Category: Swimming & Diving

• Swimmer won silver for GB in Paris last summer

• Event allows athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs

The Olympic silver medallist Ben Proud has become the first Briton to join the Enhanced Games, an event that allows athletes to take ­performance-enhancing drugs.

The 30-year-old, who came second in the 50m freestyle in Paris last summer, does not believe the event undermines clean sport. “I think [the Enhanced Games] opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way,” he told BBC Sport.

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The 23-times gold medallist warns of drift and weak leadership. Governance failures, and a troubled safeguarding record, could cost the US more than podium places at LA 2028

In three years’ time, the swimming programme for the Los Angeles Olympics will unfold over nine days and nights on the grandest stage the sport has ever known. A purpose-built pool inside SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will be the centerpiece of a 38,000-capacity open-air natatorium, transforming the $5bn home of the NFL’s Rams and Chargers into the largest swimming venue in modern history. For the United States, a rare Summer Games on home soil should be a coronation, a chance to showcase the depth of its talent in the country’s most spectacular arena. Yet Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of them all, fears the US swimming program is in no shape to seize the moment.

Phelps has launched a withering attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, accusing it of “weak” stewardship, “poor operational controls” and presiding over years of organizational drift. The 23-times Olympic gold medalist said he would think twice about letting his own sons join the system in its current state. His concerns, he says, stretch back to his own competitive career, when athlete voices were too often brushed aside in the name of keeping the peace and presenting a united front. “This isn’t on the athletes,” he wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement. “This is on the leadership of USA Swimming.”

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• Olympic champion writes lengthy Instagram post

• American says he would hesitate to let sons compete

Michael Phelps has launched a scathing attack on USA Swimming’s leadership, with the 23-times Olympic gold medallist branding the body weak and demanding sweeping reforms after what he sees as years of organizational decline.

“I’ve watched too many teammates struggle to compete in a sport they love without the support they need,” Phelps, who retired from competitive swimming in 2016, wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “I’ve also seen the sport struggle to return its membership numbers to pre-pandemic levels, and I’m done pretending this system works just because it produces medals.

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Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown were not the only Australians to shine in Singapore, whether individually or collectively

Australia’s golden generation in the pool is going nowhere. That much, at least, was clear in Singapore over the past week, as the Dolphins ended the 2025 world championships on eight gold medals, just one shy of perennial rivals the United States. With some swimmers only recently back in the water following a post-Olympics break – Ariarne Titmus participated from the commentary box rather than the pool – and a bout of food poisoning derailing some athletes, it was an impressive outing from the Dolphins.

Two swimmers were at the forefront, responsible in whole or in part for five of Australia’s eight gold medals – Mollie O’Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown. O’Callaghan, still only 21, went level with Australian swimming great Ian Thorpe on 11 world titles, thanks to two relay golds (the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle), and an individual title in the 200m freestyle, plus two silver medals.

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• Ledecky wins 800m freestyle in 8:05.62 CR time

• McIntosh settles for bronze behind Pallister

• US star extends record with seventh world 800m title

Katie Ledecky once again proved untouchable in her signature event, holding off a star-studded field to win her seventh world title in the 800m freestyle on Saturday in Singapore, a feat no swimmer has ever achieved in a single event.

The 28-year-old American delivered a championship-record 8:05.62 to edge Australia’s Lani Pallister (8:05.98) and Canada’s Summer McIntosh (8:07.29) in one of the most anticipated races of the world swimming championships. The trio are the three fastest women in history over 800m, and the amply hyped final more than lived up to the billing, producing the fastest field ever assembled in the event.

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• Australia reels in US rival Regan Smith

• Cameron McEvoy storms to 50m freestyle title

Kaylee McKeown, the world record-holder, underlined her status as the undisputed queen of backstroke as she added 200m gold to her triumph in the 100m at the world championships in Singapore on Saturday.

Once again it was American Regan Smith attempting to take down McKeown, only to be reeled in on the last lap as the Australian clocked 2min 03.33sec, the third-fastest of all time. It was nearly a second better than Smith (2:04.29), who had taken silver behind McKeown in the 100m and 200m at the Paris Olympics, and was runner-up to her in the 100m in Singapore.

