2025 World Championships: Day 5 Prelims Live Recap

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
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  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3| Day 4
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Day 5 Prelims Preview

Day 5 Prelims Heat Sheet

Event Schedule

• Women’s 100 Free: Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS)- 52.24
• Men’s 200 Back: Jack Aikins (USA)- 1:54.25
• Women’s 200 Breast: Kate Douglass (USA)- 2:19.24
• Men’s 200 Breast: Ippei Watanabe (JPN)- 2:06.94
• Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay: Australia- 7:38.08

Welcome to day 5 of the 2025 World Championships. It has been an absolutely crazy few days and we are in for even more excitement this morning. We are officially halfway done with the meet, and we will be over the hump after this prelims session.

There will be five events this morning, three women’s and two men’s, and they are lined with superstars.

The women’s 100 freestyle will start us off strong in what has the potential to be a bloodbath. many of the athletes are incredibly close in time and have been having really strong meets, while some of the top swimmers, like Torri Huske, have been having a rough go of it. We will get to see 100 fly gold medalist Gretchen Walsh and 200 free gold medalist Mollie O’Callaghan as well as Marrit Steenbergen, who has been having an excellent meet. They are the only athletes coming in seeded under 53 seconds.

After that, we will have the men’s 200 backstroke prelims, which is shaping up to be a very easy morning for Hungarian swimmer Hubert Kos, who had a good 100 backstroke earlier this week and is the 2nd seed to American Jack Aikins, who has also been having a difficult meet with illness. The potential good news for Aikins, though is that National Team Director Greg Meehan said some of the athletes were turning a corner, so we will see how that shapes up. Keaton Jones, Apostolos Siskos, and Roman Mityukov are the other swimmers who have been 1:54 this qualifying period and are all potential semifinalists along with 100 backstroke champion Pieter Coetze and 100 backstroke World Record holder Thomas Ceccon.

The women’s 200 breaststroke will be a fun battle between American Kate Douglass and Russian/NAB swimmer Evgeniia Chikunova, with Douglass looking exceptionally strong so far this week. Douglass is the only athlete under 2:20. Great Britain’s Angharad Evans and American Alex Walsh are the next seeds after Chikunova.

The final individual event of the morning will be the men’s 200 breaststroke where the top two seeds, Leon Marchand and Zac Stubblety-Cook scratched out of the event, or in Stubblety-Cook’s case the meet. Qin Haiyang is the 3rd seed but is the World Record holder and the favorite to win, though he will have to hold off Kirill Prigoda, Nicolo Martinenghi, and top seed Ippei Watanabe.

Both the men’s and women’s breaststrokers also have disqualifications to worry about with a lot of athletes being disqualified in the breaststroke events so far.

The final event of the morning is just one heat of the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay where ten teams will compete for the top eight spots to swim in tonight’s final. The relays have had some of the most shocking results so far, so don’t count on anything or count anyone out.

Women’s 100 Free– Prelims

• World Record: 51.71- Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (2017)
• World Junior Record: 52.70- Penny Oleksiak, Canada (2016)
• World Championship Record: 51.71- Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (2017)
• 2023 World Champion: Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS)- 52.16
• 2024 Olympic Champion: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden- 52.16

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS)- 53.40
2. Marrit Steenbergen (NED)/Sara Curtis– 53.53
3. —
4. Daria Klepikova (NAB)- 53.55
5. Beryl Gastaldello (FRA)- 53.56
6. Florine Gaspard (BEL)- 53.71
7. Olivia Wunsch (AUS)- 53.74
8. Cheng Yujie (CHN)- 53.90
9. Barbora Seemanova (CZE)- 53.94
10. Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL)- 53.98
11. Torri Huske (USA)- 53.99
12. Milou van Wijk (NED)- 54.04
13. Daria Trofimova (NAB)- 54.14
14. Wu Qingfeng (CHN)- 54.15
15. Nina Holt (GER)- 54.26
16. Barbora Janickova (CZE)- 54.38

Marrit Steenbergen, form the Netherlands, won the first of the circle seeded heats, flipping in first at 25.97. Olivia Wunsch was 2nd in 26.13 and Beryl Gastaldello was just behind with a first 50 split of 26.16. Steenbergen continued to build through the next 50, splitting 27.56 to lock up the heat win and the 2nd qualifying spot. Gastaldello had a very strong final 50, gaining a little ground on Steenbergen with her 27.40 split to finish 2nd just ahead of Wunsch who came home in 27.61.

