2025 Worlds, North America Recap Day 6: U.S. Women Continue Streak With Medals In Every Event

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

It’s no secret that the U.S. team has faced some adversity this week, with a large portion of the roster affected by the stomach bug that was first picked up at their pre-Worlds staging camp, but despite that, the women’s team has consistently been producing medals.

Through the first six days of the competition, the American women have won a medal in every event thus far, a remarkable achievement considering some of their biggest stars, such as Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Lilly King, have been confirmed to be ailing from the lingering illness.

Although it’s not rare to see the U.S. women reach the podium in the majority of events at a major international meet, they’re on the precipice of doing so in every event, and if they manage to do so, it would be the first time they’ve ever done that at the World Championships.

Among the events we’ve seen thus far, the biggest question marks the U.S. team would have had coming into the week would probably be the 200 free, where Claire Weinstein certainly had a shot at a medal but was far from a certainty—though her odds increased when Siobhan Haughey withdrew—and the 100 breast, where Kate Douglass and King were both in medal contention but could just as easily miss out in a tightly-bunched field.

As it turned out, the closest call for the U.S. thus far came on Friday in the 100 free, which we wouldn’t have expected coming in given the strong 1-2 punch they had in Huske, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, and Walsh, who broke 53 for the first time earlier this year and has been on fire throughout 2025.

However, Walsh scratched the prelims of the 100 free, and given Huske’s form throughout the week, which started with a withdrawal in the 100 fly and a few sub-par relay swims (by her standards), landing on the podium looked like a long shot.

But after looking increasingly better through the prelims (53.99) and semis (53.21) of the 100 free, Huske stepped up with a 52.89 clocking in the final, fending off breakout Dutchwoman Milou van Wijk (52.91) to secure the bronze medal.

After Huske’s bronze medal kicked off the night, Douglass claimed gold in the other women’s final on Friday, dominating the 200 breaststroke with the second-fastest swim in history in 2:18.50, cracking the Championship and American Record.

The U.S. women also put two swimmers into the final of the 200 back (Claire Curzan, Regan Smith) and have the bonafide gold medal favorite in the 50 fly, Gretchen Walsh, who qualified with the top seed out of the semis.

U.S. Women’s Medals – Through Day 6

Moving forward, there are six more individual female events to be contested, plus the meet-ending 4×100 medley relay, where the Americans are the odds-on favorites for gold.

Barring something unforeseen, medals in the 800 free, 200 back and 50 fly are all but secured tomorrow, which would leave the 50 free, 50 breast and 400 IM. Walsh and Huske are seeded 1st and 3rd in the 50 free, so the U.S. is in a good spot there, and in the 400 IM, Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant are seeded 2-3 behind Summer McIntosh, the same position they finished in at last summer’s Olympics, so there’s another strong medal chance.

The most difficult one will be the 50 breaststroke. Coming in, Lilly King ranks 3rd in the world this year with her time of 29.88, while McKenzie Siroky ranks 5th at 30.05. However, King was dealing with illness earlier in the week, and Siroky is making her World Championship debut, so things are somewhat unpredictable.

Looking back at the two most recent major international meets, excluding the 2024 World Championships, the U.S. women missed the medals in three events at both the 2023 World Championships and 2024 Olympics.

In Fukuoka, they fell shy of the podium in the 50, 100 and 200 free, and in Paris, they missed in the 50 free, 200 free and 100 breast. Among those races, the 100 free, 200 free and 100 breast have been checked off, only leaving the 50 free to be rectified (though Douglass did win silver at the 2024 Worlds in Doha).

And as the American women continue to churn out medals, the U.S. has emerged atop the medal table for the first time in Singapore, with Douglass’s 200 breast victory matching them with Australia’s five gold medals, and their 10 silver and five bronzes far outpace the Aussies’ two silver and six bronze.

OTHER DAY 6 NORTH AMERICA HIGHLIGHTS

• The Canadian men have yet to reach the podium in Singapore (outside of the mixed medley relay), but they’ll have a great chance of making the medals tomorrow after Josh Liendo (50.24) and Ilya Kharun (50.39) had strong swims in the semis of the 100 fly, qualifying 2-4 into the final.
• Jack Alexy ripped a new personal best in the semis of the men’s 50 free to advance 2nd into the final in a time of 21.32, while American teammate Santo Condorelli qualified for the final in 7th (21.68) after winning a swim-off in the preliminary session after initially tying for 16th in the heats.
• AJ Pouch led the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke after 150 meters but ultimately faded to 5th in a time of 2:09.13 in his first LC World Championship final.
• After lowering the Canadian Record in the prelims (1:55.17) and semis (1:55.03) of the men’s 200 back, Blake Tierney had another strong performance in the final, placing 4th in a time of 1:55.09.
• Luke Hobson threw down the fastest split in the field (1:43.45), but it ultimately wasn’t enough for the U.S. men as they placed 4th in the 4×200 free relay in a time of 7:01.24, marking the first time they’ve missed the podium in the event at the World Championships since 1998. They also finished off the podium at the Tokyo Olympics.

North America Medal Table Through Day 6

Overall Medal Table Through Day 6