World Aquatics Championships

(Redirected from Fina world 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. Dr. Hal Henning, FINA's president from 1972 through 1976, and their first American President, was highly instrumental in starting the first World Aquatics Championships, and in retaining the number of swimming events in the Olympics, which gave an advantage to nations with larger, more balanced swim teams.[1]

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 recentDoha 2024
Previous eventFukuoka 2023
Next eventSingapore 2025
ActivitySwimming, Diving, Water Polo, Artistic Swimming, Open Water Swimming, High Diving
Organised byWorld Aquatics
SponsorMyrtha Pools
Nongfu Spring
Omega
Yakult
Editions21 (including 2024)
Websiteworldaquatics.com
2024 World Aquatics Championships

The championships were first staged in 1973 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with competitions held in swimming, diving, synchronised swimming and water polo.[2] In 1991 open water swimming was added to the championships as a fifth discipline.[3] In 2013 high diving was added to the championships as a sixth discipline.[4] In 2017 the synchronised swimming discipline was renamed to artistic swimming.[5]

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).[6] At the recent 2024 championships athletes participated from 199 nations: 197 member federations, 1 suspended member federation and 1 Athlete Refugee Team.

Championships

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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 Nations Athletes Events Events details Winner Second Third Most medals
1973 31 August – 9 September 1   Belgrade, Yugoslavia 47 686 37 18 (M), 19 (W)   United States   East Germany   Italy   United States
1975 19–27 July 2   Cali, Colombia 39 682 37 18 (M), 19 (W)   United States   East Germany   Hungary   United States
1978 20–28 August 3   West Berlin, West Germany 49 828 37 18 (M), 19 (W)   United States*   Soviet Union   Canada   United States
1982 29 July – 8 August 4   Guayaquil, Ecuador 52 848 37 18 (M), 19 (W)   United States   East Germany   Soviet Union   United States
1986 13–23 August 5   Madrid, Spain 34 1,119 41 19 (M), 22 (W)   East Germany   United States   Canada   United States
1991 3–13 January 6   Perth, Australia 60 1,142 45 21 (M), 24 (W)   United States   China   Hungary   United States
1994 1–11 September 7   Rome, Italy 102 1,400 45 21 (M), 24 (W)   China   United States   Russia   China
1998 8–17 January 8   Perth, Australia 121 1,371 53 24 (M), 27 (W), 2 (X)   United States   Russia   Australia   United States
2001 16–29 July 9   Fukuoka, Japan 134 1,498 61 29 (M), 32 (W)   Australia   China   United States   United States
2003 12–27 July 10   Barcelona, Spain 157 2,015 62 29 (M), 33 (W)   United States   Russia   Australia   United States
2005 16–31 July 11   Montreal, Canada 144 1,784 62 29 (M), 33 (W)   United States   Australia   China   United States
2007 18 March – 1 April 12   Melbourne, Australia 167 2,158 65 29 (M), 36 (W)   United States   Russia   Australia   United States
2009 17 July – 2 August 13   Rome, Italy 185 2,556 65 29 (M), 36 (W)   United States   China   Russia   United States
and   China
2011 16–31 July 14   Shanghai, China 181 2,220 66 29 (M), 36 (W), 1 (X)   United States   China   Russia   China
2013 19 July – 4 August 15   Barcelona, Spain 181 2,293 68 30 (M), 37 (W), 1 (X)   United States   China   Russia   United States
2015 24 July – 9 August 16   Kazan, Russia 190 2,400 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)   China   United States   Russia   China
2017 14–30 July 17   Budapest, Hungary 182 2,360 75 30 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)   United States   China   Russia   United States
2019 12–28 July 18   Gwangju, South Korea 192 2,623 76 30 (M), 38 (W), 8 (X)   China   United States   Russia   United States
2022 18 June – 3 July 19   Budapest, Hungary 183 2,034 74 29 (M), 37 (W), 8 (X)   United States   China   Italy   United States**
2023 14–30 July 20   Fukuoka, Japan 195 2,392 75 31 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)   China   Australia   United States   United States
2024 2–18 February 21   Doha, Qatar 199 2,603 75 31 (M), 33 (W), 11 (X)   China*   United States   Australia   China
2025 11 July – 3 August 22   Singapore[7] 75
2027 23   Budapest, Hungary[7]
2029 24   Beijing, China[8]

* Record by number of gold medals –   United States (23 gold medals, 1978) and   China (23 gold medals, 2024)
** Record by number of total medals –   United States (49 medals in total, 2022)

All-time medal table

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Updated after the 2024 World Aquatics Championships.

