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World Aquatics Championships

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"FINA World Swimming Championships" redirects here. For the short course swimming-only championships, which uses a 25-metre pool, see FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m).

World Aquatics Championships
StatusActive
GenreGlobal sporting event
Date(s)Two weeks (usually mid-year)
FrequencyUsually biennial (formerly annually from 2022 to 2024)
Location(s)Various host cities
Years active52 years
Inaugurated1973 (1973)
Most recentSingapore 2025
Previous eventDoha 2024
Next eventBudapest 2027
ActivitySwimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, High Diving
Organised byWorld Aquatics
SponsorMyrtha Pools
Nongfu Spring
Omega
Sony
Yakult
Editions22 (including 2025)
Websiteworldaquatics.com
2025 World Aquatics Championships

The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are staged by World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA (Fédération internationale de natation), the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. The championships are World Aquatics' largest and main event traditionally held biennially every odd year, with all six of the aquatic disciplines contested every championships. Dr. Hal Henning, FINA's president from 1972 through 1976, and their first American President, was highly instrumental in starting the first World Aquatics Championships, and in retaining the number of swimming events in the Olympics, which gave an advantage to nations with larger, more balanced swim teams.[1]

The championships were first staged in 1973 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with competitions held in swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo.[2] In 1991 open water swimming was added to the championships as a fifth discipline.[3] In 2013 high diving was added to the championships as a sixth discipline.[4] In 2017 the synchronised swimming discipline was renamed to artistic swimming.[5]

Prior to the 9th World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in 2001, the championships had been staged at various intervals of two to four years. From 2001 to 2019 the championships were held biennially in odd years. Due to interruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, travel restrictions, host venues withdrawing from hosting championships and World Aquatics' withdrawing the rights to host championships, the championships held annually from 2022 to 2024 until back to biennial from 2025 onwards.

The World Open Water Swimming Championships (also known as 'Open Water Worlds') is part of the World Aquatics Championships. Additional standalone editions of the Open Water Championships were also held in the even years from 2000 to 2010. The World Masters Championships (also known as 'Masters Worlds) is open to athletes 25 years and above (30+ years in water polo) in each aquatics discipline excluding high diving and has been held as part of the World Aquatics Championships since 2015. Prior to this, the Masters Championship was held separately, biennially in even years.

Athletes from all current 208 World Aquatics member federations are eligible to compete at the championships, along with athletes considered 'Neutral Independent Athletes' under the rules of World Aquatics and athletes from the 'World Aquatics Refugee Team'. The 2019 championships set the record for the most athletes participating (2,623).[6] At the recent 2025 championships athletes participated from 206 nations: 203 member federations, 1 Athlete Refugee Team and 2 Neutral Athletes teams.

Championships

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Member federations referred to as winners, second, and third, in the table below, are the top three nation's listed on the medal tally based on the standard method of ranking (being total gold medals, followed by total silver medals, and then total bronze medals).

Year Dates Edition Location Nations Athletes Events Events details Winner Second Third Most medals
1973 31 August – 9 September 1 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Belgrade, Yugoslavia 47 686 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Italy  United States
1975 19–27 July 2 Colombia Cali, Colombia 39 682 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Hungary  United States
1978 20–28 August 3 West Germany West Berlin, West Germany 49 828 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States*  Soviet Union  Canada  United States
1982 29 July – 8 August 4 Ecuador Guayaquil, Ecuador 52 848 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Soviet Union  United States
1986 13–23 August 5 Spain Madrid, Spain 34 1,119 41 19 (M), 22 (W)  East Germany  United States  Canada  United States
1991 3–13 January 6 Australia Perth, Australia 60 1,142 45 21 (M), 24 (W)  United States  China  Hungary  United States
1994 1–11 September 7 Italy Rome, Italy 102 1,400 45 21 (M), 24 (W)  China  United States  Russia  China
1998 8–17 January 8 Australia Perth, Australia 121 1,371 53 24 (M), 27 (W), 2 (X)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2001 16–29 July 9 Japan Fukuoka, Japan 134 1,498 61 29 (M), 32 (W)  Australia  China  United States  United States
2003 12–27 July 10 Spain Barcelona, Spain 157 2,015 62 29 (M), 33 (W)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2005 16–31 July 11 Canada Montreal, Canada 144 1,784 62 29 (M), 33 (W)  United States  Australia  China  United States
2007 18 March – 1 April 12 Australia Melbourne, Australia 167 2,158 65 29 (M), 36 (W)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2009 17 July – 2 August 13 Italy Rome, Italy 185 2,556 65 29 (M), 36 (W)  United States  China  Russia  United States
and  China
2011 16–31 July 14 China Shanghai, China 181 2,220 66 29 (M), 36 (W), 1 (X)  United States  China  Russia  China
2013 19 July – 4 August 15 Spain Barcelona, Spain 181 2,293 68 30 (M), 37 (W), 1 (X)  United States  China  Russia  United States
2015 24 July – 9 August 16 Russia Kazan, Russia 190 2,400 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  China  United States  Russia  China
2017 14–30 July 17 Hungary Budapest, Hungary 182 2,360 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  United States  China  Russia  United States
2019 12–28 July 18 South Korea Gwangju, South Korea 192 2,623 76 30 (M), 38 (W), 8 (X)  China  United States  Russia  United States
2022 18 June – 3 July 19 Hungary Budapest, Hungary 183 2,034 74 29 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  United States  China  Italy  United States**
2023 14–30 July 20 Japan Fukuoka, Japan 195 2,392 75 31 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)  China  Australia  United States  United States
2024 2–18 February 21 Qatar Doha, Qatar 199 2,603 75 31 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)  China*  United States  Australia  China
2025 11 July – 3 August 22 Singapore Singapore 206 2,434 77 32 (M), 34 (W), 11 (X)  China  Australia  United States  China
2027 26 June – 18 July 23 Hungary Budapest, Hungary[7]
2029 24 China Beijing, China[8]

