2025 World Championships: Men’s and Women’s Open Water 5k Live Recap

2025 World Championships

• July 21 – August 3, 2025
• Singapore, Singapore
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• 10k Live Recaps: Women | Men
• 5k Start Lists: Women | Men
• Livestream (Pay-To-Watch)

After water quality issues delayed the men’s and women’s 10k events, we are back to our regularly scheduled programming with the 5k Open Water events.

We will start with the women’s race at 7:30 p.m. EST and then the men’s race will begin at 10:00 p.m. EST.

The women’s race will be highlighted by 10k gold medalist Moesha Johnson, who will be number 43 in the 5k race this evening. She will be joined by silver medalist Ginevra Taddeucci and bronze medalist Lisa Pou.

The gold medalists in this event form the last two World Championships are not in the field this year, neither are the silver medalists. Ana Marcela Cunha was 3rd in this event in 2023 and 2024, and she is returning this year after finishing 6th in the 10k.

Americans Brinkleigh Hansen, who is just 15-years-old, and Mariah Denigan will also be competing and trying to place higher than they did in the 10k after finishing 24th and 14th respectively.

On the men’s side, we will also see all three 10k medalists. Florian Wellbrock won the 10k and is the 5k champion from 2023 (he did not swim in 2024), and he is the favorite to win the 5k today.

He will be joined by Gregorio Paltrinieri, who scratched out of the pool events today due to a finger injury that occurred at the beginning of the 10k. He has confirmed that he will race the 5k, but the injury could affect his performance.

Kyle Lee was the Bronze medalist and he will be another swimmer to watch this evening, along with Oliver Klemet who finished just a tenth of a second behind Lee in the 2 hour race on Wednesday.

Dylan Gravely and Ivan Puskovitch will be competing the race for the U.S. Gravely was 22nd in the 10k and Puskovitch did not swim the event with Joey Tepper competing it instead.

Women’s Race Recap

Lap 1 of 3:

Ekaterina Sorokina got out fast to an early lead at the beginning of the race. Ginevra Taddeucci, Bettina Fabian, and Moesha Johnson were just behind her until the first turn when Johnson took over the lead.

At the first turn it was Johnson in first. she was followed by Caroline Jouisse of France, Taddeucci of Italy, Sorokina, Spain’s Maria De Valdes, Germany’s Celine Reider, Giulia Gabbrielleshci also from Italy, and Bettina Fabian from Hungary.

After the first turn, Johnson just continued building her lead, setting the pace for everyone and leading the field. Sorokina also began dropping off the pace of 3rd.

There will be an option for a feed in this race, which is generally not allowed in 5k races, but due to the water temperature, World Aquatics created an opportunity to give athletes the ability to stay hydrated.

As Johnson separated herself in the first position, Taddeucci began separating herself for 2nd, leaving Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas and De Valdes to battle for 3rd overall as lead pack

Going around the final turn before the feed, Johnson came out of the turn incredibly fast, increasing her speed and continuing to build her lead.

Mihalyvari-Farkas was the only swimmer in the top four who was no able to get a feed because she was unable to time it effectively and had to choose between her spot in the lead pack and the feed.

Lap 2

At the first checkpoint of the 2nd lap, the four swimmers that have been making up the lead pack sat about 10 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Johnson was in the lead, followed by Taddeucci in 2nd about three second back.

Three more seconds behind Taddeucci, De Valdes and Mihlavyvari-Farkas were just about a second-and-a-half apart, still battling closely for 3rd.

10k bronze medalist Lisa Pou was the leader of the pace pack, sitting 17.1 seconds behind Johnson at the first turn. She was joined in quick succession by Gabrielleschi, Fabian, Ana Marcela Cunha, Caroline Reider, and Ichicka Kajimoto within 4 seconds.

As the 2nd lap continued, Lisa Pou began closing on the lead four, joining the leading pack to begin challenging for the bronze medal.

Johnson stayed strong in the lead increasing her stroke rate as her and Taddeucci gully separated themselves from the pack entering the third lap creating a race for gold and a race for bronze.

At the checkpoint it was Johnson and Taddeucci in first by a large margin.

After them, came Mihlavyvari-Farkas who was leading the 3rd place pack that also consisted of Pou, De Valdes, Cunha, and Gabbrielleschi.

Lap 3

Into the 3rd lap, Johnson and Taddeucci completely separated themselves leaving everyone else in the dust as they continued to lead.

Taddeucci began really challenging for the lead around the 48-minute mark.