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• Yu Zidi earns bronze in 4x200m freestyle prelims

• World Aquatics mulls changes to age-limit rules

• McIntosh, Ledecky set up 800m title showdown

Chinese 12-year-old Yu Zidi has won a bronze medal at the swim world championships, an astounding feat for a girl who would be a sixth- or seventh-grade student depending on the school system.

Yu earned the medal by swimming in the prelims of China’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay team. She did not swim in the final on Thursday – China placed third behind winning Australia and the United States – but gets a bronze medal as a team member.

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• McIntosh swims second-fastest 200 fly in history

• Marchand wins gold but misses own world record

• Popovici adds 100m title to 200m freestyle crown

Summer McIntosh came within a whisker of breaking a long-standing world record and Léon Marchand failed to improve on a new mark he set just a night earlier, but both young guns won gold medals at the world championships in Singapore on Thursday.

Romania’s David Popovici also flirted with a record on day five at the World Aquatics Championships Arena, the 20-year-old claiming a thrilling 100 metres freestyle gold to go with his 200 crown on day three.

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• Star anchors 4x200m freestyle relay team to win

• Kyle Chalmers takes bronze in 100m freestyle

Mollie O’Callaghan has equalled the Australian record for world championship golds after anchoring the women to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay in Singapore.

By securing her 11th career world title on Thursday night, the 21-year-old equalled Ian Thorpe’s Australian record.

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The Australian has always positioned himself as the underdog but his enduring brilliance – and medal tally – suggests he should be anything but

It is rare to find such a decorated athlete – one with a regal moniker, no less – who still thrives on being the underdog. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, “King Kyle”, has won just about everything there is to win in international swimming. Yet year after year he returns, somehow still the underdog, somehow ready to spring another upset.

In recent days, at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, it has been more of the same. On Sunday, Chalmers anchored Australia’s relay team to an unexpected gold in the men’s 4×100m freestyle relay. On Thursday, he will go again in the individual event – the two-lap freestyle blitz, another opportunity for Chalmers to reign supreme. Arise, King Kyle, once more?

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• Post-Olympic injury blues banished with Singapore swim

• Rookie Harrison Turner wins bronze in 200m butterfly

Australian swimmer Mollie O’Callaghan’s golden touch has continued with an emotional victory at the world championships in Singapore.

O’Callaghan collected gold in the women’s 200m freestyle on a Wednesday night when Australia’s fortunes fluctuated.

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• Australian sees off US rival Regan Smith in Singapore

• Lani Pallister wins 1500m freestyle bronze behind Katie Ledecky

Australia’s backstroke star Kaylee McKeown has overcome an injury scare to capture another world title.

Just weeks after dislocating a shoulder, McKeown notched a personal best to win the women’s 100m backstroke at swimming’s world championships in Singapore on Tuesday night.

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• McIntosh aiming for five individual golds

• Gretchen Walsh wins first USA gold in 100 butterfly

Two days. Two gold medals.

Summer McIntosh is off to a perfect start at the swimming world championships in her attempt to win five individual gold medals, a feat only achieved by American legend Michael Phelps.

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• ‘I can’t be happier,’ says 25-year-old Queenslander

• Race won by US world-record holder Gretchen Walsh

Alexandria Perkins has nabbed a bronze medal for Australia on day two of the swimming world championships in Singapore while Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh continued her winning ways and the virus-stricken US finally broke their gold medal duck.

Perkins produced a strong finish to snare third place in a hotly contested women’s 100m butterfly final in Singapore on Monday night.

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• Olivia Wunsch pulls off late comeback in 4x100m freestyle relay

• Kyle Chalmers reels in US to snare gold for men’s relay team

Australia ended the opening night of the swimming world championships with a dose of double golden joy after the country’s men and women prevailed in the 4x100m freestyle relay events.

There was heartbreak to begin the night after Australian Sam Short was pipped by 0.02 of a second by German world record holder Lukas Maertens in a thrilling 400m men’s freestyle showdown in Singapore.

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