* Record by number of gold medals – United States (23 gold medals, 1978) and China (23 gold medals, 2024)
** Record by number of total medals – United States (49 medals in total, 2022)

All-time medal table

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Updated after the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States312257201770
2 China222136106464
3 Australia13013498362
4 Russia1057362240
5Italy Italy537381207
6 East Germany514427122
7 Germany486774189
8Hungary Hungary443736117
9 Great Britain373967143
10 France373839114
11 Canada345775166
12 Netherlands254236103
13Sweden Sweden21211860
14 Japan205382155
15 Spain184540103
16Brazil Brazil17151951
17 Soviet Union16282872
18 South Africa1491841
19 Ukraine13203063
20 West Germany871227
21 Romania72918
22 Poland6121230
23   Neutral Athletes B [a]68418
24 Greece671023
25 Tunisia63413
26Lithuania Lithuania63312
27Denmark Denmark49821
28 Zimbabwe4509
29 South Korea42612
30 Serbia4217
31 Mexico3182243
32 Croatia33410
33 Finland3227
34 New Zealand26816
35 Austria26614
36 Belarus2136
 Yugoslavia2136
38 Portugal2114
39 Ireland2002
40 Switzerland18211
41 North Korea1438
42 Belgium1236
43 Hong Kong1214
 Norway1214
45 Malaysia1168
46 Bulgaria1146
47 Colombia1124
 Costa Rica1124
 Serbia and Montenegro1124
50 Kazakhstan1012
51 Suriname1001
52 Slovakia0325
53 Czech Republic0303
54   Neutral Athletes A [b]0123
55 Cuba0112
 Czechoslovakia0112
 Iceland0112
 Jamaica0112
59 Ecuador0101
 Israel0101
Montenegro Montenegro0101
62 Egypt0055
63 Argentina0022
   Neutral Independent Athletes [c]0022
 Singapore0022
66 Bosnia and Herzegovina0011
 Kyrgyzstan0011
 Monaco0011
 Puerto Rico0011
 Trinidad and Tobago0011
 Venezuela0011
Totals (71 entries)1,3111,3231,3073,941

Multiple gold medalists

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Boldface denotes active athletes and highest medal count per type.

Rank Athlete Country Gender Discipline From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Michael Phelps  United States M Swimming 2001 2011 26 6 1 33
2 Katie Ledecky  United States F Swimming 2013 2025 23 6 1 30
3 Svetlana Romashina  Russia F Artistic swimming 2005 2019 21 – – 21
4 Natalia Ishchenko  Russia F Artistic swimming 2005 2015 19 2 – 21
5 Ryan Lochte  United States M Swimming 2005 2015 18 5 4 27
6 Svetlana Kolesnichenko  Russia F Artistic swimming 2011 2019 16 – – 16
7 Caeleb Dressel  United States M Swimming 2017 2022 15 2 – 17
8 Sarah Sjöström  Sweden F Swimming 2009 2024 14 8 3 25
9 Alla Shishkina  Russia F Artistic swimming 2009 2019 14 – – 14
10 Simone Manuel  United States F Swimming 2013 2025 13 5 2 20

Disciplines, events & medalists

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Except where specified below, there are male and female categories for each event.

Swimming (since 1973)

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Main article: Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships
Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
Distance Free Back Breast Fly I.M. Free relay Medley relay Mixed free relay Mixed medley relay
50 m ● ● ● ●
100 m ● ● ● ●
200 m ● ● ● ● ●
400 m ● ● ● ● ● ●
800 m ● ●
1500 m ●

Diving (since 1973)

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Main article: World Diving Championships
Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in diving

Men's and women's events:

  • 1 m springboard
  • 3 m springboard
  • 10 m platform
  • synchronized 3 m springboard
  • synchronized 10 m platform

Mixed events:

  • synchronized 3 m springboard
  • synchronized 10 m platform
  • 3 m springboard / 10 m platform team

Artistic swimming (since 1973)

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Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming

Except for Acrobatic routine, all events include technical and free routines, with medals awarded separately.

  • Solo, including men's solo since 2023
  • Duet, including mixed pair (male-female) since 2015
  • Team (since 2023 open event to men and women)
  • Acrobatic routine since 2023 (open event to men and women)

Water polo (since 1973)

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Main article: Water polo at the World Aquatics Championships
Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo
  • Men's tournament
  • Women's tournament

Open water swimming (since 1991)

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Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming
  • 3 km knockout sprints
  • 5 km
  • 10 km
  • Mixed relay

High diving (since 2013)

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Main article: List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in high diving
  • 27 m (men only)
  • 20 m (women only)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ At the 2025 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Russia were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Russia. They instead participated as "Neutral Athletes B (NAB)" and under the World Aquatics flag.
  2. ^ At the 2025 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Belarus were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Russia. They instead participated as "Neutral Athletes A (NAA)" and under the World Aquatics flag.
  3. ^ At the 2024 World Championships, in accordance with sanctions imposed following by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, athletes from Belarus were not permitted to use the name, flag, or anthem of Belarus. They instead participated as "Neutral Independent Athletes (NIA)" and under the World Aquatics flag.

References

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  1. ^ "North Central Cardinals Athletic Hall of Fame, Dr. Harold Henning". northcentralcardinals.com.
  2. ^ "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  6. ^ "18th FINA World Championships: Entry List by Event" (PDF). Omega Timing. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  7. ^ "World Aquatics Championships 2025 awarded to Singapore". World Aquatics. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Beijing announced as World Aquatics Championships 2029 host". World Aquatics. 11 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
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