The women's 200 metre individual medley event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 27 to 28 July 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.

Background The event did not feature Kate Douglass or Kaylee McKeown which left Summer McIntosh of Canada as the clear favorite. McIntosh had broken the world record at the 2025 Canadian Trials with 2:05.70, improving almost a second from her 2024 Olympic gold medal swim of 2:06.56.

Alex Walsh of the United States, who had a 2:07.13 lifetime best, and China’s Yu Yiting, who held a 2:07.75 best and had won bronze at the previous two World Championships, were leading medal contenders. Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey (2:08.78) was also entering in strong form. Other contenders for the final were Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel, Abbie Wood of Great Britain, Phoebe Bacon of the United States, Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium, and Ella Ramsay of Australia.

Qualification Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 2:12.83. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 2:17.48. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events. +Top 10 fastest qualification timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionSummer McIntosh2:05.702025 Canadian TrialsKaylee McKeown2:06.632024 Australian Olympic TrialsKate Douglass2:06.792024 United States Olympic TrialsAlex Walsh2:07.452024 Summer OlympicsSydney Pickrem2:07.682024 Canadian TrialsTorri Huske2:08.47Texas stop of the 2024 TYR Pro Swim SeriesYu Yiting2:08.492024 Summer OlympicsAnastasia Gorbenko2:08.55Barcelona stop of the 2024 Mare Nostrum Swim TourMary-Sophie Harvey2:08.782025 Canadian TrialsAbbie Wood2:08.852025 British Championships

Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.

Heats The heats were held on 27 July at 10:02. Vietnam's Võ Thị Mỹ Tiên won the first heat with 2:16.96, which was not fast enough to qualify. China's Yu Yiting won the second heat with 2:10.33, which was the fifth fastest qualifying time; the US's Alex Walsh won the third heat with the third fastest qualifying time of 2:09.50; and Australian Tara Kinder won the fourth and final heat with 2:09.45. Slovakia's Tamara Potocká and Spain's Emma Carrasco finished with the joint sixteenth fastest qualifying time, so they later raced in a swim-off to determine who would proceed to the semifinals.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 2 Tara Kinder 2:09.45 Q 2 4 4 Summer McIntosh 2:09.46 Q 3 3 4 Alex Walsh 2:09.50 Q 4 3 5 Mary-Sophie Harvey 2:09.95 Q 5 2 4 Yu Yiting 2:10.33 Q 6 4 3 Ella Ramsay 2:10.53 Q 7 2 3 Mio Narita 2:10.87 Q 8 3 6 Shiho Matsumoto 2:10.94 Q 9 2 5 Abbie Wood 2:11.15 Q 10 2 7 Ellen Walshe 2:11.45 Q 11 4 5 Anastasia Gorbenko 2:11.53 Q 12 3 3 Phoebe Bacon 2:11.55 Q 13 2 6 Rebecca Meder 2:11.68 Q 14 4 1 Lea Polonsky 2:11.85 Q 15 2 2 Yu Zidi 2:11.90 Q 16 3 2 Emma Carrasco 2:12.29 SO 16 4 8 Tamara Potocká 2:12.29 SO, NR 18 4 6 Katie Shanahan 2:12.42 19 2 1 Aimee Canny 2:12.70 20 4 0 Clara Rybak-Andersen 2:12.74 21 4 7 Sara Franceschi 2:12.91 22 3 7 Anita Gastaldi 2:13.07 23 3 1 Laura Cabanes 2:13.80 24 4 9 Nikoletta Pavlopoulou 2:13.85 NR 25 3 8 Ellie McCartney 2:13.86 26 2 8 Kristen Romano 2:15.09 27 3 9 Letitia Sim 2:15.45 28 3 0 Diana Petkova 2:16.03 29 2 0 Lee Song-eun 2:16.87 30 1 5 Võ Thị Mỹ Tiên 2:16.96 31 1 4 Kamonchanok Kwanmuang 2:19.11 32 1 6 Stephanie Iannaccone 2:19.92 33 2 9 Nicole Frank 2:20.25 34 1 3 Lai Wa Ng 2:22.55 35 1 2 Yasmin Silva Contreras 2:26.57 36 1 7 Melodi Saleshando 2:41.13 37 1 8 Meral Ayn Latheef 2:44.34 NR 38 1 1 Joanna Chen 2:48.66

Swim-off The swim-off took place on 27 July at 13:03. Emma Carrasco won with a time of 2:12.21, so she advanced to the semifinals.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Emma Carrasco 2:12.21 Q 2 5 Tamara Potocká 2:12.99

Semifinals The semifinals took place on 27 July at 20:00.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 1 4 Summer McIntosh 2:07.39 Q 2 2 5 Alex Walsh 2:08.49 Q 3 2 6 Mio Narita 2:09.16 Q 4 2 7 Anastasia Gorbenko 2:09.68 Q 5 2 2 Abbie Wood 2:10.12 Q 6 1 5 Mary-Sophie Harvey 2:10.19 Q 7 2 8 Yu Zidi 2:10.22 Q 8 1 2 Ellen Walshe 2:10.49 Q, NR 9 2 3 Yu Yiting 2:10.63 10 2 1 Rebecca Meder 2:11.05 11 1 3 Ella Ramsay 2:11.22 12 2 4 Tara Kinder 2:11.24 13 1 7 Phoebe Bacon 2:11.53 14 1 6 Shiho Matsumoto 2:11.69 15 1 1 Lea Polonsky 2:12.29 16 1 8 Emma Carrasco 2:12.49

Final The final took place on 28 July at 20:19.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Summer McIntosh 2:06.69 5 Alex Walsh 2:08.58 7 Mary-Sophie Harvey 2:09.15 4 1 Yu Zidi 2:09.21 5 3 Mio Narita 2:09.56 6 2 Abbie Wood 2:09.92 7 6 Anastasia Gorbenko 2:10.26 8 8 Ellen Walshe 2:11.57

References