McIntosh, Marchand Earn Top Honors At Worlds: The 2025 World Championships came to a close on Sunday with Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand winning Swimmer of the Meet honors and the United States edging out Australia to top the medal table. Also: All of the highlights from Worlds, the U.S. team catches some flak for their performance in Singapore, and Drury vacates its 2025 Men's NCAA Division II title. McIntosh, Marchand Top Performers At 2025 World Championships Summer McIntosh won four gold medals and Leon Marchand swept the men's medley events with a mind-blowing world record to earn them Swimmer of the Meet honors at the 2025 World Championships. McIntosh, 18, opened her meet by claiming the world title in the women's 400 free for the first time in 3:56.26, comfortably topping China's Li Bingjie, who set a new Asian Record in 3:58.21, while Katie Ledecky settled for bronze in 3:58.49. McIntosh then won the 200 IM (2:06.69), and in her third final, had her most impressive performance of the meet with the second-fastest swim ever in the 200 fly, clocking 2:01.99 to break the Championship, Commonwealth, Americas and Canadian Record while nearing Liu Zige's vaunted super-suited world record of 2:01.81. Then, in the most anticipated showdown of the competition, Ledecky (8:05.62) set a new Championship Record en route to winning her seventh world title in the 800 free, with Australia's Lani Pallister (8:05.98) obliterating the Oceanian Record for silver while McIntosh (8:07.29) settled for bronze. One day later, McIntosh closed out the competition by cruising to her third world title in the 400 IM, clocking 4:25.78 to set a new Championship Record and win gold by seven and a half seconds. McIntosh became the second woman in history to win four individual golds at the World Championships, joining Ledecky (2015), and McIntosh also joined Sarah Sjostrom (2019) as the only two women to win five individual medals at Worlds. Marchand opted not to race the same four-event program he took on at the Paris Olympics, zeroing his focus in on the IMs, but he stole the show in the men's competition. The Frenchman unleashed one of the greatest performances in history in the semi-finals of the 200 IM, shattering Ryan Lochte's 14-year-old world record in 1:52.69, knocking 1.31 seconds off of Lochte's previous mark of 1:54.00. Marchand went on to win the final in 1:53.68, coming out on top in an exciting final that also saw his training partners, American Shaine Casas (1:54.30) and Hungarian Hubert Kos (1:55.34), on the podium, making it a medal sweep for Bob Bowman's IM group at Texas. On the final night of racing, Marchand won a dominant gold medal in the 400 IM, putting up a time of 4:04.73 to top runner-up Tomoyuki Matsushita (4:08.32) by more than three and a half seconds in what was the fifth-fastest swim ever (and fourth-fastest of his career). Marchand added a silver medal on the final night in the men's 4x100 medley relay, splitting 58.44 on the breast leg for the French men as they set a new National Record (3:27.96). Other Swimmers With Multiple Individual Golds - Romania's David Popovici completed a sweep of the men's 100 and 200 free for the second time in his career, topping American Luke Hobson (1:43.84) in the 200 free final in a time of 1:43.53 before firing off the second-fastest swim in history in the 100 free, clocking 46.51 to break his European Record (46.71) and Pan Zhanle's Championship Record (46.80). Pan, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder, missed the final in 10th.
- Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi swept the men's 800 and 1500 free events, first topping the 800 free field in a time of 7:36.88 for a new textile world record and the third-fastest swim ever. He then won the 1500 free in 14:34.41, edging out Germany's Sven Schwarz (14:35.69), who was also the silver medalist in the 800 free.
- China's Qin Haiyang reclaimed his world titles in the men's 100 breast (58.23) and 200 breast (2:07.41), and added a bronze medal in the 50 breast (26.67). Qin swept all three breaststroke events at the 2023 World Championships.
- France's Maxime Grousset won gold in the men's 50 fly (22.48) and 100 fly (49.62), setting a new French Record in the former and a new European Record in the latter. His swim in the 100 fly also moves him into #2 all-time in the event, trailing only world record holder Caeleb Dressel (49.45).
- As mentioned above, American Katie Ledecky came through under pressure to win the women's 800 free showdown with Summer McIntosh, clocking 8:05.62 while the Australian Lani Pallister was the surprise silver medalist in 8:05.98. Ledecky's performance marked a new Championship Record and was the fourth-fastest swim ever. Earlier in the meet, Ledecky rolled to a five-second win in the 1500 free (15:26.44).
- Australia's Kaylee McKeown continued her dominance of the women's backstroke events in Singapore, claiming the world title in the 100 back in a time of 57.16 for a new Commonwealth, Oceanian, Australian and Championship Record in what was the second-fastest swim ever. She followed up by winning the 200 back in 2:03.33, another Championship Record in what was the third-fastest performance ever.
- American Gretchen Walsh won the first two individual LC world titles of her career, sweeping the women's 50 fly (24.83) and 100 fly (54.73), setting a new Championship Record with the second-fastest swim ever in the latter. Walsh was among the U.S. swimmers battling a stomach illness all week, which resulted in her scratching out of the women's 100 free.
