Australia's golden generation in the pool showed no signs of slowing down at the 2025 World Swimming Championships in Singapore, finishing with eight gold medals, just one behind the United States. Despite some swimmers returning from a post-Olympics break and a bout of food poisoning affecting the team, the Dolphins delivered an impressive performance.
Mollie O'Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown were the standout performers, contributing to five of Australia's eight gold medals. O'Callaghan, aged 21, won two relay golds (women's 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle) and an individual title in the 200m freestyle, plus two silver medals. She now has 11 world titles, equalling Ian Thorpe's record, and five Olympic gold medals.
McKeown won both the women's 100m and 200m backstroke, defeating American rival Regan Smith. With 10 individual gold medals across Olympic Games and world titles, she is now Australia's most successful swimmer in individual events, surpassing Thorpe and Grant Hackett. Her victories have been narrow, with an aggregate margin of just 4.41 seconds across all 10 golds.
Australia's relay depth was evident, winning three golds, one silver and one bronze in relay events. However, the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team failed to reach the final, and the men's medley relay did not progress past the heats. In freestyle sprints, Cameron McEvoy won the men's 50m freestyle, Meg Harris took the women's edition, and Kyle Chalmers earned bronze in the men's 100m freestyle.
Breakthrough performances included Lani Pallister's silver in the women's 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1500m, Harrison Turner's bronze in the men's 200m butterfly (Australia's first world medal in that event), and Jenna Forrester's silver in the women's 400m individual medley. Alex Perkins medalled in both the 50m and 100m butterfly, while Lizzy Dekkers won bronze in the 200m butterfly.
Even a bout of food poisoning that affected some swimmers had a silver lining, with Sam Short missing gold by just 0.02 seconds in one event. Overall, the championships underscored Australia's enduring strength in swimming, with O'Callaghan and McKeown leading a new generation of stars.
