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 recentFukuoka 2023
Previous eventBudapest 2022
Next eventDoha 2024
ActivitySwimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, High Diving
Organised byWorld Aquatics
Editions20 (including 2023)
Websiteworldaquatics.com

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 event traditionally held biennially every odd year, with all six of the aquatic disciplines contested every championships. A 50m length pool is used for swimming races.

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 2023 championships participated athletes from record 195 nations: 192 member federations, 2 suspended member federations 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).

Year Dates Edition Location Athletes Events Events Details Winner Second Third Most Medals
1973 31 August – 9 September 1 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Belgrade, Yugoslavia 686 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Italy  United States
1975 19–27 July 2 Colombia Cali, Colombia 682 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Hungary  United States
1978 20–28 August 3 West Germany West Berlin, West Germany 828 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States*  Soviet Union  Canada  United States
1982 29 July – 8 August 4 Ecuador Guayaquil, Ecuador 848 37 18 (M), 19 (W)  United States  East Germany  Soviet Union  United States
1986 13–23 August 5 Spain Madrid, Spain 1119 41 19 (M), 22 (W)  East Germany  United States  Canada  United States
1991 3–13 January 6 Australia Perth, Australia 1142 45 21 (M), 24 (W)  United States  China  Hungary  United States
1994 1–11 September 7 Italy Rome, Italy 1400 45 21 (M), 24 (W)  China  United States  Russia  China
1998 8–17 January 8 Australia Perth, Australia 1371 53 24 (M), 27 (W), 2 (X)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2001 16–29 July 9 Japan Fukuoka, Japan 1498 61 29 (M), 32 (W)  Australia  China  United States  United States
2003 12–27 July 10 Spain Barcelona, Spain 2015 62 29 (M), 33 (W)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2005 16–31 July 11 Canada Montreal, Canada 1784 62 29 (M), 33 (W)  United States  Australia  China  United States
2007 18 March – 1 April 12 Australia Melbourne, Australia 2158 65 29 (M), 36 (W)  United States  Russia  Australia  United States
2009 17 July – 2 August 13 Italy Rome, Italy 2556 65 29 (M), 36 (W)  United States  China  Russia  United States
and  China
2011 16–31 July 14 China Shanghai, China 2220 66 29 (M), 36 (W), 1 (X)  United States  China  Russia  China
2013 19 July – 4 August 15 Spain Barcelona, Spain 2293 68 30 (M), 37 (W), 1 (X)  United States  China  Russia  United States
2015 24 July – 9 August 16 Russia Kazan, Russia 2400 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  China  United States  Russia  China
2017 14–30 July 17 Hungary Budapest, Hungary 2360 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  United States  China  Russia  United States
2019 12–28 July 18 South Korea Gwangju, South Korea 2623 76 30 (M), 38 (W), 8 (X)  China  United States  Russia  United States
2022 18 June – 3 July 19 Hungary Budapest, Hungary 2034 74 29 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)  United States  China  Italy  United States**
2023 14–30 July 20 Japan Fukuoka, Japan 2392 75 31 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)  China  Australia  United States  United States
2024 2–18 February[6] 21 Qatar Doha, Qatar
2025 22 Singapore Kallang, Singapore[7]
2027 23 Hungary Budapest, Hungary[7]

* Record by number of gold medals –  United States (23 gold medals, 1978)
** Record by number of total medals –  United States (49 medals in total, 2022)

All-time medal table

Updated after the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 United States293240182715
2 China18411694394
3 Australia11011585310
4 Russia1057362240
5 East Germany514427122
6Italy Italy485269169
7Hungary Hungary423331106
8 Germany416270173
9 France32333398
10 Great Britain323256120
11 Canada285365146
12 Netherlands19383491
13Sweden Sweden19201756
14 Japan184877143
15Brazil Brazil17151850
16 Soviet Union16282872
17 Spain13373181
18 South Africa1371636
19 Ukraine12182858
20 West Germany871227
21 Poland611926
22 Romania52714
23Denmark Denmark48820
24 Greece46818
25 Zimbabwe4509
26 Tunisia43411
27Lithuania Lithuania4239
28 Serbia4217
29 Finland3227
30 Croatia2349
31 Belarus2136
 South Korea2136
 Yugoslavia2136
34 Mexico1131529
35 Austria15511
36  Switzerland1528
37 Norway1214
38 Malaysia1168
39 Bulgaria1146
40 Belgium1124
 Costa Rica1124
 North Korea1124
 Yugoslavia /
 Serbia and Montenegro
1124
44 Colombia1102
45 Suriname1001
46 New Zealand05712
47 Slovakia0325
48 Czech Republic0303
49 Cuba0112
 Czechoslovakia0112
 Iceland0112
 Jamaica0112
53 Ecuador0101
 Hong Kong0101
Montenegro Montenegro0101
 Portugal0101
57 Egypt0033
58 Argentina0022
 Singapore0022
60 Kazakhstan0011
 Puerto Rico0011
 Trinidad and Tobago0011
 Venezuela0011
Totals (63 entries)1159116911553483

Multiple gold medalists

Boldface denotes active athletes and highest medal count per type.

Rank Athlete Country Gender Discipline From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1Michael Phelps United StatesMSwimming20012011266133
2Katie Ledecky United StatesFSwimming2013202321526
3Svetlana Romashina RussiaFArtistic swimming200520192121
4Natalia Ishchenko RussiaFArtistic swimming2005201519221
5Ryan Lochte United StatesMSwimming20052015185427
6Svetlana Kolesnichenko RussiaFArtistic swimming201120191616
7Caeleb Dressel United StatesMSwimming2017202215217
8Alla Shishkina RussiaFArtistic swimming200920191414
9Anastasia Davydova RussiaFArtistic swimming2001201113114
10Alexandra Patskevich RussiaFArtistic swimming200920171313

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:

  • 1 m springboard
  • 3 m springboard
  • 10 m platform
  • synchronized 3 m springboard
  • synchronized 10 m platform

Mixed events:

  • synchronized 3 m springboard
  • synchronized 10 m platform
  • 3 m springboard / 10 m platform team

Artistic swimming (since 1973)

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

  • Solo, including men's solo since 2023
  • Duet, including mixed pair (male-female) since 2015
  • Team (since 2023 open event to men and women)
  • Acrobatic routine since 2023 (open event to men and women)

Water polo (since 1973)

  • Men's tournament
  • Women's tournament

Open water swimming (since 1991)

  • 5 km
  • 10 km
  • Mixed Relay

High diving (since 2013)

  • 27m (men only)
  • 20m (women only)

See also

Notes and 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. "Press Release | FINA announces changes to international events calendar". FINA. 1 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 "World Aquatics Championships 2025 awarded to Singapore". World Aquatics. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.

Media related to World Aquatics Championships at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.