2025 World Championships Previews: Will It Be Ledecky Or McIntosh In The Women’s 800 Free?

2025 World Championships

• July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
• Singapore, Singapore
• World Aquatics Championships Arena
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Preview Index

Women’s 800 Freestyle — By The Numbers

• World Record: 8:04.12 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2025)
• World Junior Record: 8:11.00 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2014)
• Championship Record: 8:07.39 — Katie Ledecky, USA (2015)
• 2023 World Champion: 8:08.87 — Katie Ledecky, USA
• 2024 Olympic Champion: 8:11.04 — Katie Ledecky, USA

To put it simply, the women’s 800 freestyle is widely considered the most anticipated race of the 2025 World Championships, men’s or women’s.

The battle for gold is expected to come down to American Katie Ledecky and Canadian Summer McIntosh, and both are in career-best form in 2025.

After Ledecky delivered a mind-boggling 8:04.79 to win gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, nobody neared that time for eight more years – Ledecky included. Flash forward to 2025, and Ledecky suddenly rekindled the spark she had in 2016, breaking her own world record at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Series in April (8:04.12). She showed the swim wasn’t a fluke by following it up with an 8:05.76 at U.S. Nationals.

Ledecky, 28, has seemingly burst open a dam. Last month, McIntosh and Australia’s Lani Pallister both broke out as the #2 and #3 performers of all time with four-plus-second personal bests. McIntosh hit 8:05.07 at Canadian Trials, while Pallister turned in an 8:10.84 at Australian Trials.

Updated All-Time Top Performances, Women’s 800 LCM Freestyle:

1. Katie Ledecky — 8:04.12 (2025)
2. Katie Ledecky — 8:04.79 (2016)
3. Summer McIntosh — 8:05.07 (2025)
4. Katie Ledecky — 8:05.76 (2025)
5. Katie Ledecky — 8:06.68 (2016)
6. Katie Ledecky –8:07.07 (2023)
7. Katie Ledecky — 8:07.27 (2018)
8. Katie Ledecky — 8:07.39 (2015)
9. Katie Ledecky — 8:08.04 (2022)
10. Katie Ledecky — 8:08.87 (2023)
11. Katie Ledecky — 8:09.13 (2018)
12. Katie Ledecky — 8:09.27 (2022)
13. Summer McIntosh — 8:09.86 (2025)
14. Katie Ledecky — 8:10.32 (2016)
15. Katie Ledecky — 8:10.70 (2019)
16. Lani Pallister — 8:10.84 (2025)
17. Katie Ledecky — 8:10.91 (2016)
18. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.00 (2014)
19. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.04 (2024)
20. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.08 (2018)
21. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.21 (2015)
22. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.35 (2014)
23. Summer McIntosh — 8:11.39 (2024)
24. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.50 (2017)
25. Katie Ledecky — 8:11.70 (2018)

Will Ledecky Continue Her 800 Freestyle Reign?

Katie Ledecky (Photo Credit: Chris Pose)

Ledecky, a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and the four-time defending Olympic champion in the 800 free, has also won the world title in the event six times, spanning from 2013 to 2023. She sat out the 2024 Worlds due to their proximity to the Paris Games.

Ledecky’s career has seen a massive resurgence since she left Stanford in the fall of 2021 to train with Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida. In a five-year span starting from after she set the 800 free world record in 2016 to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she only broke the 8:10 barrier twice in the event. However, after moving to Florida, she has broken 8:10 a total of six times.

This past April at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Ledecky put on a show. She threw down the 2nd fastest performance all-time in the 1500 free (2nd to her world record from 2018), her own 2nd fastest performance in the 400 free (and her fastest since 2016), and, as a grand finale, the aforementioned 800 free world mark.

