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
- Psych Sheet (PDF)
Gretchen Walsh heads to the 2025 World Championships in Singapore as one of the most electric sprinters in the world. Walsh is set for a heavy schedule filled with high-stakes individual races and key relay duties.
Walsh’s event lineup and when to watch:
| Date | Event | Round | SGT (Singapore Time) | EST (US Eastern Time) |
| Sun, July 27 | 100 Butterfly | Prelims | ~10:00 am | ~10:00 pm (July 26) |
| Sun, July 27 | 100 Butterfly | Semifinals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sun, July 27 | 4×100 Freestyle Relay | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Mon, July 28 | 100 Butterfly | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Wed, July 30 | Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Thurs, July 31 | 100 Freestyle | Prelims | ~10:00 am | ~10:00 pm (July 30) |
| Thurs, July 31 | 100 Freestyle | Semifinals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Fri, August 1 | 50 Butterfly | Prelims | ~10:00 am | ~10:00 pm (July 31) |
| Fri, August 1 | 100 Freestyle | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Fri, August 1 | 50 Butterfly | Semifinals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sat, August 2 | 50 Freestyle | Prelims | ~10:00 am | ~10:00 pm (August 1) |
| Sat, August 2 | 50 Freestyle | Semifinals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sat, August 2 | 50 Butterfly | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sat, August 2 | Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sun, August 3 | 50 Freestyle | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
| Sun, August 3 | 4×100 Medley Relay | Finals | ~7:00 pm | ~7:00 am |
Her meet begins July 27 with the 100m butterfly (where she is a massive favorite as the World Record holder) and 4×100 freestyle relay. She will have a day of rest on July 29, then will be right back to racing for the final five days of competition for a very tough back end of her meet.
She’ll take on a three-day span which will see her swim the 100 free, 50 fly, and 50 free across August 1–3, with potential for 5 championship finals in 48 hours, including relays.
The biggest battles for Walsh will come in the freestyle events. Walsh is entered as the 5th fastest seed in the 100 and top seed in the 50 (only .06 in front of second seed Meg Harris of Australia).
Walsh is a favorite in all but one of her individual races and has been one of the biggest x-factors for US international relays over the last few years. She will be a near-lock for all U.S. relay lineups she’s eligible for, including both mixed and women’s freestyle and medley relays. Walsh will likely not race the prelim relay races, giving her a bit of rest for Team USA’s finals performances.
How did the ESPYs go for her? I think Juju Watkins may have won in Gretchen’s category?
That’s correct.
Juju is a phenomenal player. But she didn’t finish the tournament. It only makes sense in the context of ESPN pushing its higher-visibility sports.
If Gretchen can’t win after that season, no swimmer will ever win unless/until they change the criteria or unless/until swimming gets more visibility.
I think the bigger problem is when you go to vote, there is no context at all. They should probably have a small blurb describing why each nominee was nominated for the category. Otherwise, it was simply a popularity contest and more people who vote know who JuJu Watkins or at least recognized the name. I had that problem with every category if I didn’t know who the nominees were.
It might have been different if Gretchen won multiple individual golds in the Olympics a year earlier and was more of a household name before her last collegiate season. Missy Franklin was well known when she won her ESPY even if it was well after her 2012 Olympics. Plus the… Read more »
Ledecky won two ESPYs in 2021-22, Best Female Athlete and Best Female Olympian, and Dressel has also won. But in the college category, yes it is difficult and name recognition counts. It’s also known that for the most part, you “must be present to win” many of these awards and good swimmers are usually training in July. Simone Biles has received seven ESPY nominations and has won seven times (twice last night) which makes it difficult for athletes in other Olympic sports to obtain recognition. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas were also overlooked last night.
Summer will win more individual golds, but the hype comparatively with Gretchen has been a little baffling. Everyone talking about how historic of a Worlds Summer is going to have (and she will), but not mentioning how Gretchen has an extremely good chance of finishing with more overall golds. Gretchen finishing with 7-8 medals and 5-7 golds isn’t being talked about enough.
people are very weird about gretchen honestly.
she has a shot to break 54 on a relay split in the 100 fly which would just be leaps and bounds beyond what anyone has achieved in the event; not to mention she is already 9 tenths of a second faster than anyone in that event
she also has a great shot to break thru in a free style event as well
Put Summer in USA team and she’ll have more golds.
She’ll get 1 on the 8 free relay which Gretchen won’t be on
Her individual events undoubtedly are benefitted from the lack of relay swims.
Might as well move Summer to Team USA. Though she professes to having Canadian pride, she has been training everywhere but Canada and will be headed back to Texas, USA to train with Bob Bowman after previously training in Florida, USA with US coach Brett Arckey (a man whose name she seems to have forgotten for some reason).
Yeah she’s probably gonna follow Dressel trajectory if she can win between 5 to 6 gold with 3 or those being individual events and the other being relay and that’s pretty impressive.
Summer is a surer best. Gretchen had a shot for 3 individual medals and got one silver. Summer had a shot for 4 medals and got 4. Gretchen has a better chance for more medals this year for sure. Relay medals are a separate convo,
I don’t understand how a human being who is a regular SwimSwam reader could possibly come to the conclusion that “we don’t talk about Gretchen Walsh enough” lol
People measure the superlatives offered for their swimmers with bias.
It’s called American bias and it’s natural.
But yeah, don’t make up fake news (“we don’t talk about Gretchen”) when it’s just your personal bias.