At the first turn, it was the lead two about 14 seconds ahead of Mihlavyvari-Farkas, De Valdes, Kajimoto, Reider, and Pou within 10 seconds of one another, all battling for the final spot on the podium.

In the lead battle, Taddeucci continued attempting to challenge as she stayed right on Johnson’s tail through the straight-away swims.

Johnson continuously shifted to the side to create some separation, but Taddeucci was staying very close to her feet.

Kajimoto had a very strong beginning of the 3rd lap, pulling to the lead of the chase pack during the long straight-away.

In the final stretch, Taddeuci had a very strong charge, pulling nearly even with Johnson on the final stretch, but she was not able to catch Johnson, who turned on the gas at the final moment to capture gold by a second.

Kajimoto, who lost a bit of time by running into the barrier at the end of the race, finished in 3rd, locking up the bronze medal for Japan, just ahead of De Valdes.

The Americans finished in similar positions to their 10k with Mariah Denigan finishing 13th and Brinkleigh Hansen coming in 22nd.

Women’s Top 3 Finishers

1. Moesha Johnson (AUS)- 1:02:01.30
2. Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA)- 1:02:02.30
3. Ichika Kajimoto (JPN)- 1:02:28.90

Men’s Race Recap

Lap One

David Betlehem form Hungary was out like a rocket at the beginning of the race, starting off with a strong underwater section to get himself out in front of the pack right at the start.

Thomas Raymond from Australia was also out fast, getting out in the front with Betlehem at the beginning.

AT the first corner, Betlehem was out in front by six seconds over Germany’s Florian Wellbrock by just over six seconds. France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier was 3rd, a second behind Wellbrock.

After Olivier, Raymond and the American Ivan Puskovitch were 4th and 5th and also within 10 seconds of Betlehem at the first turn.

At the end of the first lap, Betlehem was still in the lead, choosing to skip the feed after the first lap, giving him a significant lead going into lap two.

Florian Wellbrock and Gregorio Paltrinieri were just behind him, but both decided to take feeds, which put them a little behind.

Raymond and Olivier were still in the mix in the top five as well, sitting less than five seconds back of Betlehem.

Lap Two

Despite opening up a large lead at the beginning of the lap by skipping the feed, Betlehem was quickly caught by Wellbrock and Paltrinieri who are followed by a very large and close pack.

Another factor affecting the athletes right now, along with the excess heat which is the reason behind feeds being offered, are significant waves, far more than we saw during the women’s race.

At the first checkpoint of lap two, Betlehem was still in the lead by about two seconds over Wellbrock, though the gap is quickly closing. Paltrinieri was in 3rd, Olivier in 4th and Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky moved into 5th.

Quickly following the first checkpoint, Wellbrock surged past Betlehem, who moved back to swim side-by-side with Paltrinieri.

Throughout the rest of lap two Wellbrock continued to open a very comfortable lead on Paltrinieiri and Betlehem.

As a whole, the race is still much closer at this point than the women’s race was with there not being any clear packs forming.

Wellbrock finished lap two about two seconds ahead of Paltrinieri, who took another feed at the end of this lap.

Betlehem is about a second behind Paltrinieri in 3rd, and he is followed closely by Frances’ Olivier, Australia’s Kyle Lee, and Italy’s Marcello Guidi, who are all within two seconds of him.

We are gearing up for a very exciting final lap for the podium.

Final Lap

At the first checkpoint, Wellbrock made the turn first ahead of a large pack of men that includes Paltrinieri, Lee, Betlehem, Olivier, Guidi, and Raymond who are all very close to one another.

Many of the athletes have lost their caps at this point, which is making identification difficult for commentators and spectators.

Going into the final turn Wellbrock opened up a huge lead over Olivier, Betlehem, Paltrinieri, and Leee who were swimming almost straight across locked in a tight battle for 2nd.

Paltrineiri had a very strong turn around the 2nd-to-last bouy to find himself in 2nd place about a body length ahead of the pack behind him, and he began surging to try and catch Wellbrock in the last straight away.

Wellbrock was not giving any inches, thouch, taking the win and World title in a comfortable fashion.

Paltreneiri finished 2nd almost three seconds back, and Olivier was 3rd, four seconds behind Wellbrock.

American Dylan Gravley finished 17th in 58:15.90, and countryman Ivan Puskovitch was 20th in 1:00:26.30.

Men’s Top 3 Finishers

1. Florian Wellbrock (GER)- 57:26.40
2. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA)- 57:29.30
3. Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)- 57:30.40