The conclusion of the World Swimming Championships in Singapore on Sunday provides a great opportunity to reflect on the performances and interesting stories that have emerged from these championships in what is the first year and first milestone of the build-up to Los Angeles in 2028. Many athletes took an extended break after the Olympics in Paris, as that is the ideal time to recover and recharge before a new Olympic cycle.  However, there was still a lot of incredibly fast swimming and some very impressive performances from the experienced superstars and some surprise breakout performers.

Perhaps the most impressive swim of the meet came from the poster boy of the Paris Olympics in 2024, Leon Marchand in the 200-metre individual medley. After winning 4 individual gold medals at his home Olympics, he took some time off but still carried on training and even went out to Australia to train with Dean Boxall and his Olympic group, before returning to the University of Texas to continue training with Bob Bowman and his group. Bowman was most notably Michael Phelps’ coach for his entire career. At these championships in Singapore, he broke the longstanding world record held by Ryan Lochte from 2011. Marchand proceeded to break the previous record of 1:54.00 by 1.31 seconds, setting a new record of 1:52.69. Such a massive improvement was not expected, especially since its stood since 2011 and held by one of the best swimmers the sport has ever seen, but also since Marchand swam this world record in the semi-finals. He could not replicate his new world record in the final but still swam underneath the previous record held by Lochte and won the gold medal by a comfortable margin, ahead of his University of Texas teammates Shaine Casas of the United States and Hubert Kos of Hungary. Marchand had cleared his programme, opting not to swim the 200-metre butterfly or the 200-metre breaststroke to ensure he was fully fresh to make an attempt at this world record, and it clearly worked. Marchand also won the 400-metre individual medley later in the meet, again by a comfortable margin. 

Summer McIntosh continued her rise to swimming superstardom with another 4 individual world championship medals in the 400-metre individual medley, 400 metre freestyle, 200 metre butterfly and 200 metre individual medley. Perhaps more interesting than her dominant performances, was her reaction to missing out on the 200-metre butterfly world record. She dominated the race but was visibly disappointed and frustrated having missed on a world record that has stood since 2009. She said in interviews she wanted that world record and was disappointed but that it provides motivation to go again next year. It shows that she is a perfectionist and determined to achieve more and is not just satisfied with winning the race. It will be very interesting to see how far she can actually go with her only being 18 years old with so much more room to grow and improve.

There were 2 relay events that provided much interest and entertainment. Great Britain continued their dominance in the men’s 4x200 metre freestyle relay. The team of Mathew Richards, James Guy, Jack McMillan and Duncan Scott were able to secure Gold narrowly missing out on the world record. The British team have not been defeated in this event since 2017. Duncan Scott swam a very impressive anchor leg of the relay in 1:43.81 to hold off the Americans which up until the third leg had been Britain’s closest challengers. How long Britain can maintain this winning streak in the relay will be a very interesting question to keep an eye on in the build up to the 2028 Olympics. The other relay of interest at these championships was the women’s 4x100 metre medley relay. The American team made up of Regan Smith, Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh and Tori Huske were able to set a new world record and had clear water between them and second place.

The other medal for the British team came in the Men’s 50 metre freestyle. Ben Proud won the silver medal behind Australian Cameron McEvoy, with Jack Alexy completing the podium in 3^rd place. Proud has been a very consistent performer at world championships and Olympics in this event over the years. Proud and McEvoy finished in the same places at the Paris Olympics in 2024. These 2 superstars are likely to continue to be the world leaders over the next few years going into the next Olympics, and it will be interesting if they are still the ones to beat come the Olympics in 2028.

Another superstar of the swimming world continued of his meteoric rise at these championships. David Popovici won both the 100 and 200 metre freestyle events at these championships in very fast times. 1:43.53 in the 200 and 46.51 in the 100. After winning the 200-metre freestyle at the Paris Olympics he was the one to watch but faced stiff competition from American Luke Hobson in the 200 and both Jack Alexy and Kyle Chalmers in the 100. Popovici had shown indications of being in very good form after swimming very fast times at the European U23 Championships so he was the one to watch at the World Championships just after. He will continue to be a very strong contender in the event and maybe even challenge the world record at 1:42.00 which will be very exciting.

This review only covers a few of the main highlights of these Championships. There were many more impressive swims and interesting stories to emerge from Singapore. Click here to view a full list of results for the medals.