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  United States302246190738
2  China20712496427
3  Australia11712790334
4  Russia1057362240
5  Italy516275188
6  East Germany514427122
7  Hungary433433110
8  Germany426473179
9  Great Britain363765138
10  France333734104
11  Canada305572157
12  Netherlands244234100
13  Sweden21211860
14  Japan194979147
15  Brazil17151951
16  Soviet Union16282872
17  Spain14423591
18  Ukraine13193062
19  South Africa1371737
20  West Germany871227
21  Poland6111229
22  Greece57921
23  Lithuania53311
24  Romania52815
25  Denmark49821
26  Zimbabwe4509
27  Tunisia43411
28  South Korea42511
29  Serbia4217
30  Croatia33410
31  Finland3227
32  Mexico2141935
33  New Zealand26816
34  Belarus2136
  Yugoslavia2136
36  Portugal2114
37  Ireland2002
38  Austria16613
39  Switzerland1629
40  North Korea1326
41  Hong Kong1214
  Norway1214
43  Malaysia1168
44  Bulgaria1146
45  Belgium1124
  Colombia1124
  Costa Rica1124
  Serbia and Montenegro1124
49  Kazakhstan1012
50  Suriname1001
51  Slovakia0325
52  Czech Republic0303
53  Cuba0112
  Czechoslovakia0112
  Iceland0112
  Jamaica0112
57  Ecuador0101
  Israel0101
  Montenegro0101
60  Egypt0055
61  Argentina0022
    Neutral Independent Athletes [a]0022
  Singapore0022
64  Bosnia and Herzegovina0011
  Puerto Rico0011
  Trinidad and Tobago0011
  Venezuela0011
Totals (67 entries)1,2341,2431,2313,708

Multiple gold medalists

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Boldface denotes active athletes and highest medal count per type.

Rank Athlete Country Gender Discipline From To Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Michael Phelps   United States M Swimming 2001 2011 26 6 1 33
2 Katie Ledecky   United States F Swimming 2013 2023 21 5 26
3 Svetlana Romashina   Russia F Artistic swimming 2005 2019 21 21
4 Natalia Ishchenko   Russia F Artistic swimming 2005 2015 19 2 21
5 Ryan Lochte   United States M Swimming 2005 2015 18 5 4 27
6 Svetlana Kolesnichenko   Russia F Artistic swimming 2011 2019 16 16
7 Caeleb Dressel   United States M Swimming 2017 2022 15 2 17
8 Sarah Sjöström   Sweden F Swimming 2009 2024 14 8 3 25
9 Alla Shishkina   Russia F Artistic swimming 2009 2019 14 14
10 Anastasia Davydova   Russia F Artistic swimming 2001 2011 13 1 14

Disciplines, events & medalists

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

Swimming (since 1973)

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Distance Free Back Breast Fly I.M. Free relay Medley relay Mixed free relay Mixed medley relay
50m
100m
200m
400m
800m
1500m

Diving (since 1973)

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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)

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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)

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  • Men's tournament
  • Women's tournament

Open water swimming (since 1991)

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  • 5 km
  • 10 km
  • Mixed relay

High diving (since 2013)

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

See also

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Notes

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  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.

References

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  1. ^ "North Central Cardinals Athletic Hall of Fame, Dr. Harold Henning". northcentralcardinals.com.
  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. ^ "Overview". World Aquatics. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  6. ^ "18th FINA World Championships: Entry List by Event" (PDF). Omega Timing. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 July 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  7. ^ a b "World Aquatics Championships 2025 awarded to Singapore". World Aquatics. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Beijing announced as World Aquatics Championships 2029 host". World Aquatics. 11 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
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