2025 World Championships: Day 6 Prelims Live Recap

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Entry Book
• Live Results
• Live Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Welcome to the sixth day of the 2025 World Championships! There are some exciting events on the lineup for today, including the prelims of the much anticipated women’s 800 freestyle

Order of Events

• Men’s 100 fly
• Women’s 200 back
• Men’s 50 free
• Women’s 50 fly
• Men’s 4×200 free relay
• Women’s 800 free

Josh Liendo, from Canada, will be the top seed in the men’s 100 fly this morning, having won the silver medal in Paris at 49.99. He has a veritable hoard behind him though, with France’s Maxime Grousset, Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, and fellow Canadian Ilya Kharun all less than half-a-second back.

The women’s 200 back is looking like the same story it has been for the past few years with American Regan Smith and Australian Kaylee McKeown leading the field of backstrokers. American Claire Curzan is hot on their tails, but this will be her first event of the meet, so we don’t know how she has fared with the illness traveling around.

The men’s 50 free will see some familiar faces from the 100 fly, with Liendo and Grousset picking up a second event this morning, though they are not the favorites in this event. Cameron McEvoy and Benjamin Proud are tied for the top seed with American Jack Alexy eleven-hundredth behind them.

Gretchen Walsh is scheduled to take the water as the top seed in the women’s 50 fly, more than half-a-second ahead of the rest of the field, but she scratched the 100 free prelims yesterday due to illness, so it is unclear if she will swim. Kate Douglass will be in the same heat as Walsh with Rikako Ikee and Alexandria Perkins leading the heats before as the 2nd and 3rd seeds. These three women are separated by three hundredths.

The men’s 4×200 freestyle relay will have two heats with the top teams spread between both. Great Britain has the top seed as the only team under 7:00 in the event with the United States just behind in 7:00.78 and Australia in 3rd at 7:01.98.

Finally, we will have three heats of the women’s 800 freestyle where Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky will be aiming to earn a middle lane in the final showdown tomorrow evening. Don’t count out Lani Pallister or Simona Quadarella either, who both had very strong swims in the women’s 1500 earlier this week. Open water double champion Moesha Johnson will also e swimming in the final heat, and clearly has the endurance behind her.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY — Prelims

• World Record: 49.45  – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2021)
• World Junior Record: 50.62– Kristof Milak, Hungary (2017)
• Championship Record: 49.50 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2019)
• 2023 World Champion – Maxime Grousset (FRA), 50.16
• 2024 Olympic Champion – Kristof Milak (HUN), 49.90

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Noe Ponti (SUI)- 50.68
2. Ilya Kharun (CAN)- 50.70
3. Andrei Minakov (NAB)- 50.93
4. Matthew Temple (AUS)- 50.97
5. Josh Liendo (CAN)- 51.04
6. Simon Bucher (AUT)- 51.16
7. Jesse Coleman (AUS)- 51.20
8. Katushiro Matsumoto (JPN)- 51.30
9. Diogo Matos Ribeiro (POR)- 51.34
10. Jakub Majerski (POL)- 51.35
11. Edward Mildred (GBR)/Maxime Grousset (FRA)/Thomas Ceccon (ITA)- 51.36
12. —
13. —
14. Naoki Mizunuma (JPN)- 51.44
15. Gal Cohen Groumi (ISR)- 51.45
16. Clement Secchi (FRA)- 51.58

The circle seeded heats gradually got faster, finishing with seven of the 10 athletes in the final heat qualifying for the final.

Heat six saw Switzerland’s Noe Ponti set the fastest time of the morning in 50.68. Ponti was out first in 23.56, and just built his lead by coming home in 27.12, the fastest in the field on both splits. Jakub Majerski from Poland was 2nd in the heat, about seven tenths back after splitting 23.77/27.58 coming in just a hundredth ahead of a late charging Edward Mildred, who split 24.11/27.25. Japan’s Naoki Mizunuma was the final qualifier from heat one, touching in 51.44.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos was a no show in the event, likely due to the 200 backstroke final this evening.

Simon Bucher was out fast in heat seven, which saw five athletes move through to the final, turning in 23.61. He was not able to hold off the Australian Matthew Temple on the back half, who was out in 23.87 but came home in 27.10 to Bucher’s 27.55.