Sara Curtis made a statement in heat eight, splitting 25.32 on the first 50, the fastest in the field. She came home in 28.21 to lock up the heat win and tie with Steenbergen going into tonight’s semifinal. Cheng Yujie from China was 2nd at the 50, flipping in 25.42 before coming home in 28.48 to hold off a charging Barbora Seemanova who was out in 26.30 but split 27.64 on the final 50. Torri Huske was 4th in the heat, opening up with a 25.50 split for 3rd and coming home in 28.49.

The final heat saw Roos Vanotterdijk flip in first at 25.50 and Florine Gaspard in 2nd at 26.65. Mollie O’Callaghan was 3rd at the 50 mark in 25.76, but the final 50 was all about her as she came home in 27.64 to surge past the rest of the field and lock up the top spot for tonight’s semifinal. Vanotterdijk was 28.48 and Gaspard was 28.06. Daria Klepikova also had a very strong final 50 in the last heat (27.44), to move into 2nd at 53.55

Men’s 200 Backstroke– Prelims

• World Record: 1:51.92– Aaron Peirsol, United States (2009)
• World Junior Record: 1:55.14– Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia (2017
• World Championships Record: 1:51.92– Aaron Peirsol, United States (2009)
• 2023 World Champion: Hubert Kos (HUN)- 1:54.14
• 2024 Olympic Champion: Hubert Kos (HUN)- 1:54.26

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Blake Tierney (CAN)- 1:55.17
2. Luke Greenbank (GBR)- 1:55.27
3. Roman Mityukov (SUI)- 1:56.15
4. Benedek Kovacs (HUN)- 1:56.40
5. Lee Juho (KOR)- 1:56.50
6. Apostolos Siskos (GRE)/Kodai Nishiono (JPN)- 1:56.55
7. —
8. Antoine Herlem (FRA)- 1:56.58
9. Hubert Kos (HUN)- 1:56.71
10. Joshua Edwards-Smith (AUS)- 1:56.77
11. Christian Bacico (ITA)/Jan Cejka (CZE)- 1:56.79
12. —
13. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (FRA)- 1:56.82
14. John Shortt (IRL)- 1:56.98
15. Keaton Jones (USA)- 1:57.00
16. Pieter Coetze (RSA)- 1:57.11

The men’s 200 backstroke was all about the outside smoke athletes. Blake Tierney from Canada won the men’s 200 backstroke prelims in 1:55.17, a second-and-a-half drop from his entry time of 1:56.74. Tierney was in the final heat, where he was swimming all the way in lane 8. He was out in 27.12, but only built from there, splitting 29.85/29.14 on the final 100 to earn the top seed by a tenth.  Benedek Kovacs from Hungary was out in first in the final heat, splitting 56.08 on the first 100 to turn a tenth ahead of Tierney. His final 100 of 30.40/29.92 dropped him back to 2nd in the heat, but earned him the 4th qualifying spot

Luke Greenbank finished 2nd out of heat 4 lane two, swimming a very similar race to Tierney until the last 50. Roman Mityukov was out just ahead of Greenbank after the first 100, turning in 56.03 and 56.13 respectivley, but Greenbank split 29.62 on the 3rd 50 and 29.52 on the 4th to clear Mitukov’s 30.03/30.09 by a significant margin. Hubert Kos finished 3rd in 1:56.71 to take 9th overall after splitting 27.06/30.18/29.48/29.99.

