Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 800 metre freestyle

Last updated

Women's 800 metre freestyle
at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships
Venue World Aquatics Championships Arena
Location Singapore Sports Hub, Kallang
Dates1 August (heats)
2 August (final)
Competitors30 from 23 nations
Winning time8:05.62
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svg   Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Silver medal icon.svg   Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Bronze medal icon.svg   Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
  2024
2027  

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 1 to 2 August 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore. [1] [2]

Contents

Background

The event was expected to feature a duel between Katie Ledecky of the United States and Summer McIntosh of Canada, who were both in career-best form. [3] [4] The Guardian wrote that the event was "set to be the defining moment" of the Championships, and that it "could signal a passing of the torch" from the older Ledecky to the younger McIntosh. [5] CBC Sports commented that the race "looks like a classic sports story: the rising superstar vs. the wily veteran". [6]

Ledecky had broken her own world record at the Fort Lauderdale stop of the 2025 TYR Pro Swim Series with 8:04.12 and had swum 8:05.76 at United States Nationals. [3] She also held the championship record of 8:07.39, set at the 2015 World Championships. [7] McIntosh, who had swum 8:05.07 at Canadian Trials to become the second-fastest performer in history, had improved her best by over four seconds in 2025. [3]

Lani Pallister of Australia, who recorded 8:10.84 at Australian Trials to rank third all-time, was the leading contender for bronze. Also in contention were Li Bingjie of China, Simona Quadarella of Italy, Claire Weinstein of the United States, Isabel Gose of Germany, and Anastasiya Kirpichnikova of France, all with best times between 8:13 and 8:18. [3]

Qualification

Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 8:34.62. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 8:52.63. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events. [8] [9]

Top 10 fastest qualification times [note 1] [10] [2]
SwimmerCountryTimeCompetition
Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:04.122025 TYR Pro Swim Series (Fort Lauderdale)
Summer McIntosh Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 8:05.072025 Canadian Trials
Lani Pallister Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 8:10.842025 Australian Trials
Simona Quadarella Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 8:14.55 2024 Summer Olympics
Isabel Gose Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 8:17.82 2024 Summer Olympics
Anastasiya Kirpichnikova Flag of France.svg  France 8:19.63 2024 Summer Olympics
Claire Weinstein Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:19.67 2025 United States Championships
Li Bingjie Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 8:20.682025 Chinese Championships
Erika Fairweather Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:21.672025 New Zealand Championships
Sofia Diakova World Aquatics logomark 2.svg   Neutral Athletes B 8:24.932025 Russian Championships

Heats

The heats took place on 1 August at 12:11. [11] [12] Ledecky swam the fastest qualifying time of 8:14.62, Pallister swam the second fastest time with 8:17.06, and McIntosh swam the third fastest time of 8:19.88. [13]

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes
134 Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:14.62Q
235 Lani Pallister Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 8:17.06Q
324 Summer McIntosh Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 8:19.88Q
433 Isabel Gose Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 8:20.21Q
525 Simona Quadarella Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 8:20.47Q
632 Erika Fairweather Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:22.22Q
726 Li Bingjie Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 8:23.23Q
827 Ichika Kajimoto Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 8:27.51Q
931 Yang Peiqi Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 8:27.89
1038 Caitlin Deans Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:28.72
1123 Anastasiya Kirpichnikova Flag of France.svg  France 8:28.97
1237 Moesha Johnson Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 8:30.85
1329 Gan Ching Hwee Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 8:31.36 NR [14]
1422 Sofia Diakova   World Aquatics logomark 2.svg   Neutral Athletes B 8:33.16
1528 Maya Werner Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 8:35.28
1621 Ksenia Misharina   World Aquatics logomark 2.svg   Neutral Athletes B 8:35.94
1736 Claire Weinstein Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:38.70
1813 Kristel Kobrich Flag of Chile.svg  Chile 8:39.78
1914 Artemis Vasilaki Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 8:42.72
2020 Vivien Jackl Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 8:43.29
2139 Viktória Mihályvári-Farkas Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 8:46.46
2230 Gabrielle Roncatto Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil 8:48.32
2316 Kim Chae-yun Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 8:48.92
2415 Diana Durães Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 8:49.84
2511 Catherine van Rensburg Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 8:50.60
2617 Thilda Häll Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 8:52.60
2710 Jamila Boulakbech Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 8:54.75
2818 Anna Kalandadze Flag of Georgia.svg  Georgia 8:55.29
2912 Delfina Dini Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 8:58.17
3019 Harper Barrowman Flag of the Cayman Islands.svg  Cayman Islands 9:21.03

Final

The final took place on 2 August at 20:21. [11] [15]

RankLaneNameNationalityTimeNotes
Gold medal icon.svg4 Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States.svg  United States 8:05.62 CR
Silver medal icon.svg5 Lani Pallister Flag of Australia.svg  Australia 8:05.98 OC [16]
Bronze medal icon.svg3 Summer McIntosh Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 8:07.29
42 Simona Quadarella Flag of Italy.svg  Italy 8:12.81 ER [17]
51 Li Bingjie Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 8:15.59
66 Isabel Gose Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 8:18.23
77 Erika Fairweather Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 8:20.79
88 Ichika Kajimoto Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 8:26.85

Notes

  1. Only including swimmers who were on the start list for this event

References

  1. "World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025". worldaquatics-singapore2025.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Start list" (PDF). omegatiming.com. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Griffin, Sean (19 July 2025). "2025 World Championships Previews: Will It Be Ledecky Or McIntosh In The Women's 800 Free?". SwimSwam. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  4. Writer, David Rieder-Senior (21 July 2025). "The Cases for Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh in 800 Freestyle World-Title Duel". Swimming World. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  5. Graham, Bryan Armen (26 July 2025). "Summer McIntosh v Katie Ledecky: a generational duel set to define the world championships". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  6. Dichter, Myles (31 July 2025). "Tale of the tape: McIntosh vs. Ledecky in the 800-metre freestyle". CBC Sports . Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  7. "Records book" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 26 July 2025.
  8. "Standard Entry Times" (PDF). World Aquatics . Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  9. "Competition Regulations" (PDF). World Aquatics . pp. 13–14. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  10. "Qualifying | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  11. 1 2 "Competition Schedule | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
  12. "Heats results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 1 August 2025.
  13. Binner, Andrew (1 August 2025). "Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh Tee Up 800 Freestyle Final Showdown, Kaylee McKeown Tops 200 backstroke Heats at 2025 World Aquatics Championships". Olympics.com. International Olympic Committee (IOC). Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  14. Race, Retta (3 August 2025). "2025 Worlds, Day 8 Asia Recap: 12-Yr-Old Yu Zidi Wrangles Up Another Fourth-Place Finish". SwimSwam. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  15. "Final results" (PDF). omegatiming.com. 2 August 2025. Retrieved 2 August 2025.
  16. Folsom, Madeline (2 August 2025). "2025 World Champs, Day 7 Oceania Recap: Shocking Silver for Lani Pallister in women's 800". SwimSwam. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
  17. Kaufman, Sophie (2 August 2025). "2025 Worlds, Euro Recap Day 7: Grousset and Ponti Join The 49-Second Club In 100 Butterfly". SwimSwam. Retrieved 20 August 2025.