World Aquatics Championships

Last updated

World Aquatics Championships
StatusActive
GenreGlobal Sporting Event
Date(s)Two Weeks (usually mid-year)
FrequencyUsually Biennial
Location(s)Various Host Cities
Years active50 years
Inaugurated1973 (1973)
Most recent Doha 2024
Previous event Fukuoka 2023
Next event Singapore 2025
ActivitySwimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, High Diving
Organised by World Aquatics
Editions21 (including 2024)
Website worldaquatics.com
Current event clock.svg 2024 World Aquatics Championships

The World Aquatics Championships (known as the FINA World Championships until 2022) 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.

Contents

The championships were first staged in 1973 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with competitions held in swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo. [1] In 1991 open water swimming was added to the championships as a fifth discipline. [2] In 2013 high diving was added to the championships as a sixth discipline. [3] In 2017 the synchronised swimming discipline was renamed to artistic swimming. [4]

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 will be staged in every year from 2022 to 2025 until resuming 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). [5] At the recent 2024 championships participated athletes from record 199 nations: 197 member federations, 1 suspended member federation and Athlete Refugee Team.

Championships

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).

YearDatesEditionLocationNationsAthletesEventsEvents DetailsWinnerSecondThirdMost Medals
1973 31 August – 9 September 1 Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg Belgrade, Yugoslavia 476863718 (M), 19 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1975 19–27 July 2 Flag of Colombia.svg Cali, Colombia 396823718 (M), 19 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1978 20–28 August 3 Flag of Germany.svg West Berlin, West Germany 498283718 (M), 19 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States*Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1982 29 July – 8 August 4 Flag of Ecuador (1900-2009).svg Guayaquil, Ecuador 528483718 (M), 19 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1986 13–23 August 5 Flag of Spain.svg Madrid, Spain 341,1194119 (M), 22 (W)Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1991 3–13 January 6 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Perth, Australia 601,1424521 (M), 24 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
1994 1–11 September 7 Flag of Italy.svg Rome, Italy 1021,4004521 (M), 24 (W)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
1998 8–17 January 8 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Perth, Australia 1211,3715324 (M), 27 (W), 2 (X)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2001 16–29 July 9 Flag of Japan.svg Fukuoka, Japan 1341,4986129 (M), 32 (W)Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2003 12–27 July 10 Flag of Spain.svg Barcelona, Spain 1572,0156229 (M), 33 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2005 16–31 July 11 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Montreal, Canada 1441,7846229 (M), 33 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2007 18 March – 1 April 12 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Melbourne, Australia 1672,1586529 (M), 36 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2009 17 July – 2 August 13 Flag of Italy.svg Rome, Italy 1852,5566529 (M), 36 (W)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
and Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
2011 16–31 July 14 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Shanghai, China 1812,2206629 (M), 36 (W), 1 (X)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
2013 19 July – 4 August 15 Flag of Spain.svg Barcelona, Spain 1812,2936830 (M), 37 (W), 1 (X)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2015 24 July – 9 August 16 Flag of Russia.svg Kazan, Russia 1902,4007530 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
2017 14–30 July 17 Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary 1822,3607530 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2019 12–28 July 18 Flag of South Korea.svg Gwangju, South Korea 1922,6237630 (M), 38 (W), 8 (X)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2022 18 June – 3 July 19 Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary 1832,0347429 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States**
2023 14–30 July 20 Flag of Japan.svg Fukuoka, Japan 1952,3927531 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
2024 2–18 February 21 Flag of Qatar.svg Doha, Qatar 1992,2387531 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China*Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
2025 22 Flag of Singapore.svg Singapore [6]
202723 Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary [6]
202924 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Beijing, China [7]

* Record by number of gold medals – Flag of the United States.svg  United States (23 gold medals, 1978) and Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China (23 gold medals, 2024)
** Record by number of total medals – Flag of the United States.svg  United States (49 medals in total, 2022)