Lee Juho was the winer of the first circle seeded heat in 1:56.50 from lane seven. Lee was out smooth and came home strong, splitting 27.80/30.05/29.63/29.02 to have one of the fastest final 50s in the field, allowing him to move ahead of Greece’s Apostolos Siskos who was leading through the first 150 but split 29.64 on the final 50. American Keaton Jones finished 5th in this heat to earn 15th place overall, just squeaking into the semifinals.

Thomas Ceccon and Jack Aikins both missed the semifinal.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke– Prelims

• World Record: 2:17.55- Evgeniia Chikunova, Russia (2023)
• World Junior Record: 2:19.64- Viktoriya Zeynep Gunes, Turkey (2015)
• Championship Record: 2:19.11- Rikke Pedersen, Denmark (2013)
• 2023 World Champion: Tatjana Smith (RSA), 2:20.80
• 2024 Olympic Champion: Kate Douglass (USA), 2:19.24

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Evgeniia Chikunova (NAB)- 2:22.30
2. Kate Douglass (USA)- 2:23.38
3. Alina Zmushka (NAA)- 2:24.24
4. Angharad Evans (GBR)- 2:24.82
5. Lyu Qinyao (CHN)- 2:24.93
6. Clara Rybak-Andersen (DEN)- 2:24.98
7. Kaylene Corbett (RSA)- 2:25.10
8. Ellie Mc Cartney (IRL)- 2:25.22
9. Satomi Suzuki (JPN)- 2:25.26
10. Anna Elendt (GER)- 2:25.43
11. Kotryna Teterevkova (LTU)- 2:25.58
12. Ella Ramsay (AUS)- 2:25.95
13. Kristyna Horska (CZE)- 2:26.29
14. Alex Walsh (USA)- 2:26.56
15. Sieun Park (KOR)- 2:26.74
16. Macarena Ceballos (ARG)- 2:26.82

After not making the 100 breaststroke final, Great Britain’s Angharad Evans bounced back in a big way at the beginning of heat two, getting out to an early lead of 1:08.24, the fastest first 100 in the whole 16 swimmer field. She fell off that pace going into the 2nd 100, splitting 37.02/39.56 to finish in 2:24.82 and give up the lead to Alina Zmushka from the Neutral Athletes A. Zmushka was 2:24.24 with final 100 splits of 37.02/38.15 after getting out in 1:09.07

Evgeniia Chikunova proved why she is the World Record holder in heat three, swimming a very smooth 2:22.30 with almost the exaact same 50 splits on the final 100. She was out in 1:09.57 splitting 23.49/37.08 and she came home in 1:12.73 with 50 splits of 36.35/36.38. She came in more than two seconds ahead of Lyu Qinyao from China who swam 2:24.93 to finish 2nd in the heat.

Kate Douglass won the final heat in a similar fashion, swimming 2:23.38 to finish a second-and-a-half ahead of Denmark’s Clara Rybak-Andersen. Douglass was out faster than Chikunova, splitting 1:09.09 on the first 100 (32.53/36.56), and 1:14.19 on the 2nd 100 (36.56/37.83). Her middle 100 splits were exactly the same.

Anna Elendt, the 100 breaststroke champion from Germany, was 10th in 2:25.43, and American Alex Walsh finished 14th overall from heat four in 2:26.56.

Ireland’s Mona McSharry was a no show.

 Men’s 200 Breaststroke — Prelims

• World Record: 2:05.48 – Qin Haiyang, China (2023)
• World Junior Record: 2:06.91 – Shin Ohashi, Japan (2025)
• 2023 World Champion: 2:05.48 — Qin Haiyang, China
• 2024 Olympic Champion: 2:05.85 — Leon Marchand, France

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Alexander Zhigalov (NAB)- 2:08.32
2. Ippei Watanabe (JPN)- 2:08.41
3. AJ Pouch (USA)- 2:08.62
4. Qin Haiyang (CHN)- 2:09.96
5. Carles Coll Marti (ESP)- 2:10.30
6. Caspar Corbeau (NED)- 2:10.31
7. Kirill Prigoda (NAB)- 2:10.46
8. Gregory Butler (GBR)- 2:10.60
9. Yamato Fukasawa (JPN)- 2:10.83
10. Jan Kalusowski (POL)- 2:10.88
11. Oliver Dawson (CAN)Maksym Ovchinnikov (UKR)- 2:11.07
12. —
13. Christian Mantegazza (ITA)- 2:11.10
14. Cho Sung Jae (KOR)- 2:11.12
15. Dong Zhihao (CHN)- 2:11.15
16. Erik Persson (SWE)- 2:11.34

