2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
- World Aquatics Championships Arena
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
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- Entry Book
- Live Results
- Live Recaps
The 2025 World Championships’ pool and open water swimming medal tables are characterized by variety. A whopping 15 different national anthems have played for gold medal winners, and non-powerhouse nations such as Kyrgyzstan, Monaco, and Belarus (under a neutral flag) found their way to minor medals.
Notably absent from this spread, however, is Brazil. This marks the first long course World Championships since 2007 that no swimmer from the nation earned a medal.
The second largest nation in the western hemisphere, Brazil has had a consistent podium presence in the sport dating back to Cesar Cielo’s sprint dominance during the 2008-2009 supersuit era. The country’s peak medal count occurred at the 2013 World Championships in Barcelona, where Cielo, Thiago Pereira, Poliana Okimoto, Felipe Lima, and others brought home 10 medals.
This year, that number was zero.
Gui Caribe came as close as one can come to the podium, placing fourth in the 100 freestyle. The event is perhaps the most competitive that it has ever been.
Open water legend Ana Marcela Cunha also had two top eight showings in the 5k and 10k. The former race might have resulted differently if she hadn’t suffered a serious cut in her arm mid-race.
Apart from Caribe, no Brazilians made a final in the pool. Middle-distance freestylers Guilherme Costa and Maria Fernanda Costa were strong contenders to repeat their 400 freestyle finals appearances from Paris last year, but both failed to do so. All of the country’s top stars, including both Costas, Caribe, and Stephanie Balduccini, added time in their premier events compared to Brazil’s nationals meet in April.
Zooming out, no Latin American or Caribbean swimmers stood on the podium in Singapore. The last time this happened was the 2005 World Championships in Montreal. Brazil typically wins the lion’s share of the region’s swimming medals.
There might be something to be said about the location, especially towards the beginning of the meet. No direct passenger flights exist between South America and Singapore, and travel can take well over 24 hours. That being said, though, Brazil has been trending downward in medal count for the last couple of years. The country walked away from the Paris Olympics empty-handed, and at the 2023 and 2024 Long Course Worlds, Cunha was the nation’s only hardware winner.
Brazilian swimming still holds promise. Cunha is in the twilight of her career, hinting at imminent retirement in Singapore. Swimmers such as Caribe and Balduccini, on the other hand, are still in their prime. Balduccini had a stellar sophomore NCAA campaign, and Caribe picked up double silvers at the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest. At Brazilian Nationals, Balduccini dropped over a second from her 200 free down to 1:56.43, joining Maria Fernanda Costa in the 1:56 club and making their 4×200 relay that much more competitive. Even more promising, Caribe threw down a 21.43/47.10 50/100 free at their nationals, both times that would’ve medaled if swum this week. Their trajectories indicate that in two years’ time, the country has a chance at getting back on the medal table.
Overall Medal Table Through Day Eight of 2025 World Championships (Pool Only)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 |
U.S.
|
9 | 11 | 9 | 29 |
| 2 |
Australia
|
8 | 6 | 6 | 20 |
| 3 | France | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Canada | 4 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
| 5 | NAB | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | China | 2 | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| 7 | Germany | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Romania | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Tunisia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Italy | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 11 | South Africa | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Great Britain | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 14 | Hungary | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 15 | Lithuania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Japan | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | Switzerland | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | Belgium | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 19 | Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 | Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | South Korea | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20 | NAA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
First World Championships since 1986 without a medal for Sweden
Latin America in general is falling further and further behind. Brazil, with a population greater than 200M, should be better.
It’s crazy. Brazil has more than 200 million population, has swimming tradition, has GDP per Capita higher than many countries that won medals such as Tunisia, has connection to NCAA
And no medal?
In brazil its easier to be a soccer player, pays much more even in small clubs, while only a few swimmers will be recognized and well pay, so being a swimmer doesnt seem to be a smart choice, its simple like that
If you grow up in Brazil, football is the sport
Does anyone starting to feel these temp pools aren’t really that fast? Twice Paris and Singapore we have used these pools. This time, even swimmers like Summer that didn’t have any illness didn’t swim near their best compare to trials at a permanent regular pool
1:52.6
I think people need to stop blaming the pools.
Outside of Paris i agree
Even Paris pool got a bit faster as the meet went on. Remembered reading something about them removing some underwater cameras from the pool after the first few days, and a lot of faster swims happened after that
I do somewhat agree with this. My experience with the Myrtha pools at Olympic trials was that if you went to touch the bottom you can feel the sand underneath moving around. Idk if this contributes to anything or if I’m just adding to the speculation but it seems permanent pools like Austin, Budapest, Indianapolis, Rome are always faster.
Looks like the drug testing is starting to work.