All-time medal table

Updated after the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Flag of the United States.svg  United States 302246190738
2Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 20712496427
3Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 11712790334
4Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 1057362240
5 Flag of Italy.svg Italy 516275188
6Flag of East Germany.svg  East Germany 514427122
7 Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary 433433110
8Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 426473179
9Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 363765138
10Flag of France.svg  France 333734104
11Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 305671157
12Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands 244234100
13 Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 21211860
14Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 194979147
15 Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil 17151951
16Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 16282872
17Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 14423591
18Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 13193062
19Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 1371737
20Flag of Germany.svg  West Germany 871227
21Flag of Poland.svg  Poland 6111229
22Flag of Greece.svg  Greece 57921
23 Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 53311
24Flag of Romania.svg  Romania 52815
25 Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 49821
26Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 4509
27Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia 43411
28Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea 42511
29Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia 4217
30Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia 33410
31Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 3227
32Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico 2141935
33Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 26816
34Flag of Belarus.svg  Belarus 2136
Flag of Yugoslavia (1946-1992).svg  Yugoslavia 2136
36Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal 2114
37Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 2002
38Flag of Austria.svg  Austria 16613
39Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 1629
40Flag of North Korea.svg  North Korea 1326
41Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 1214
Flag of Norway.svg  Norway 1214
43Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia 1168
44Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 1146
45Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium 1124
Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia 1124
Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica 1124
Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg  Serbia and Montenegro 1124
49Flag of Kazakhstan.svg  Kazakhstan 1012
50Flag of Suriname.svg  Suriname 1001
51Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 0325
52Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 0303
53Flag of Cuba.svg  Cuba 0112
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia 0112
Flag of Iceland.svg  Iceland 0112
Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica 0112
57Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador 0101
Flag of Israel.svg  Israel 0101
Flag of Montenegro.svg Montenegro 0101
60Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt 0055
61Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina 0022
  World Aquatics logomark 2.svg   Neutral Independent Athletes [lower-alpha 1] 0022
Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore 0022
64Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg  Bosnia and Herzegovina 0011
Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 0011
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg  Trinidad and Tobago 0011
Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela 0011
Totals (67 entries)1234124412303708

Multiple gold medalists

Boldface denotes active athletes and highest medal count per type.

RankAthleteCountryGenderDisciplineFromToGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Michael Phelps Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States MSwimming20012011266133
2 Katie Ledecky Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States FSwimming2013202321526
3 Svetlana Romashina Flag of Russia.svg  Russia FArtistic swimming200520192121
4 Natalia Ishchenko Flag of Russia.svg  Russia FArtistic swimming2005201519221
5 Ryan Lochte Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States MSwimming20052015185427
6 Svetlana Kolesnichenko Flag of Russia.svg  Russia FArtistic swimming201120191616
7 Caeleb Dressel Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States MSwimming2017202215217
8 Sarah Sjöström Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden FSwimming20092024148325
9 Alla Shishkina Flag of Russia.svg  Russia FArtistic swimming200920191414
10 Anastasia Davydova Flag of Russia.svg  Russia FArtistic swimming2001201113114

Disciplines, events & medalists

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

Swimming (since 1973)

DistanceFreeBackBreastFlyI.M.Free relayMedley relayMixed free relayMixed medley relay
50m
100m
200m
400m
800m
1500m

Diving (since 1973)

Men's and women's events:

Mixed events:

Artistic swimming (since 1973)

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

Water polo (since 1973)

Open water swimming (since 1991)

High diving (since 2013)

See also

Notes

  1. 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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synchronized swimming</span> Hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics

Synchronized swimming or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aquatics. It has traditionally been a women's sport, although FINA introduced a new mixed gender duet competition that included one male swimmer in each duet at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and LEN introduced men's individual events at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships. From 2024, men will be able to compete in the team event at the Olympics.

World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport or discipline for both the IOC and the international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LEN</span> European swimming association

LEN is the European governing body for aquatic sports affiliated to World Aquatics — it is the Continental Association for Europe. It was formally organized in 1927 in Bologna, and since 2015 is headquartered in Nyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships</span>

The aquatics discipline of swimming is considered the flagship event at every edition of the World Aquatics Championships since its introduction in 1973. While open water swimming events were added to the program in 1991, it is considered a separate discipline to swimming.

