Aussies Set The Pace At 2025 World Championships: The Australians lead the official medal table through the first three days of the World Championships in Singapore, having won three gold medals including a sweep of the 4x100 free relays on the opening night. Also: All of the highlights from the early stages of pool swimming at the World Championships, including the American team's stomach illness and how they've started to bounce back from it in recent days, and headlines from the World University Games and a brief overview of the upcoming U.S. Junior Nationals. 2025 World Championships: Top Stories Through Day 3 We're three nights into the 2025 World Championships and gold medals have been awarded in 13 events. Here are some of the top highlights thus far: - The Australians lead the medal table with three gold medals, kicking things off by winning the women's 4x100 free relay (3:30.60) and the men's 4x100 free relay (3:08.97) on the opening night of competition, with the latter performance marking a new Championship and Oceanic Record after a blazing 46.53 anchor leg from Kyle Chalmers. On Tuesday, Kaylee McKeown broke her Commonwealth, Oceanic and World Championship Record en route to winning the women's 100 back (57.16) over Regan Smith (57.35). McKeown reportedly dislocated her shoulder after the Australian Trials last month.
- Summer McIntosh has had a perfect start to her World Championship campaign, winning gold in the women's 400 free (3:56.26) and 200 IM (2:06.69) as she vies to join Michael Phelps with five individual gold medals in a single World Championships. McIntosh will next race on Wednesday in the semis of the women's 200 fly.
- Katie Ledecky, who won bronze in the 400 free, secured her sixth world title in the women's 1500 free on Tuesday, clocking 15:26.44 for the fifth-fastest time ever. Italian Simona Quadarella obliterated the European Record in 15:31.79 to move her up to #2 all-time.
- Gretchen Walsh, who was removed from the U.S. women's 4x100 free relay final as a portion of the team deals with a stomach illness, won the first individual long course world title of her career in the women's 100 fly, nearly breaking the world record with the second-fastest swim ever in 54.73.
- "Almost half" of the American team was reported to be dealing with food poisoning at a pre-Worlds training camp in Thailand, and that was later reported to be "acute gastroenteritis." After several scratches on Day 1, including Torri Huske in the women's 100 fly, the swimmers seem to be turning the corner and rounding back into form.
OTHER GOLD MEDALISTS THROUGH DAY 3: - Men's 200 free – David Popovici (ROU), 1:43.53
- Men's 400 free – Lukas Martens (GER), 3:42.35
- Men's 100 back – Pieter Coetze (RSA), 51.85 (African Record)
- Men's 100 breast – Qin Haiyang (CHN), 58.23
- Men's 50 fly – Maxime Grousset (FRA), 22.48 (French Record)
- Women's 100 breast – Anna Elendt (GER), 1:05.19 (German Record)
World Championships Medal Table Through Day 3 – Pool Swimming | Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | | 1 | Australia | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | | 2 | United States | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 | | 3 | Canada | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | | 4 | Germany | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | | 5 | China | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | | 6 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | | 7 | Romania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | South Africa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | 9 | Italy | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 | | 10 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | Switzerland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | 12 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | Netherlands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | U.S. Piles Up 50 Swimming Medals At 2025 World University Games The American team produced its most dominant performance in history at the World University Games earlier this month in Germany, winning a staggering 27 gold and 50 total swimming medals. The U.S. swept all eight relays, while Leah Shackley (women's 50/200 back, 100 fly), Leah Hayes (women's 200/400 IM), Emma Weber (women's 50/100 breast) and Matt King (men's 50/100 free) all won multiple individual gold medals. A total of 11 new Games Records fell at the meet, including Pieter Coetze setting a new African Record in the men's 100 back (51.99), which he lowered on Tuesday en route to winning the world title in 51.85. New World University Games Records Set at the 2025 Edition - Women’s 50m back – Leah Shackley (USA), 27.31
- Women’s 100m back – Kennedy Noble (USA), 58.78
- Women’s 200m back -Leah Shackley (USA), 2:05.99
- Women’s 200m fly – Tess Howley (USA), 2:05.20
- Women’s 200m IM – Leah Hayes (USA), 2:09.48
- Women’s 4x100m free relay – USA, 3:36.21
- Women’s 4x200m free relay – USA, 7:52.56
- Men’s 100m back – Pieter Coetze (RSA), 51.99
- Men’s 200m IM – Takumi Mori (JPN), 1:57.24
- Men’s 4x100m free relay – USA, 3:24.27
