There was an interesting mixture of medallists in the women’s 50 metre Breaststroke as experienced Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte won the gold medal in 29.55 almost half a second clear of second placed Qianting Tang from China. The podium was complete by young Italian swimmer Benedetta Pilato showing her potential in the coming years. This race also showed that Meilutyte, who first made a name for herself at the London 2012 Olympics is still the swimmer to beat in the breaststroke events.
Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith continued their rivalry in the backstroke events. The American and the Australian were separated by less than a second over the 200-metre race. McKewon touched first in a championship record 2:03.33 with Smith touching second in 2:04.29. Claire Curzan made it a double podium for the United States as she touched in third place in 2:06.04. It will be interesting to see Smith and McKeown continue their rivalry over the next few years in the build up to the next Olympics in what will be a home Olympics for Smith.
Both the Men's and Women's 100 metre Backstroke were finals were swum on day 3 of these championships. The women's race was won by Kaylee McKeown to continue her success in the event on the international stage. Regan Smith of the United States was narrowly out touched by her close rival by just 0.19 seconds swimming 57.16 and 57.35 respectively. Katherine Berkoff made it a double podium for the Americans taking home the bronze medal in 58.15.
The Men's race was a little more surprising with South African Pieter Coetze taking a narrow victory with a new African Record 51.85 ahead of the Olympic Champion from Paris in this event, Italian Thomas Ceccon who touched in 51.90, missing out on 1st place by 0.05 seconds. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard from France completed the podium in 3rd place with a time of 52.20.
The United States were able to secure a 1-2 finish in the Women’s 50 metre Backstroke with Katherine Berkoff winning the gold medal in 27.08 with Regan Smith winning silver in 27.25 making this another very close fought 50 metre race. Letian Wan of China took home the bronze medal in a time of 27.30.
Katie Ledecky continued her dominance in the Women's 1500 metre Freestyle to win her 6th Gold in the event at World Championships. She had been ahead of her own world record pace in the early stages of the race but tailed off towards the end finishing in 15:26.44, but still over 5 seconds clear of second placed Simona Quadarella from Italy, in 15:31.79, setting a new European record in the process. Australian Lani Pallister finished 3rd in 15:41.18. She was holding pace with Ledecky in the early stages but just could not hang on but still a very impressive swim from her.
Once again Katie Ledecky showed her greatness in the freestyle events by winning the 800-metre freestyle in Singapore with a championship record time of 8:05.62. She faced stiff competition from Lani Pallister of Australia. The two of them were swimming shoulder to shoulder almost the entire way with only 0.36 seconds separating them at the finish. Pallister touching 8:05.98 to finish in the silver medal position. Teenage sensation Summer McIntosh from Canada won the bronze medal in 8:07.29 in what his the weaker of her 5 events, which just shows how impressive she has been with her weaker event still being strong enough to win a world championship medal. It will be interesting to see if Ledecky will attempt to continue on until the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 as this would be a home Olympics for her. At 28 years old now it will be a tough ask but as she has proved over the years, she should not be doubted.
Canada's Summer McIntosh won the Women's 400 metre Freestyle in dominant fashion touching almost 2 seconds ahead of second placed Bingjie Li of China, in 3:56.26 and 3:58.21 respectively. America's veteran champion Katie Ledecky touched in third place winning the Bronze in 3:58.49. Summer McIntosh will have the chance to win 5 individual Gold Medals at these World Championships which only Michael Phelps has been able to do so it will be tough but she appears to be in great form and could have great results for the rest of these championships.
The Women’s 100 metre freestyle proved to be another very close race with just over 3 tenths of a second separating 1st place down to 4th place. The Netherlands’ Marrit Steenbergen touched first in a time of 52.55 with Australian Mollie O’Callaghan taking the silver medal just 0.12 seconds behind in 52.67. Tori Huske from the United States won the bronze medal in 52.89.
Mollie O’Callaghan continued her strong showing in the women’s 200 metre freestyle. Having won this event at the Paris Olympics in 2024 she was the favourite heading into these World Championships. With a time of 1:53.48 she finished over a second ahead of second placed Bingjie Li from China. American Claire Weinstein completed the podium in third place. At just 21 years of age O’Callaghan still has plenty of time to learn and improve and get even faster and could continue her streak in this event into the next Olympics.
Meg Harris of Australia won the Women’s 50 metre freestyle. She was the favourite heading into the final and showed why with a strong performance of 24.02. Two tenths of a second clear of second and third placed Chinese duo of Quingfeng Wu and Yujie Cheng swimming 24.26 and 24.28.
