shown she cannot be dismissed and will be a very strong contender with Mcintosh in the distance freestyle events. Equally Lukas Märtens breaking the World Record in the 400-metre freestyle that has stood since 2009 held by Paul Biederman from the body suit era. The fact this record has stood for over 15 years shows just how fast it was and how impressive Märtens has been to break it. He is the strong favourite for the 400-metre freestyle.

These are just some of the athletes and events to look out for at these World Championships, but there are many more that will be swimming very fast and fighting for medals and we will just have to wait and see who comes out on top.

Click Here to read our review and reflection on some of the highlights of these World Championships