| World Aquatics Championships | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Global sporting event |
| Date | Two weeks (usually mid-year) |
| Frequency | Usually biennial (formerly annually from 2022 to 2024) |
| Location | Various host cities |
| Years active | 52 years |
| Inaugurated | 1973 (1973) |
| Most recent | Singapore 2025 |
| Previous event | Doha 2024 |
| Next event | Budapest 2027 |
| Activity | Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, High Diving |
| Organised by | World Aquatics |
| Sponsor | Myrtha Pools Nongfu Spring Omega Sony Yakult |
| Editions | 22 (including 2025) |
| Website | worldaquatics.com |
 2025 World Aquatics Championships | |
TheWorld Aquatics Championships, formerly theFINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines:swimming,diving,high diving,open water swimming,artistic swimming, andwater polo. The championships are staged byWorld Aquatics, formerly known asFINA (Fédération internationale de natation), the international federation recognised by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions inwater 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 inBelgrade,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.
TheWorld 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. TheWorld 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 208World 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'. The2019 championships set the record for the most athletes participating (2,623).[6] At the recent2025 championships athletes participated from 206 nations: 203 member federations, 1Athlete Refugee Team and 2Neutral Athletes teams.
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).
* 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)
Updated after the2025 World Aquatics Championships.
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 |
Except where specified below, there are male and female categories for each event.
| 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 | ● |
Men's and women's events:
Mixed events:
Except for Acrobatic routine, all events include technical and free routines, with medals awarded separately.
Media related toWorld Aquatics Championships at Wikimedia Commons
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