Singapore, July 31, 2025: With just four days remaining of the 22nd World Aquatics Championships Singapore 2025, China is holding on to the lead at the top of the overall medal rankings.
At the close of play on Wednesday, July 30, China had won 12 gold medals, seven silver and four bronze for a total of 23.
Australia was second with eight gold, two silver and five bronze for 15 total medals, followed by Germany (6-1-1) and the United States in fourth place (4-5- 6).
Having won four gold medals in artistic swimming at the start of the championships, including all three team titles, China has backed this up with seven gold medals in diving and a solitary gold in swimming from Hangzhou Asian Games MVP Qin Haiyang in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Qin, the 2023 world champion in Fukuoka, had to settle for bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke on Wednesday, behind Simone Cerasuolo, who clocked 26.54 seconds to become the first Italian world champion in the event.
Qin won the bronze at 26.67 as he was beaten to the wall by Neutral Athlete B Kirill Prigoda (26.62) for the silver.
“I’m quite pleased with the result, actually,” Qin, 26, told World Aquatics. “I’ve done what I can based on where my body is at right now. As I said previously, whether or not there is a medal at the end of the race for me, I can accept it.
“I’m pleased with how I performed in the semi-finals, as well as today, and as long as I feel that way, then it’s good enough for me.”
China’s Li Bingjie, 23, secured silver in the women’s 200m freestyle behind Australia’s Paris Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan (1:53.48). Li, finishing strongly, clocked 1:54.52 to win her second silver of the championships after the 400 freestyle.
“I’m quite pleased with the result,” Li said. “The 400m event gave me a good start, and that set me up well for the rest of the meet. I was able to race with an open mind, and just compete freely.”
China ended the night with another silver medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay behind Neutral Athletes B, who won in a championship record of 3:37.97.
China, represented by Xu Jiayu (backstroke), Qin Haiyang (breaststroke), Hangzhou Asian Games MVP Zhang Yufei (butterfly) and Wu Qingfeng (freestyle), came in second in 3:39.99, 02.02 seconds behind.
The 22nd World Aquatics Championships Singapore 2025 run from July 11 to August 3 and features all six disciplines: swimming, artistic swimming, diving, high diving, water polo and open water.