Maxime Grousset was out in 23.85 and came home in 27.51 to touch in in 51.36 and tie three ways for 11th place.

The final heat did not have the single fastest time, but had the most swimmers make it through with seven total. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon was out in front, turning at 23.56, the same opening 50 as Ponti, he struggled at the back end, though, splitting 27.80 to finish 6th in his heat and tie for 11th.

Canada’s Ilya Kharun was 23.67/27.03 to finish in the 2nd fastest time of 50.70, coming in two tenths ahead of Andrei Minakov for the Neutral Athletes ‘B’. Top seed Josh Liendo was 3rd in 51.04 to qualify 5th.

Both Americans missed the semifinal with Shaine Casas swimming 51.66 to finish 19th and Thomas Heilman finishing 26th in 52.02.

The whole semifinal is separated by exactly nine tenths, and it looks like it will be a dog fight tonight for the top eight.

Women’s 200 Backstroke– Prelims

• World Record: 2:03.14 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2023
• World Junior Record: 2:03.35 – Regan Smith (USA), 2019
• Championship Record: 2:03.35 – Regan Smith (USA), 2019
• 2023 World Champion: Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:03.85
• 2024 Olympic Champion: Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:03.76

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Kaylee McKeown (AUS) – 2:08.01
2. Dora Molnar (HUN) – 2:08.53
3. Claire Curzan (USA) – 2:08.58
4. Peng Xuwei (CHN) – 2:08.59
5. Regan Smith (USA) – 2:08.65
6. Anastasiya Shkurdai (NAA) – 2:08.96
7. Estella Tonrath (ESP) – 2:09.29
8. Liu Yaxin (CHN) – 2:09.67
9. Camila Rodrigues Rebelo (POR) – 2:09.79
10. Katie Shanahan (GBR) – 2:09.96
11. Lise Seidel (GER) – 2:10.00
12. Holly McGill (GBR) – 2:10.07
13. Carmen Weiler Sastre (ESP) – 2:10.08
14. Ingrid Wilm (CAN) – 2:10.11
15. Hannah Jane Fredericks (AUS) – 2:10.23
16. Daria Zarubenkova (NAB) – 2:10.35

Kaylee McKeown comfortably picked up the top qualifying spot in the women’s 200 backstroke, touching in 2:08.01 to win the prelims by more than half-a-second.

She was not out in first, though, turning in 1:03.13 which was behind Hungary’s Dora Molnar in her own heat, and Ameican Claire Curzan (1:03.00), China’s Peng Xuwei (1:02.65), and American Regan Smith (1:02.25) all had faster first 100s as well from earlier heats.

It didn’t matter though, as McKeown split 32.11/32.77 on the final 100 for a total split of 1:04.88 which helped her surge past Molnar in her heat and the rest of the field. Molnar was 1:05.48, Curzan was 1:05.58, Peng was 1:05.94, and Smith was 1:06.40.

Anastasiya Shkurdai from the Neutral Athletes ‘A’ was the final swimmer under 2:09 this morning, coming in at 2:08.96 to lock up the 6th qualifying spot from the same heat as McKeown and Molnar.

MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE– Prelims

• World Record: 20.91  – Cesar Cielo, Brazil (2009)
• World Junior Record: 21.75 – Michael Andrew, USA (2017)
• Championship Record: 20.91 – Cesar Cielo, Brazil (2009)
• 2023 World Champion – Cam McEvoy(AUS), 21.06
• 2024 Olympic Champion – Cam McEvoy(AUS), 21.25

Top 16 Qualifiers

1. Andrej Barna (SRB) – 21.44
2. Jack Alexy (USA)/Egor Kornev (NAB) – 21.52
3. —
4. Cameron McEvoy (AUS) – 21.53
5. Leonardo Deplano (ITA) – 21.62
6. Meiron Amir Cheruti (ISR) – 21.64
7. Guilherme Caribe (BRA) – 21.67
8. Benjamin Proud (GBR) – 21.71
9. Ji Yuchan (KOR) – 21.80
10. Ian Yentou Ho (HKG) – 21.82
11. Szebasztian Szabo (HUN)/Vladyslav Bukhov (UKR) – 21.83
12. —
13. Jere Hribar (CRO) – 21.86
14. Lorenzo Zazzeri (ITA)/Thomas Fannon (IRL) – 21.87
15. —
16. Martin Kartavi (ISR)/Santo Condorelli (USA) – 21.91 *Condorelli won the swim off

That was interesting. Two of the non-circle seeded swimmers made it through to the final. Ji Yuchan from Korea qualified 9th in 21.80, a three tenth drop from his seed of 22.10. From the same heat, Martin Kartavi tied for 16th, one-hundredth off his seed at 21.91, and will be racing in a swim off later in the session to determine the spot.