The 2007 World Aquatics Championships, or the XII FINA World Championships, were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007. The competition took place at three locations in central Melbourne: the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, St Kilda Beach, and Rod Laver Arena in a temporary pool christened the Susie O'Neill Pool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 World Aquatics Championships</span> 14th FINA World Championships

The 14th FINA World Championships were held on 16–31 July 2011 in Shanghai, China at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The 2011 World Championships featured five aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, open water, and synchronized swimming. At this championships, synchronized swimmer Natalia Ishchenko, of Russia, was the most decorated competitor winning all six gold medals of her events, at solo, duet and team routines. These championships served as qualifying stages for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diving at the Summer Olympics</span>

Diving was first introduced in the official programme of the Summer Olympic Games at the 1904 Games of St. Louis and has been an Olympic sport since. It was known as "fancy diving" for the acrobatic stunts performed by divers during the dive. This discipline of Aquatics, along with swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo, is regulated and supervised by the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the international federation (IF) for aquatic sports.

The 4th FINA World Aquatics Championships took place from July 29-August 8, 1982, in Guayaquil, Ecuador. They featured 848 athletes, competing in four Aquatics disciplines:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

The American team competed at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China from July 16 to July 31. The United States topped the gold medal count in the competition with 17 golds and finished the competition with 32 total medals, behind China's 36. 16 of the 17 gold medals came from the swimming competition and one came from the open water swimming competition. Individually, Michael Phelps won the most overall medals in the competition with seven. Ryan Lochte won the most gold medals among the male competitors with five and finished the competition with six medals total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 World Aquatics Championships</span> 16th FINA World Championships

The 16th FINA World Championships, also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia hosted this event for the first time. The number of participating national teams (190), athletes (2,400) and the number of medals (75) were the most ever amongst these championships. This was the first time the World Aquatics Championships partially overlaps with the FINA World Masters Championships that have a number of athletes, countries (110) and medals (635) which are the most ever also.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cao Yuan</span> Chinese diver

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 World Aquatics Championships</span> 20th World Aquatics Championships

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Britain at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

Great Britain competed at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia between 24 July to 9 August 2015.

This article lists the in the water and on the water forms of aquatic sports for 2016.

This article lists the in the water and on the water forms of aquatic sports for 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

Canada competed at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 14 July to 30 July.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italy at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships</span> Sporting event delegation

Italy competed at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary from 14 July to 30 July. Like the previous edition in 2015, it won at least one medal in all but one discipline: this time, both waterpolo teams were eliminated in quarterfinals, while in high diving Alessandro De Rose won the bronze, the first medal for Italy in this discipline.

The Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival was a FINA-organized international aquatics competition spanning the disciplines of open water swimming, diving, and high diving, which took place from 15 to 20 December 2021 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was held correspondent to the 2021 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. The festival was the first time competitions in the three disciplines are being conducted at the same time as and in conjunction with a FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. In addition to sporting competitions, an interactive village is being provided for festival attendees. Coverage of the aquatics festival on television and via online streaming was provided on six continents with news agencies including ESPN (Americas), SuperSport (Africa), and beIN Sports (Asia) providing international coverage of the high diving competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diving at the 2023 Pan American Games</span> Diving competitions at the 2023 Pan American Games

Diving competitions at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile are scheduled to take place from October 26 to 30, 2023 at the Aquatics Centre. It will be one of four aquatic sports at the Games, along with swimming and artistic swimming.

References

  1. "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  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. "18th FINA World Championships: Entry List by Event" (PDF). Omega Timing. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  6. 1 2 "World Aquatics Championships 2025 awarded to Singapore". World Aquatics. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  7. "Beijing announced as World Aquatics Championships 2029 host". World Aquatics. 11 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.

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