Alexander Zhigalov won the first circle seeded heat to take the top seed in tonight’s semifinal touching in 2:08.32. He was out behind the leaders in his heat after the first 50, splitting 29.31, but he had a very strong 2nd 50 split of 33.01 to move ahead of Qin Haiyang and Kirill Prigoda, who were 33.49 and 33.79 respectively. On his final 100, he had very similar splits of 32.98/33.02 to win his heat by a second-and-a-half over Qin in 4th.

American AJ Pouch had a very strong swim of 2:08.62 to win heat four in dominant fashion. He was out in 28.82 and just continued to build his lead from there, splitting 32.02 to touch in 1:00.84 for the first 100. He struggled to maintain this speed on the final 50, coming home in 34.84 to win his heat by two seconds.Yamato Fukasawa was the 2nd finisher in his heat at 2:10.83 after getting out in 28.55 ahead of Pouch. His final 50 was 36.47.

Top seed Ippei Watanabe from Japan won the final heat in 2:08.41, less than a tenth off Zhigalov’s time, but again about two seconds ahead of the rest of the field. He was out faster than Zhigalov but behind Pouch in 1:01.94 before coming home in 33.04/33.43.

Carles Coll Marti and Caspar Corbeau were the 2nd and 3rd finishers in his heat at 2:10.30 and 2:10.31 with Corbeau making up quite a bit of ground on the final 100. Coll Marti was out in 1:02.06 to Corbeau’s 1:02.49, but came home in 1:08.24 to Corbeau’s 1:07.82.

Italian Nicolo Martinenghi no showed the event after finishing 2nd in the men’s 100 breaststroke.

Women’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay– Prelims

• World Record: Australia (M. O’Callaghan, S. Jack, B. Throssell, A. Titmus) — 7:37.50 (2023)
• World Championship Record: Australia — 7:37.50 (2023)
• 2024 Olympic Champions: Australia (M. O’Callaghan, L. Pallister, B. Throssell, A. Titmus) — 7:38.08

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. United States- 7:49.43
2. Australia- 7:51.76
3. China- 7:54.06
4. Hungary- 7:54.69
5. Canada- 7:54.90
6. Great Britain- 7:56.41
7. Italy- 7:57.02
8. Japan- 7:58.90

The United States was not going to take any chances by going easy in the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay final, getting out to an early lead that they only built on through the next three legs.

Simone Manuel led off for the American relay in 1:58.06 to secure a six tenth lead over Australia’s Abbey Webb who swam 1:58.66. China’s 12-year-old phenom Yu Zidi was 1:59.28.

Anna Peplowski swam the 2nd leg for the US in 1:55.16, the fastest split in the prelims to build on the the lead Manuel created, touching four second ahead of the Canadian team who moved into 2nd place thanks the 1:58.62 split from Sienna Angove. Australia’s Milla Jansen was 1:59.51 in the spot, and China’s Yu Yiting was 1:58.36.

Anna Moesch split 1:57.75 for the Americans in the 3rd spot, increasing their lead to just under five seconds over Australia, who had Hannah Casey split 1:57.66 in 3rd. China’s Wu Qingfeng was 1:59.10, and Hungary moved into 4th with Nikolett Padar‘s 1:58.61 split.

Bella Sims anchored the Americans in 1:58.46, holding onto the lead to touch in 7:49.43, just over two seconds ahead of Australia. Brittany Castelluzzo swam the Australian leg in the 2nd fastest split of the morning 1:55.93. Yang Peiqi anchored for cina in 1:57.32 and Hungary’s Minna Abraham was 1:58.18.