- Men’s 4x200m free relay – USA, 7:04.51
Find full coverage of the 2025 WUGs here. Penny Oleksiak's Suspension For Missed Doping Tests Confirmed The International Testing Agency (ITA) and Aquatics Integrity Unit confirmed the provisional suspension for star Canadian swimmer Penny Oleksiak after she missed three Whereabouts filings in a 12-month period. Prior to the confirmation, Oleksiak and Swimming Canada had announced her withdrawal from the World Championships due to a whereabouts case where it was in question if she had updated her information correctly, but it wasn't made clear whether or not she had missed doping tests. “The International Testing Agency (ITA), on behalf of World Aquatics, reports that Canadian swimmer Penelope Oleksiak has been notified of an apparent Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Article 2.4 of the World Aquatics anti-doping rules (World Aquatics ADR),” a statement from the ITA reads. Oleksiak committed three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period between October 2024 and June 2025, which implies that the third missed test came after Oleksiak qualified for the Canadian team at the World Championships in Singapore. She qualified to compete in the women's 50 and 100 free at the Canadian Swimming Trials in early June before announcing her withdrawal on July 4. Read more here. 2025 U.S. Junior Nationals To Kick Off Wednesday In Irvine Although the World Championships are in full swing, the action continues stateside as the 2025 Speedo Junior National Championships are set to kick off on Wednesday and run through Sunday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine, California. Daily prelims will run at 9:00 am local time (12:00 pm ET) and finals will kick off at 5:00 pm local time (8:00 pm ET). Check out a complete breakdown of the psych sheets here. You can follow along with daily live coverage from SwimSwam here. QUICK HIT - A study is currently being conducted by Australian triathlon coach and PHD candidate Lachlan Kerin at the University of Canberra/Queensland Academy of Sport, investigating female-specific training and taper strategies in elite female swimmers. If you are a 15 & over female swimmer who has competed at an age group national or NCAA (any division) level or higher, feel free to complete the survey here.
By James Sutherland on SwimSwam Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown aims to reclaim the world title in the women's 100 back she won in 2023, facing off with rival American Regan Smith. Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 World Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap
By Sean Griffin on SwimSwam A wave of acute gastroenteritis has impacted Team USA at the 2025 World Championships, forcing several top swimmers to withdraw from events. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Acute Gastroenteritis Cited As Illness Impacting Team USA At 2025 World Championships
By Retta Race on SwimSwam Olympic multi-champion Kaylee McKeown raced her way to gold in the 100m back, setting a new World Championship record in the process. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Despite Dislocated Shoulder, Kaylee McKeown Downs 100 Back World Championship Record
By Retta Race on SwimSwam Pieter Coetze denied Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon the men's 100m backstroke gold, posting a new African record of 51.85 tonight. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Pieter Coetze Unleashes 51.85 100 Back African Record, #3 Performer All-Time
By James Sutherland on SwimSwam Walsh, who was surprisingly removed from the U.S. women's 4x100 free relay final, bounced back in a big way 24 hours later. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Gretchen Walsh Returns To Top Form With #2 Swim All-Time In 100 Fly, Shattering CR In 54.73
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam Madeline Folsom contributed to this report. The International Testing Agency (ITA) and Aquatics Integrity Unit have confirmed the provisional suspension... Read the full story on SwimSwam: ITA, Aquatics Integrity Unit, Confirm Penny Oleksiak’s Missed Whereabouts Filings
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Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown aims to reclaim the world title in the women's 100 back she won in 2023, facing off with rival American Regan Smith.
A wave of acute gastroenteritis has impacted Team USA at the 2025 World Championships, forcing several top swimmers to withdraw from events.
Olympic multi-champion Kaylee McKeown raced her way to gold in the 100m back, setting a new World Championship record in the process.
Pieter Coetze denied Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon the men's 100m backstroke gold, posting a new African record of 51.85 tonight.
Walsh, who was surprisingly removed from the U.S. women's 4x100 free relay final, bounced back in a big way 24 hours later.
Madeline Folsom contributed to this report. The International Testing Agency (ITA) and Aquatics Integrity Unit have confirmed the provisional suspension...
