2025 World Championships: Day 7 Finals Preview

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 | Day 6 | Day 7
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Happy Saturday, swim fans. Take a look at the storylines to look forward to on the penultimate night of pool competition in Singapore. Spoiler alert, it’s a sprint-packed session, but it caps off with one of the most anticipated distance races ever.

Day 7 Finals Heat Sheet

Day 7 Finals Line-Up

• Women’s 50 fly final
• Men’s 50 free final
• Women’s 200 back final
• Women’s 50 breast semis
• Men’s 100 fly final
• Women’s 50 free semis
• Men’s 50 back semis
• Women’s 800 free final
• Mixed 4×100 free final

Things could not get off to a speedier start than a Gretchen Walsh final. The Cavalier kicks off a busy night as the top qualifier in the 50 fly. As one of two women to ever break 25 in the event, she’ll look to do so again tonight by as big of a margin as possible. 100 fly minor medalists Roos Vanotterdijk and Alexandria Perkins have solid shots at picking up individual medal #2 here and perhaps breaking their own national records.

The speed continues with the men’s splash-and-dash 50 free final, led by Aussie Cameron McEvoy and American Jack Alexy. Behind these two veteran figures, who were the only sub-21.4s from the semis, Serbian Andrej Barna and Russian Egor Kornev will fight their way to a chance at their first long course world medals.

We’re treated to a third final in a row to kick off the session, and a star-studded one at that. Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith will race the women’s 200 back, but in an unusual fashion, they won’t be in the center lanes. Instead, China’s Peng Xuwei will walk out last with the top time out of semi-finals. On either side of her will be Claire Curzan and Anastasiya Shkurdai, who composed of the top three last night. Even with relatively pedestrian semifinal swims, McKeown and Smith are the heavy 1-2 favorites.

The session’s first semi-final is highlighted by the Baltic breaststrokers. 12 years after her first world record in the event, Ruta Meilutyte still blasted her way to the top heats swim. In fact, the Lithuanian was the only sub-30 performance of the morning. The other semi-final is to be headed by Estonian Eneli Jefimova, who has been on a tear in the event this season. Keep your eye out for the event’s former world record holder, Lilly King, as this could be her last individual race ever if she doesn’t squeeze into the top eight.

With no Milak or Dressel in Singapore, a dog fight is brewing for the new king of the 100 fly. After semi-finals that saw the entire top eight get under 51, no one is to be counted out for this final. However, it’s worth noting that Noe Ponti came out first of both the heats in the semis. On either side of the Swissman will be 2024 Olympic silver medalist Josh Liendo and Singapore 50 fly champion Maxime Grousset.

I hope you’re not tired of sprint events, because the next two events are 50s. The Dutch are keeping their tradition of strong women’s sprinters alive with two women, Milou van Wijk and Marrit Steenbergen in the top eight for tonight’s semis. Meg Harris enters as the top time, while Americans Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske will have to move up in place to get a 3rd swim.

The last semi-final of the entire meet is the men’s 50 back. World record holder Kliment Kolesnikov started the event on the right foot with the top time by .3 in the heats, and he’ll look to retain that #1 position for the next two rounds. His biggest challenge could come from Pieter Coetze, who has won both of the backstroke events thus far.

Changing gears away from sprints, we finally get the meet’s most anticipated head-to-head race: Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh. This match-up requires little ado, so sit back and be thankful that we get to witness it. Additionally, don’t forget that this is set to be the fastest 800 freestyle heat ever, top-to-bottom. Lani Pallister unleashed an 8:09 at Aussie trials to move to the #3 all-time performer, and both Li Bingjie and Simona Quadarella have had the meets of their lives in Singapore.

For the post-800 encore performance, we have the mixed 4×100 free relay. After taking a series of punches in the relays this week, the red, white, and blue have an opportunity at redemption. The Americans used many of their biggest stars to take the top time of the morning by over three seconds. Australia and China, by contrast, suffered the same misfortune that the U.S. did in the mixed medley relay, missing the final altogether. Their absence is good news for not only the U.S., but also, France, the NAB Russian athletes, and the Netherlands, who made up the top four this morning.