2025 World Championships Previews: Can Anyone Deny Meiltuyte A Four-Peat In The 50 Breast?

China’s Tang Qianting is favored to stake her claim on gold in the 100 breast, but she’s a big-time threat in the 50 too, even though she’s only been 30.23 so far in 2025. Like Meilutyte, she has yet to show all of her cards this year — whether that’s by design or simply because she’s not in top form is unclear. If it is by design, though, that could be a good thing.

Last year, she peaked in April at the Chinese Olympic Trials, popping 1:04.39 in the 100 breast—a time that would’ve won gold by almost a full second at the Paris Games—but she was a second slower in Paris, where she collected silver. She and her coach Pierre Lafontaine clearly do not want to have that happen for a second straight year. While defending her 100 breast world title will likely be top of mind, moving from silver to gold in the 50 could be as equally important, and with her best time of 29.59 from the 2024 Worlds where she took silver behind Meilutyte, she is a big-time threat.

What’s more scary about Tang is that at those 2024 Worlds she hadn’t broken 1:05 in the 100, and she was still in the 29.5 range in the 50 before dropping to that aforementioned 1:04.39 a few months later at a meet where the 50 wasn’t contested. Whether that means she has just as big of a drop coming in the 50, or whether she restructured her training to center around the 100 and will stay around the same time in the 50, remains to be seen. She was taking out her 100 in 29.64 when she set her 100 PB, so it seems at the very least that if she’s at her best, a time between 29.3-29.4 is in the cards, and that’s not too far off Meilutyte’s world record of 29.16 nor Meilutyte’s 2024 winning time of 29.40.

Other Names To Watch Closely

Team USA’s McKenzie Siroky has been on fire over the past year, too put it lightly. She had an excellent freshman season at the University of Tennessee and has wasted no time rolling the improvements she made in the yards pool to long course. Siroky swam lifetime bests in the long-course 50/100/200 breaststroke at the Tennessee Open, her first meet since the 2025 NCAA Championships.

Siroky broke 31 seconds for the first time during the 50 prelims at that Knoxville meet, ripping a swift 30.68, before elevating at U.S. Trials with 30.27 in prelims and 30.43 in the final to secure equal 2nd, which required a swim-off with Emma Weber. She rose to the occasion once again, not only winning, but nearly going under 30 in 30.05. Anything under 30.3 should likely get the nod for an ‘A’ final, as it took 30.35 and 30.33 in 2022 and 2023, respectively, with 30.69 being the cutoff in Doha 2024.

Italian and Florida freshman Anita Bottazzo is another name that may have sub-30 aspirations. At the 2023 Worlds, the then 19-year-old hit a mark of 30.02 to win her prelim heat before placing 5th in the final with 30.11. Her time in the prelims would have been fast enough for bronze ahead of the aforementioned Pilato. Bottazzo has been 30.25 so far this year, but has medal potential if she can crack her best time with a sub-30 performance in Doha. She moved to Gainesville to train with the Gators in late 2024, and her 100 has really popped more so than her 50. She came into the Gators’ program with a best of 1:07.17 and won the Italian trials in April in 1:05.82. In a few weeks’ time we’ll see if she can elevate the 50, just as she did the 100.

Ireland’s Mona McSharry is another key name to watch out for, although she’s better in the 100, the event where she nabbed Paris bronze. She hit the wall 11th at Fukuoka 2023 to miss the 50 final, but rebounded in Doha 2024 to touch 8th in 30.96 after notching 30.57 to slide into the final in 7th. She has a best time of 30.29 in the event. That time should easily make the final in Singapore if she can replicate it, while something closer to 30.5 is likely to miss out.

McSharry has not had exceptionally strong swims so far this season, however. She took a few months off after the Olympics before returning to NCAA competition in early 2025, and has been 30.89 this year. Given that recent time was logged at the Setti Colli meet just weeks ago, it may be a tough ask to chop off half a second in such a short distance in just a few weeks.

Two additional swimmers that have a seed time in the mid-30 range are Veera Kivirinta (Finland) and Sophie Hansson (Sweden). Both swimmers posted 30.3 marks at Fukuoka 2023, and both look to have the ability to challenge for a finals spot in Singapore.

Hansson is more known for her 100 speed, as she finalled at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 and 2023 World Championship meets in that event. She’s only been 30.89 so far this season, a far cry from a finals berth unless she’s able to recapture some of her top form from a few years ago, where she popped her current best of 30.31 at the 2021 European Championships, a mark she nearly matched in 2023.

Kivirinta, on the other hand, is a pure 50 specialist. Her best is 30.33 from Fukuoka, and she threatened it at last month’s Setti Colli meet with a time of 30.41 for runner-up status behind Pilato, so she’s rounding into form at the right time heading into Worlds. Kivirinta was 13th at 2023 Worlds after hitting the previously mentioned PB in prelims before touching 6th in Doha. Her only downside is her tendency to get slower progressing through the rounds, doing that PB in 2023 before adding time to 30.56 in semis to miss the final, while posting times of 30.53/30.57/30.73 in Doha.

Germany’s Anna Elendt can’t go without a brief mention, but she’s in a similar boat to Hansson in terms of being better at the 100. Elendt has a best of 30.10 in this event and has challenged that mark this year with an outing of 30.28, a time that should be right around what is expected to take to make the final. Elendt, who collected silver in the 100 at 2022 worlds, was 5th in this distance in 2022 (30.22) before not making the grade in 2023 (12th, 30.55) and skipping the meet in 2024. She first made the worlds final back in 2019, where she took 7th in 31.06 at just 17 years old.

20-year-old 200 breast world record holder Evgeniia Chikunova gets better as the distances go up, and while she holds a best time of 30.44 from last July, it will likely take about a tenth faster to slide into the final. The Russian, who will be swimming under the Neutral Athletes ‘B’ banner, will have her main focus on grabbing gold in the 200, and also the 100 where she will face off against fellow 1:04 swimmer Tang, but a final in this event is possible with a slight PB.

Belarus’ Alina Zmushka, who will represent Neutral Athletes ‘A’, also has a shot at the top 8, but will likely need to swim better than her best time of 30.44 to do so, and much faster than the 31.04 season best she notched in May.

16th-seeded entrant Dominika Sztandera of Poland is another name that could contend for the final if she’s able to throw down a best time in the semifinals. She comes in with an entry time of 30.55, which was set at the European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia last summer. She’s made the semifinal at Worlds over the past two editions, hitting the wall 14th in her previous national record of 30.58 in 2023 before collecting 10th place honors with a time of 30.78 in 2024.