“I can’t stop smiling, it’s been like that all week though, so it’s not really new. It’s been so many years in the making to do it tonight. It’s been an incredible night. There is always a story to each world record that I set. I think tonight is the first one I’ve done when another American has done it. Hats off to Gretchen (Walsh) for getting us rolling this morning and starting a world record party. The crowd was amazing tonight; I couldn’t have done it without that. I flipped at the 750, and it was loud in here, and I just told myself I’m not letting this opportunity go to waste and started sprinting,” Ledecky told USA Swimming.

The 14x Olympic medalist told SwimSwam at U.S. Nationals last month, where she followed up her swim with a winning result of 8:05.76, that this type of swim has been in the works for quite some time, as she has felt fast in practice all season, even pushing a 15:49 1500m free (LCM) in a practice suit in the fall.

Ledecky historically drops time from the U.S. Trials meet to the major international meet each year, with 2023 representing a rare exception. If she swims her season-best at Worlds, that will be a new world record.

Is It Summer’s Time?

Summer McIntosh (photo: Jack Spitser)

What makes this matchup even more compelling is the recent comment from McIntosh’s coach, Fred Vergnoux, in an interview with CBC, where he claimed that Summer could “go under eight minutes… no question.”

The context seemed to indicate that this swim is for some point in her career rather than a prediction for Singapore. But with McIntosh, the sky isn’t even the limit.

Before the three-time Olympic champion’s 8:05.07 scorcher at the Canadian Trials a few weeks ago, her best was 8:09.86 from February. Prior to that, it was 8:11.39 from February 2024.

That 8:11.39 is worth expanding on. At the 2024 Southern Zone South Sectional Championships, McIntosh swam that time—making her the 2nd fastest woman of all time—while dropping nearly nine seconds from her previous best of 8:20.19. Perhaps more historic than that incredible time, however, was the fact that she became the first swimmer to beat Katie Ledecky in an 800 free final since 2010, when Ledecky was 13 years old

*Leah Smith beat Ledecky 8:17.23 to 8:17.42 in prelims of the 800 free at the 2019 World Championships, swimming in the same heat.

The last time McIntosh raced the 800 free on the international stage was at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when she was just 14. She placed 11th in 8:25.04. That time stood as her best until she logged 8:20.19 at the 2023 edition of the Southern Zone meet, where she has historically raced the 800 free only once a year.

One potential worry for McIntosh is her huge workload throughout the meet (see her full schedule at the end of this section, compared to Ledecky’s). Though a concern, she hasn’t had any major issues with large schedules in the past. This was highlighted in Paris where she seemingly got better as each event progressed and ultimately won 200 IM gold on the final day of competition. That clutch swim came in one of the most anticipated races of the entire Games—something that bodes well when going up against another titan in Ledecky.

Furthermore, at World-level meets over recent seasons, McIntosh has added time in races 400 and above but dropped significant time in the 200s. Since 2023, she has cut time from Trials in the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 200 free when she’s swum those races at Worlds/Olympics. However, she has added from her career bests in the 400 free and 400 IM. This is really the only red flag we have for her in this 800.

Will McIntosh add slightly in the longer distances this year? We don’t really have any data points to go off of since she’s training with a new coach now, and things could turn out completely differently. While CBC reported she wasn’t tapered at Canadian Trials, McIntosh is known to swim lights out at Trials every year and consistently throws down world-class swims regardless of taper, so we’re taking that information with a grain of salt.

The 18-year-old is now training with the more distance-oriented Vergnoux after previously working with Brent Arckey in Florida. While Arckey of course provided the training McIntosh needed, evidenced by her multiple world records and 8:09 in this race, he has more of a kick and IM focus. Whether the new training helps Summer hold form in the longer races at Worlds remains to be seen. However, Vergnoux has had significant success guiding Mireia Belmonte in similar events, and Belmonte always performed well throughout long world-level meets—a good omen for the Canadian superstar.

McIntosh’s Projected Singapore Schedule:

Ledecky’s Projected Singapore Schedule:

How Do Ledecky and McIntosh’s Race Strategies Compare?

Here’s how the numbers shake out if we factor in Ledecky’s 8:05.76 winning time from U.S. Trials, where she took the race out more aggressively than her world record swim:

Now, here’s the stroke count chart.