We started the circle seeded heats with a scratch from France’s Maxime Grousset, who had swam the 100 butterfly earlier in the session. American Jack Alexy went on to win the heat, touching in 21.52 with a jammed finish to tie for 2nd seed going into tonight’s semifinal.

Josh Liendo, Kyle Chalmers, and Kliment Kolesnikov were also in this heat, though none of them made it through to the semis.

Heat 12 saw the top seed Andrej Barna, of Serbia, win in 21.44, coming in just ahead of Australia’s Cameron McEvoy who swam 21.53. The 6th and 7th place finishers Meiron Amir Cheruti from Israel and Gui Caribe of Brazil were also out of heat 12.

Heat 13 was won by NAB’s Egor Kornev, who tied with Alexy at 21.52. Italy’s Leonardo Deplano was 2nd in the heat at 21.62, and top seed Benjamin Proud finished 8th in 21.71. American Santo Condorelli was also in the heat, touching in 21.91 to be the 2nd swimmer in the swim off for 16th place and the last spot in tonight’s semifinal.

Less than half a second separates the field, which is expected in a 50, but makes the race tonight more interesting as nobody is out of contention.

Edit: Santo Condorelli won the swim off and will swim in the event semifinal

Women’s 50 Butterfly– Prelims

• World Record: 24.43 — Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (2014)
• World Junior Record: 25.46 — Rikako Ikee, Japan (2017)
• World Championships Record: 24.60 — Sarah Sjostrom(2017)
• 2023 World Champion: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)— 24.77
• 2024 World Champion: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) — 24.63

Top 16 Qualifiers:

1. Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 25.22
2. Alexandria Perkins (AUS) – 25.41
3. Silvia di Pietro (ITA) – 25.49
4. Arina Surkova (NAB)/Kate Douglass (USA) – 25.56
5. —
6. Sara Junevik (SWE) – 25.59
7. Rikako Ikee (JPN)/Tamara Potocka (SVK) – 25.63
8. —
9. Mizuki Hirai (JPN) – 25.64
10. Angelina Köhler (GER)/Tessa Giele (NED) – 25.65
11. —
12. Lily Price (AUS)/Erin Gallagher (RSA) – 25.77
13. —
14. Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL) – 25.79
15. Taylor Ruck (CAN) – 25.95
16. Wang Yichun (CHN) – 25.97

Gretchen Walsh won the 50 fly prelims by two tenths after she scratched the 100 freestyle yesterday due to illness. Her final time of 25.22 was off the 24.66 she swam at the US Trials, but was more than enough to secure her spot in the semifinal.

Australia’s Alexandria Perkins won the first circle seeded heat in 25.41, the 2nd fastest time of the morning. She came in just ahead of Italian Silvia di Pietro in the same heat, who swam 25.49 to qualify 4th.

Also out of that first heat was NABs Arina Surkova, who tied with American Kate Douglass from the last heat for 4th.

Sweden’s Sara Junevik was the top qualifier from heat 8, finishing 6th in 25.59, four hundredths ahead of Rikako Ikee from Japan in the same heat.

MEN’S 4×200 FREE RELAY– Prelims

• World Record: 6:58.55 — United States (M. Phelps, R Berens, D Walters, R. Lochte)(2009)
• World Junior Record: 7:08.37 –United States (J. Magahey, L. Urlando, J. Mitchell, C. Foster) (2019)
• World Championship Record: 6:58.55 — United States (M. Phelps, R Berens, D Walters, R. Lochte)(2009)
• 2023 World Champions: Great Britain (D. Scott, M. Richards, J. Guy, T. Dean) — 6:59.08
• 2024 Olympic Champions: Great Britain (J. Guy, T. Dean, M. Richards, D. Scott) — 6:59.43

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Great Britain- 7:03.98
2. Australia- 7:04.32
3. Korea- 7:04.68
4. Italy- 7:05.17
5. United States- 7:06.09
6. China- 7:06.15
7. Israel- 7:06.29
8. France- 7:06.88

The 1st of the two heats went to the United States team in 7:06.09. Chris Guiliano led off for the US in 1:46.57, which had the United States in 4th behind the German, the Japanese, and the Greek teams. Rex Maurer swam the 2nd leg, splitting 1:46.11 to put the United States in the lead. Henry McFadden had the fastest split of the prelims of 1:45.51, and Gabriel Jett swam 4th in 1:47.90.

