2025 World Championships
- July 27 – August 3, 2025 (pool swimming)
- Singapore, Singapore
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We already mentioned that Denis Petrashov set a new personal best and national record in the final of the 100 breaststroke on the second evening of the 2025 World Championships. Out in 27.27, the Kyrgyzstan native came home in 31.61 to stop the clock in 58.88, nabbing the bronze medal. His previous best was the 59.20 he logged in the semi-finals last night, and entering the meet, it had stood at 59.23, which he swam at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series earlier this year.
While the national record is noteworthy in its own right, Petrashov, who trains out of Louisville, became his country’s first medalist at the World Aquatics Championships, not just in swimming but in all sports, a list that includes but is not limited to diving, artistic swimming, and water polo.
Speaking about the momentous occasion, Petrashov stated after the race, “I’m not an emotional person, but this is very emotional for me. First medal for my country at the worlds, so very proud and happy. I was not expecting this at all. I had no idea where I was in the race. I saw the turn, we were close to each other, but I didn’t see anything.”
He added, “Of course we all want to win something. This was the final, I had nothing to lose. If you have a lane, you have a chance. It means a lot…Hopefully, we’ll get more resources for swimming (in KGZ). We don’t have an Olympic-sized pool in Kyrgyzstan. Hopefully this is a big step to more things.”
The medal for Kyrgyzstan is the third medal in any sport for a Central Asian country since the split from the USSR, after Kazakhstan collected a gold medal in Artistic swimming last year in Doha and a bronze in Artistic Swimming in Fukuoka. Petrashov is the first swimmer to do so in the pool, as Kazak Dmitriy Baladin, who won gold in the 200 breaststroke at the 2016 Olympic Games, never medaled at Worlds.
Petrashov, whose father was a three-time Olympian and former national record holder in this event, has been on a tear over the past 12 months. In Paris, Petrashova finished 23rd in this event, stopping the clock in 1:00.42. He rebounded quickly, however, and set a new personal best (55.91) at short course Worlds, finishing 4th in this event, and carried that momentum onto the NCAA Championships, where he placed 2nd in the 100 breaststroke with a new PB of 50.27.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke – Final
- World Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2019)
- World Junior Record: 59.01 – Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy (2017)
- World Championships Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2019)
- 2023 World Champion – Qin Haiyang, China – 57.69
- 2024 Olympic Champion: 59.03 – Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy
Final:
- Qin Haiyang (China) — 58.23
- Nicolo Martinenghi (Italy) — 58.58
- Denis Petrashov (Kyrgyzstan) — 58.88
- Caspar Corbeau (Netherlands) — 59.06
- Ludovico Viberti (Italy) — 59.08
- Lucas Matzerath (Germany) — 59.14
- Josh Matheny (United States) — 59.26
- Danil Semianinov (NAB) — 59.55
Um, doesn’t Louisville have a 50-meter pool, which they use pretty much year-round?
Read the article bruh
Louisville isn’t in Kyrgyzstan.
Many champions in the past did not have 50-meter pools available to train for Nationals.
North Carolina AC team trained in a 45-yard outdoor pool in the days of McIntyre, Sooner, and others.
Some swimmers even trained in a lake or other venues.
So happy to see different nations get on the podium. His father Yevgeny was an Olympic breaststroker for Kyrgyzstan also!