The women's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 28 to 29 July 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.
Background Katie Ledecky of the United States remains the dominant force in the event, holding 24 of the top 25 times in history. Her 15:24.51 from May is the second-fastest swim ever and puts her nearly 15 seconds ahead of the next-fastest entrant in 2025.
Australia’s Lani Pallister is the top challenger, posting a national record of 15:39.14 to rank second this year. France’s Anastasia Kirpichnikova, Germany’s Isabel Gose, China’s Li Bingjie, and Italy’s Simona Quadarella—all returning Olympic finalists—are separated by just a few seconds and expected to contend for medals. Also in the mix are Australia’s Moesha Johnson, American Jillian Cox, and Hungary’s Vivien Jackl, each aiming for a spot in the final.
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 16:24.56 minutes. 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 16:59.02 minutes. 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionKatie Ledecky15:24.51Fort Lauderdale stop of the 2025 TYR Pro Swim SeriesLani Pallister15:39.142025 Australian Swimming TrialsAnastasiya Kirpichnikova15:40.352024 Summer OlympicsIsabel Gose15:41.162024 Summer OlympicsLi Bingjie15:43.942025 Chinese ChampionshipsSimona Quadarella15:44.052024 Summer OlympicsKatie Grimes15:57.772024 United States Olympic TrialsMoesha Johnson15:57.852024 Australian Olympic TrialsClaire Weinstein16:01.962025 United States ChampionshipsBeatriz Dizotti16:02.862024 Summer Olympics
Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
Heats The heats took place on 28 July 11:29.
RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 3 4 Katie Ledecky 15:36.68 Q 2 2 4 Lani Pallister 15:46.95 Q 3 2 3 Simona Quadarella 15:47.43 Q 4 2 7 Gan Ching Hwee 16:01.29 Q, NR 5 3 3 Li Bingjie 16:02.31 Q 6 3 6 Moesha Johnson 16:05.13 Q 7 3 5 Anastasiya Kirpichnikova 16:06.97 Q 8 3 1 Yang Peiqi 16:08.19 Q 9 2 5 Isabel Marie Gose 16:08.41 10 2 1 Ichika Kajimoto 16:09.65 11 2 6 Jillian Cox 16:09.74 12 3 2 Ksenia Misharina Neutral Athletes B 16:12.35 13 2 8 Caitlin Deans 16:13.16 14 2 9 Kristel Kobrich 16:22.66 15 3 8 Viktória Mihályvári-Farkas 16:28.04 16 3 7 Eve Thomas 16:28.10 17 2 2 Vivien Jackl 16:29.60 18 2 0 Gabrielle Roncatto 16:31.26 19 1 4 Artemis Vasilaki 16:36.57 20 3 9 Leticia Fassina Romão 16:37.65 21 1 5 Kim Chae-yun 16:47.88 22 1 7 Delfina Dini 16:48.03 23 1 3 Thilda Häll 16:52.74 24 1 2 Anna Kalandadze 16:55.47 25 3 0 Diana Durães 16:56.80 26 1 6 Catherine van Rensburg 16:59.73 27 1 1 Kyra Rabess 17:15.71
Final The final took place on 29 July at 19:12.
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Katie Ledecky 15:26.44 3 Simona Quadarella 15:31.79 ER 5 Lani Pallister 15:41.18 4 2 Li Bingjie 15:49.54 5 1 Anastasiya Kirpichnikova 15:57.40 6 7 Moesha Johnson 16:02.45 7 6 Gan Ching Hwee 16:03.51 8 8 Yang Peiqi 16:04.93
References