More global talents expected to emerge at World Aquatics Championships in Singapore

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A general view as staff memebers prepare the venue for the artistic swimming and swimming events of the World Aquatics Championships Singapore 2025.

PHOTO: EPA

Summary

• Singapore hosts the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) 2025, featuring 2,500 athletes from 206 territories across 77 events, with a record US$6 million ($7.7 million) prize pool.
• The event will be held at a newly built WCH Arena, temporary facilities in Sentosa, and a spruced-up OCBC Aquatic Centre.
• WCH aims to inspire a new generation and positively impact society in Southeast Asia, with tickets available via Sistic amid some sold-out finals.

AI generated

SINGAPORE – While swimming superstars are expected to break records and powerhouses set to dominate across the six disciplines at the July 11-Aug 3 World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore, there remains scope for surprises with previously unheralded names bidding to punch above their weight.

In the 2024 edition in Doha, Qatar, there were historic moments for Ireland’s men’s 800m and 1,500m freestyle champion Daniel Wiffen, Israel’s women’s 400m individual medley silver medallist Anastasia Gorbenko and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s women’s 200m butterfly bronze medallist Lana Pudar, who won their countries’ first WCH medals.

In 2023, artistic swimmer Eduard Kim and swimmers Siobhan Haughey and Diogo Ribeiro achieved the same feat for Kazakhstan, Hong Kong and Portugal respectively with a podium finish in Fukuoka, Japan, before winning gold at Doha 2024, where athletes from over 30 other countries and territories won medals.

World Aquatics executive director Brent Nowicki believes there will