2025 Singapore World Championships: Day 1 Finals Preview

• 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 Finals Event Lineup

• Men’s 400 free- Final
• Women’s 100 fly- Semifinals
• Men’s 50 fly- Semifinals
• Women’s 400 free- Final
• Men’s 100 breast- Semifinals
• Women’s 200 IM – Semifinals
• Women’s 4×100 free relay- Final
• Men’s 4×100 free relay- Final

We had a bit of a shakeup in the heats this morning, with some medal contenders missing out and a couple of U.S. swimmers scratching out events. We’ll see the first medals given out tonight, with two individual and two relay finals, along with four semi-finals.

Women’s 200 IM

Australia’s Tara Kinder was the fastest swimmer this morning, out-duelling Summer McIntosh by a hundredth 2:09.45 to 2:09.46, although the World Record holder will almost certainly be faster tonight. Alex Walsh and Mary-Sophie Harvey were also under 2:10, although Great Britain’s Abbie Wood, 6th in the world rankings so far this year, was just 9th and will need to drop time from the 2:11.45 she swam to make the final.

Six countries – USA, Australia, China, Japan, Canada and Israel – put both their swimmers into tonight’s semi-finals.

Summer McIntosh and Yu Yiting will both double up tonight, so may be fighting for a place in the top eight rather than leading the pack. They rank 1st and 3rd, respectively, in the season rankings.

Men’s 400 Freestyle

We will see a heck of a lot of turnover in the men’s 400 free final this year, with silver medalist Elijah Winnington and Paris finalists Guilherme Costa (BRA) and Liwei Fei (CHN) missing out. There were only three men under 3:45 this morning as Peter Mitsin qualified in 4th from heat 2, with Ethan Ekk from the same heat just missing out in 9th.

Sam Short and Lukas Maertens paced their heats by over a bodylength and will be in the centre lanes tonight, with Maertens looking to back up the World Record he set earlier this year with a world title. Behind them the battle for bronze could be fierce as 3rd through 8th were separated by just 0.89 seconds this morning, although Kim Woomin has the edge as he looks to make it three international podiums in a row.

World Junior Record holder Peter Mitsin will be in the mix, as will Germany’s Oliver Klemet, although Zhang Zhanshuo and Victor Johansson, who both set best times this morning with Johansson’s being a Swedish record, have the momentum behind them.

Women’s 100 Butterfly

Gretchen Walsh led the field by nearly a second this morning in 55.68 and will be the hot favorite to take lane 4 in tomorrow’s final. No Torri Huske means that second place is up for grabs, and Angelina Kohler (56.49) and Roos Vanotterdijk (56.66) looked best of the rest this morning, with a Belgian record for the latter.

Mizuki Hirai was 56.81 for 4th, while Zhang Yufei, who won bronze in Paris, as just 7th in 57.11. She is yet to break 57 seconds this season, and was beaten by her teammate Yu Yiting (56.83) , as we had six swimmers under 57 seconds, which may be the cutoff for finals places tonight.

Men’s 50 Butterfly

Maxime Grousset glided in from halfway across the Malacca strait in his heat of the men’s 50 fly this morning and still touched in 22.74, just 0.04 seconds off his personal best and French Record. He leads the qualifiers for tonight’s semi-finals along with Noe Ponti, who matched his time in the final heat.

Ilya Kharun, who has hacked half a second off the Canadian Record already this season, was sub-23 again in 22.85to qualify 3rd and is joined by teammate Josh Liendo, who was 23.16. 2017 and 2023 World Champions Ben Proud and Thomas Ceccon were both in the top eight and will be confident of progressing tonight.

Ten of the men in the semi-finals have broken 23 seconds, so it could be a fast time required to make it through. There were six under that mark this morning, four of them from heat 11.

Women’s 400 Freestyle

Round 1 of Ledecky vs McIntosh kicks off tonight. The American swam a relaxed 4:01, but looking even smoother was Summer McIntosh, who

Li Bingjie made it through comfortably in 4:03.11, but there was drama as Erika Fairweather was disqualified for movement on the start. Along with Claire Weinstein‘s scratch, we have lost half the contenders in the battle for bronze, which now looks to be between Li Bingjie and Lani Pallister, both of whom have broken 4:0 this year.

Australia matched China to put two swimmers into the final, as did Germany as Isabel Gose and Maya Werner made it through to the final. It only required a time of 4:06.75 to make the top eight, significantly slower than the 4:03.83 it took in Paris.

Men’s 100 Breaststroke

We saw a huge swim from Kirill Prigoda in the first circle seeded heats, as he led four men under 59 seconds with a Russian record of 58.53. Casper Corbeau and Lucas Matzerath also set new best times, with the top four qualifiers all coming from that heat. All 16 swimmers this evening were under 60 seconds this morning, with 2023 World champion Haiyang Qin qualifying 5th in 59.13 and 2022 World champion and 2024 Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi 3rd in 58.84.

Campbell McKean was 59.98, making it through by just 0.01 seconds as he tied for 15th. That was only his second swim under the minute mark, but he will need to be down in the 59-low range tonight to advance.

Pertinent to medley relay hopes, Great Britain’s Greg Butler shaved six hundredths off his best to go 59.87 and make the semi-finals in his first ever world championships swim, while Australia’s Nash Wilkes was a quarter of a second off his best to miss out on advancing.

Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

For the first time since 2017, the U.S. will go into their battle with Australia in the 4×100 free relay as the favorite after throwing down a time of 3:33.57 this morning. That included a 54.21 anchor from Simone Manuel, who still won the heat by more than two seconds as they comfortably advanced, although with Torri Huske in uncertain form after scratching the 100 fly this morning it could be a close race this evening.

For their part, Australia qualified second and will swim next to the U.S. in lane 5, but did not have a split under 53 seconds. They will bring at least Mollie O’Callaghan and Meg Harris in this evening, but do not quite look like the juggernaut of recent years.

The Netherlands qualified third behind Marrit Steenbergen‘s 52.47, with China, France and NAB joining them under 3:36. Canada, perennial medal contenders recently, missed out in 9th.

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

This one should be tasty. The U.S. and Australia were separated by just 0.12 seconds this morning and will duke it out tonight from the centre lanes. It was a strong team from the Aussies, who had Kyle Chalmers and Flynn Southam in the team, The U.S. rested star man Jack Alexy, but did have Patrick Sammon and Destin Lasco swimming.

Italy and China look like they will fight for bronze, with Pan Zhanle figuring to be much faster than the 47.73 anchor he swam this morning.

Great Britain, 4th in Paris, snuck through in 6th but will need a much faster swim from Tom Dean than his 48.68 anchor if they want to get among the medals.

Lithuania had a monster swim to make the final in 3:12.74. They had a pair of sub-48 legs, including Tomas Navikonis swimming 47.47 for the second-fastest split in the field. If Danas Rapsys can close faster than his 48.84 anchor, they could make it interesting tonight.

Top Seeds

• Women’s 200 IM – Tara Kinder (AUS) – 2:09.45
• Men’s 400 Free – Sam Short (AUS) – 3:42.07
• Women’s 100 Fly – Gretchen Walsh (USA) – 55.68
• Men’s 50 Fly – Noe Ponti (SUI) & Maxime Grousset (FRA) – 22.74
• Women’s 400 Free – Katie Ledecky (USA) – 4:01.04
• Men’s 100 Breast – Kirill Prigoda (NAB) – 58.53
• Women’s 4×100 Free Relay – USA – 3:33.57
• Men’s 4×100 Free Relay – USA – 3:11.17