Other Likely Finalists

• Lani Pallister of Australia had the meet of her life at the recent Australian Trials last month, which included the aforementioned 8:10.84 in the 800 free to become the 3rd fastest woman of all time. If she is anywhere in the ballpark of that time in Singapore, nobody is catching her for the bronze medal, full stop.
• China’s Li Bingjie has been 8:13.36 in this event before, which she recorded en route to upsetting Australia’s Ariarne Titmus for silver at the 2023 Worlds. If she is able to get back down to that time, she could be a big-time challenger for bronze. However, she will almost certainly need to chop a few seconds off her PB to mount a charge against Pallister and her hardware hopes.
• Simona Quadarella of Italy always seems to be right in the thick of things in the 800 and 1500 free on the international stage since the mid to late 2010s, and she can never be discounted. The 26-year-old busted out her current lifetime best of 8:14.55 at the Olympic Games last summer where she placed 4th. While the 1500 has been her bread and butter event—the event she struck world gold in in 2019—she’s a racer. That was on full display at the 2024 Doha Worlds where she got her hand to the wall first for double distance gold in hotly contested races. Regardless, a substantial PB will be needed to get a medal, but she’s essentially a shoe-in for the final.
• American Claire Weinstein could potentially end her career as the most wide-ranging freestyler to ever touch a pool. Known for her 200 free skills, where she owns a best time of 1:54.88, she logged times of 53.72, 4:00.05, 8:19.67, and 16:01.96 in the 100, 400, 800, and 1500 at Trials. She made the team in the latter three while just missing a relay spot in the 100 free with an 8th place finish. Beyond that, she qualified for Worlds in the 5k and 10k open water races but ultimately scratched them, along with the 1500, due to the heavy workload. This decision also factored in her relay duties in Singapore, where she will be a key component to Team USA’s 4×200 free relay that faces a tough battle against favorites Australia.The biggest question mark with Weinstein in this 800 free is that she hasn’t raced it on the international stage before. However, she split 4:15/4:04 at U.S. Trials for a huge negative split off the back end of her 53.7 in the 100 free. If she figures out a race plan that can get her into the 8:15-17 range, she would find herself in the upper tier of the top 8.
• We would be remiss to not mention a Bernd Bertram-coached athlete, and Germany’s Isabel Gose is part of his storied distance crew. His group is already on fire in Singapore, having swept the 5k and 10k open water events for men and women in addition to taking the men’s 3k knockout sprint. Florian Wellbrock scored three golds and Australia’s Moesha Johnson snared two. Gose won silver in this race at the lightly contested Doha 2024 Worlds. She is much better in the 1500 free, where she is expected to be a medal threat after grabbing bronze in Paris last July. Her 8:17.55 best time in the 800 is a safe bet for a finals appearance.
• Anastasiia Kirpichnikova of France is in the same boat as Gose—much better in the 1500, where she took Paris silver. Her best of 8:18.77 stems from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but she did make the final in Paris, touching 7th in 8:22.70.

The Verdict

In terms of bronze, that was a much easier decision. We’re going with Pallister, her entry time of 8:10.84 clears everyone else’s season best times by almost ten seconds.

SwimSwam’s Picks

Dark Horse: Erika Fairweather (New Zealand) — New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather could also make the final. She is one of the swimmers who hasn’t had a real reason to taper and show all of her cards so far this year. She was 8th in the Olympic final in 8:23.27 and owns a PB of 8:18.00, less than a half second shy of Lauren Boyle’s 2015 national record of 8:17.65—a mark that could be on her mind. Fairweather is much better in the 400, having won the world title in 2024 after bronze in 2023. With Pallister joining her under the 4-minute club last month, she might be putting all her focus into that basket to remain on the Worlds podium. She fell to 4th at the Paris Games behind Ledecky, McIntosh, and Ariarne Titmus—the winner who is taking the year off from competition and who would have been a medal threat in this race.