The United States women closed out the 2025 World Championships in style on Sunday, lowering the world record in the 4×100 medley relay en route to winning gold by more than three seconds.
The American quartet of Regan Smith (57.57), Kate Douglass (1:04.27), Gretchen Walsh (54.98) and Torri Huske (52.52) combined for a time of 3:49.34, knocking off the previous world record of 3:49.63, set by Smith, Walsh, Huske and Lilly King at last summer’s Olympics in Paris.
Split Comparison
| USA, 2024 (Former WR) | USA, 2025 (New WR) |
| Regan Smith – 57.28 | Regan Smith – 57.57 |
| Lilly King – 1:04.90 | Kate Douglass – 1:04.27 |
| Gretchen Walsh – 55.03 | Gretchen Walsh – 54.98 |
| Torri Huske – 52.42 | Torri Huske – 52.52 |
| 3:49.63 | 3:49.34 |
Coming into the event, the Americans were the big favorites with all four of their swimmers having won a medal in their respective individual 100-meter events. Walsh won gold in the women’s 100 fly, Smith and Douglass were the respective silver medalists in the 100 back and breast, and Huske claimed bronze in the 100 free.
King, who swam the breast leg in the final of the U.S.’ winning medley relays at the 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023 World Championships, won gold after swimming in the preliminaries, as did Katharine Berkoff, Claire Curzan and Simone Manuel. That prelim marked the final swim of King’s career, previously announcing she would retire after these championships earlier this year.
Not surprisingly, the U.S. dominated the rest of the field. After winning Olympic gold last summer by almost three and a half seconds (3.48) over Australia, they topped the Aussies by nearly the same margin, 3.33 seconds, in Singapore.
RACE VIDEOS
Courtesy: NBC Sports (American viewers)
Courtesy: CBC Sports (Canadian viewers)
Outside of the 2024 World Championships in Doha, where many of the world’s top swimmers did not attend due to its proximity to the Paris Olympics, the U.S. has now won five straight world titles in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. Even including last year, the Americans have won seven of the past nine world titles, only missing in 2015 (China) and 2024 (Australia).
The victory also had a bit of extra importance, as it gave the United States nine gold medals for the competition, one more than Australia, to officially earn them the top spot in the medal table standings.
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