2025 Worlds, Day 1 Oceanian Recap: A Golden Start For Australia

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
  • Finals: Day 1

Australia came away with half of the gold medals on offer in the first night of finals in Singapore, both of them in events they were not tipped for the win. A relay win can set the team up for the rest of the week – so there’s no saying what two of them will do for an Australia team that is looking in fine form already.

The first of those medals was the women’s 4×100, where they got the better of the U.S. in a tight battle that never saw a gap of more than half a second open up. Mollie O’Callaghan swam her typical leadoff, back-ending her leg to touch first, before Meg Harris showed her relay prowess on the second leg with a swim of 51.87, just ahead of Kate Douglass and her fastest ever split. She is becoming a key part of this relay for the Aussies, and marked the fourth summer in a row where her split has been faster than the previous year.

Milla Jansen and Olivia Wunsch, who came through the junior ranks at the same time and have stepped into this relay without losing a step, held off the U.S. on the way home. Wunsch showed incredible maturity to fight back against Torri Huske down the stretch, losing and then regaining the lead, before pulling away into the wall. Even with three-quarters of their World-Record-setting relay not on the team this year, the winning feeling goes on.

The men’s relay was the more unexpected of the two for Australia to win. The U.S. had a phenomenal showing at their National Championships, with a season best add-up of 3:09.53, but all four of Australia’s swimmers swam at their absolute best tonight.

Flynn Southam nearly matched his best on the leadoff to go 47.77, his first swim under 48 seconds outside Australia, and Max Giuliani was 47.63 to give Chalmers the opportunity to attack the anchor leg. However the real gamechanger was Kai Taylor, who owns a best of 48.37 but was 47.04 on the second leg, matching Patrick Sammon for the U.S. and outsplitting Italy’s Thomas Ceccon.

He was 47.55 this morning, but both he and Giuliani look in incredible form leading into the 4×200 free relay on Friday. With Great Britain uncertain on the form of Tom Dean and the U.S. being hit-and-miss so far, a similar relay performance there would really put the cat among the pigeons. Australia won gold in 2019 behind Mack Horton‘s anchor leg – could they do something similar in 2025?

Kyle Chalmers did what Kyle Chalmers does on the anchor leg, splitting 46.53 to run down the U.S. and propel the Green and Gold to the joint-3rd-fastest time in history, and break the Oceanian Record by nearly a second.

The men’s team talked after the race about how seeing the women ‘come out and kill it’, to quote Kai Taylor, motivated them to do the same.

Max Giuliani summed it up best in the post-race interview: “Winning is a drug, and I’m addicted.”.

Other Day 1 Oceanian Highlights:

• Tara Kinder set a big new best of 2:09.45 in the 200 IM heats, touching out Summer McIntosh to take the top seed into the semi-finals. She added a couple of seconds there to place 12th and miss the final, but the heats swim was an encouraging sign for the 200 breast later in the week, especially after a 36.91 breaststroke leg. Ella Ramsay just ahead of her in 11th.
• Sam Short was the top seed out of heats in the men’s 400 free, and ended up just on the wrong side of a fantastic battle with Lukas Martens, touching 0.02 seconds behind the German. It was a solid return to the podium for the Rackley swimmer after he placed 4th in Paris last summer, but he was a little off both his season best and his time from the heats this morning.
• Guam’s Amaya Bollinger was just two-tenths off her National Record in the 100 fly heats, touching in 1:06.93. The 17-year-old set short course butterfly records at all three distances at worlds back in December, and goes in the 200 fly as well here in Singapore.
• Both Alexandria Perkins and Lily Price made it into the semi-finals of the 100 fly tonight, where Perkins set a new best of 56.19 on her birthday to put her into the final as the third seed. She’s been on fire so far this year in the event, and swam her third and fourth swims under the 57 second barrier today. With Gretchen Walsh adding time from the heats, the crown could be there for the taking tomorrow if she continues in the same vein. Price’s swims today were also both best times, as she shaved quarter of a second off her best to go 57.58 and place 11th.
• Highlight is not the best description, but Erika Fairweather missed out on the 400 free final due to a starting infraction in the heats. She would have comfortably made it through to the final with her swim, but was unable to defend her gold medal from Doha in 2024.
• There was still Oceanian representation in that final as both Lani Pallister and Jamie Perkins made it through. Pallister went out with Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky in the first half of the final before falling off their pace slightly, and ended up coming home in fourth behind a hard-charging Li Bingjie as well. However, she hacked nearly a second off her best and became just the 5th women to break 3:59 as she went 3:58.87, with Perkins setting a new best of 4:03.20 as she finished 6th.

For complete results, in-depth analysis, and coverage of performances from all countries, be sure to check out our full session recap.

National Records

• Australia: Men’s 4×100 free relay – 3:08.97
• Kazuumi Nestore (Palau): Men’s 50 fly – 26.56
• Katerson Moya (Micronesia): Men’s 50 fly – 26.67
• Leo Lebot (Vanuatu): Men’s 50 fly – 29.24
• Jacob Story (Cook Islands): Men’s 100 breast – 1:02.93

Continental Records

• Australia: Men’s 4×100 Free Relay – 3:08.97

Oceanian Medal Table Through Day One:

Overall Medal Table Through Day One: