Category: Swimming & Diving

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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• Gastroenteritis affecting American swimmers

• Outbreak traced to pre-meet camp in Thailand

• Ledecky unaffected, leads 400m freestyle field

The United States swim team is battling an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis that has affected several athletes at the start of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Team officials confirmed the illness originated during a pre-meet training camp in Phuket, Thailand, and has compromised multiple performances as competition got under way on Sunday.

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The teenage phenom from Canada is chasing five golds in Singapore, but her showdown with the sport’s longtime 800m free queen could signal a passing of the torch

For the first time in more than a decade, Katie Ledecky may not be the most feared swimmer in the pool. That honor now belongs to Summer McIntosh, the Canadian teenager looking to do what only Michael Phelps has done before her: win five individual gold medals at a single world swimming championships.

Their clash in the 800m freestyle on 2 August is set to be the defining moment of the weeklong meet in Singapore. Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer in history, is bidding for an unprecedented seventh world title at the distance she has dominated since 2013. McIntosh, just 18, is the only swimmer to have beaten her at 800m in the past 15 years.

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Swim events at the World Aquatics Championships get under way this weekend as the Dolphins put the drawing board behind them

Barely an hour after the Australian swim team had completed a successful meet at the Paris Olympics, the Dolphins head coach, Rohan Taylor, was already looking to the future. “We’ll go back to the drawing board,” he said on the pool deck. “Performance by design” is one of his often-repeated mantras. So relentless is the pursuit of gold that the following morning, the Dolphins held a debriefing session to reflect on improvements ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

In the year that followed, Australia’s swim stars have enjoyed time away from the pool. Some retired – the nation’s most successful Olympian of all time, Emma McKeon, brought the curtain down on her glittering career, and had a local pool named in her honour. Some tried their hand at other activities – 50m and 100m freestyle star Shayna Jack featured on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, while middle-distance titan Ariarne Titmus is still out of the water, recently on commentary duties at the Australian swimming trials.

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