Relay World Records U.S. Tops Medal Table With Nine Golds, Faces Outside Criticism The U.S. women's world record performance in the 4x100 medley relay solidified the Americans' spot atop the medal table at the 2025 World Championships. That victory in the medley relay was the ninth for the U.S. team, one more than Australia and their most since they piled up 17 at the 2022 World Championships. The Americans won seven golds in 2023 and eight in 2024, though the latter wasn't attended by the majority of the world's best. The U.S. also won 11 silver and nine bronze medals, giving them 29 in total to lead Australia (20), while France ranked 3rd on the official medal table with four gold and eight total medals, while China ranked 3rd in total medals with 14 (but just two golds). The Neutral Athletes B (Russian) team won the men's and the mixed 4x100 medley relay, and added a third gold medal on the final night when Kliment Kolesnikov won the men's 50 back to rank 5th on the final medal table. Final Medal Table – Top 5 | Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | | 1 | United States | 9 | 11 | 9 | 29 | | 2 | Australia | 8 | 6 | 6 | 20 | | 3 | France | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | | 4 | Canada | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 | | 5 | Neutral Athletes B | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 | Despite coming out on top in the medal table and overcoming the illness that affected a large portion of the team, the U.S. faced plenty of criticism for their performance in Singapore, including Olympic gold medalists Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Rowdy Gaines all speaking out. QUICK HITS - The 2025 U.S. Junior National Championships took place last week in Irvine—find full coverage of the meet here. You can also find a breakdown of the top performances here.
- Caeleb Dressel didn't vie for a spot on the U.S. World Championship team this year, but he returns to action this week at the U.S. Summer Championships in Irvine, which will be one of five meets used to select the 2026 U.S. Pan Pacific Championship team. Find full meet coverage here.
- You can see how the U.S. Pan Pac roster is shaping up with the Summer Championships and World Junior Championships still to come.
- Chinese 12-year-old standout Yu Zidi made headlines all week at the World Championships, picking up a trio of individual 4th-place finishes in the women's 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM to become the youngest swimmer ever to make an individual final, and she also became the youngest-ever medalist at the World Championships after earning a bronze medal on the Chinese women's 4x200 free relay after swimming a prelim leg. However, during the week, World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki said the organization would review its age limit rules following Yu's performances.
- The Drury University men's team will vacate its 2025 NCAA Division II title after a single positive test of caffeine was above the NCAA’s allowable limit during the meet this past March. The runner-up team, the University of Tampa, will not be elevated to 1st place.
- Four-time world champion Megan Romano has become the first female athlete and first American to join the Enhanced Games.
- The University of Virginia men's swimming team has received a $2.2 million anonymous gift, the largest in program history, which will help scholarships and recruiting efforts for years to come.
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam In her first meet with the full weight of expectation, Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh stepped up and justified the hype in Singapore. Read the full story on SwimSwam: SwimSwam Awards: 2025 World Championships (Women’s Edition)
By Nicole Miller on SwimSwam Summer McIntosh (CAN) and Leon Marchand (FRA) each took home their respective "Swimmer of the Meet" honors to wrap up the 2025 World Championships. Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 World Championships: Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand Win “Swimmer of the Meet”
By Coleman Hodges on SwimSwam Gold Medal Mel made the assertion that Summer's swim was more impressive than Leon's... what do you think? Read the full story on SwimSwam: What’s More Impressive – Summer McIntosh’s 2:01.99 200 Fly OR Leon Marchand’s 1:52.69 200 IM?
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam American swimmer Katie Ledecky faced two huge challenges in the 800 free. One was expected, the other was a bolt from the blue. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Katie Ledecky Remains Goat’ed After Winning a Legendary 800 Free at the World Championships
By Retta Race on SwimSwam 22-year-old Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske did her part to help win the women's 4x100m medley relay in world record-setting style. Read the full story on SwimSwam: The U.S. Ekes Out Medal Table Victory After Women’s Medley Relay World Record
By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam One Drury athlete had caffeine levels above the NCAA's permissible limit while competing at the 2025 NCAA Championships in March. Read the full story on SwimSwam: Drury Vacates Its Men’s 2025 NCAA Division II Team Title
By Braden Keith on SwimSwam World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki said this week that he plans to review the organization's age minimum rules after the 12-year-old phenom won a medal. Read the full story on SwimSwam: World Aquatics Chief Says He’ll Review World Championship Age Limits After Yu’s Performance
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In her first meet with the full weight of expectation, Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh stepped up and justified the hype in Singapore.
Summer McIntosh (CAN) and Leon Marchand (FRA) each took home their respective "Swimmer of the Meet" honors to wrap up the 2025 World Championships.
Gold Medal Mel made the assertion that Summer's swim was more impressive than Leon's... what do you think? 
American swimmer Katie Ledecky faced two huge challenges in the 800 free. One was expected, the other was a bolt from the blue. 
22-year-old Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske did her part to help win the women's 4x100m medley relay in world record-setting style.
One Drury athlete had caffeine levels above the NCAA's permissible limit while competing at the 2025 NCAA Championships in March. 
World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki said this week that he plans to review the organization's age minimum rules after the 12-year-old phenom won a medal.