The Chinese relay of Fei Liwei (1:46.94), Ji Xinjie (1:46.09), Wang Shun (1:46.64), and Zhang Zhanshou took 2nd in the heat and qualified 6th in 7:06.15, six-hundredths behind the Americans.

The 2nd heat started off with a bang, with Australia’s Edward Sommerville getting out more than a second under World Record pace and flipping in 49.58, the only swimmer in the whole field (flying starts included) under 50 on the first 100. He paid for that speed on the final 50 though, dropping from a near two second lead after the 100 to 4th at the 200 mark, splitting 29.98 on the final 50 to split 1:46.86

Great Britain took over the lead at that point with Jack McMillan‘s 1:45.28 leadoff leg, and stayed in front though the rest of the race. James Guy swam 2nd, splitting 1:44.92, the fastest split in the field. Evan Jones had the slowest split on the relay in the 3rd spot at 1:47.43, and Tom Dean split 1:46.35 on the anchor.

Australia bounced back nicely to take 2nd overall with Charlie Hawke swimming 1:45.83 in the 2nd leg, Kai Taylor splitting 1:46.14 at 3rd and Maximillian Giuliani coming home in the fastest Aussie split of 1:45.49.

Despite Lukas Märtens splitting 1:45.65 on the opening leg of the relay, the German team finished 9th and will not qualify for the final.

Women’s 800 Freestyle

• World Record: 8:04.12 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2025)
• World Junior Record: 8:11.00 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2014)
• Championship Record: 8:07.39 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2015)
• 2023 World Champion: 8:08.87 — Katie Ledecky, USA
• 2024 Olympic Champion: 8:11.04 — Katie Ledecky, USA

Top 8 Qualifiers

1. Katie Ledecky (USA) – 8:14.62
2. Lani Pallister (AUS) – 8:17.06
3. Summer McIntosh (CAN) – 8:19.88
4. Isabel Gose (GER) – 8:20.21
5. Simona Quadarella (ITA) – 8:20.47
6. Erika Fairweather (NZL) – 8:22.22
7. Li Bingjie (CHN) – 8:23.23
8. Ichika Kajimoto (JPN) – 8:27.51

Katie Ledecky took the top spot in the women’s 800 freestyle prelims in a smooth 8:14.62, earning the middle lane in tomorrow’s final by about two-and-a-half seconds over Australia’s Lani Pallister.

Ledecky was out in 4:05.13 at the 400, just half-a-second ahead of Pallister’s 4:05.74. Ledecky slowly built a lead on Pallister over the rest of the race, holding 31 low-mid 50s while Pallister was 31 mid-high.

Summer McIntosh and Simona Quadarella finished 1st and 2nd in the first seeded heat, with McIntosh ultimately coming out on top in 8:19.88 for the 3rd seed and Quadarella touching in 8:20.47 for the 5th seed. After the race, McIntosh still seemed relaxed and she did not appear to be breathing heavily at all.

Isabel Gose from Germany, Erika Fairweather from New Zealand, Li Bingjie from China, and Ichika Kajimoto from Japan rounded out the rest of the top 8 for the final.

American Claire Weinstein finished 17th in 8:38.70, missing the final.

Men’s 50 Freestyle Swim Off

1. Santo Condorelli (USA)- 21.83
2. Martin Kartavi (ISR)- 21.94

Santo Condorelli got out to a fast start grabbing the lead at the vergy beginning of the swim off. Martin Kartavi came back fast, almost catching Condorelli on the home stretch, but ran out of room and Condorelli grabbed the spot in tonight’s semifinal by nine-hundredths.

Condorelli’s time would have been part of the tie for 11th if he had swum it in the morning, but he will be seeded with his 21.91 from prelims in lane eight of the first semifinal.