The men's 5 km competition at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held on 18 July. The race consisted of three laps of a course off the coast of Palawan Beach, Sentosa.
Hungary's Dávid Betlehem took the lead early in the race. He held his lead through the first lap. Over the second lap he was overtaken by Germany's Florian Wellbrock and Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri, and Wellbrock maintained first position from there on out to win with a time of 57:26.4. Paltrinieri finished second with 57:29.3, and France's Marc-Antoine Olivier finished third with 57:30.4.
It was Wellbrock's third time winning this event at the World Championships, and it was Paltrinieri's eighteenth world championship medal. Wellbrock and Paltrinieri commented after the race that the warm water made the swim especially challenging.
Background Germany's Florian Wellbrock, Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri and Australia's Kyle Lee were returning to the open water after medalling in the 10 km event earlier in the 2025 World Championships. Paltrinieri was swimming with injuries to his finger and elbow. European Aquatics wrote that most of the swimmers in this race "will be looking to either avenge their earlier performance or build on their success" from the 10 km.
Qualification Each World Aquatics member federation could enter up to two athletes.
Race The race consisted of three laps of a course off the coast of Palawan Beach, Sentosa. It was held on 18 July at 10:00 SGT. Unlike in most 5 km open water races, athletes were allowed to ingest sustenance during the race to stay hydrated in the warm water.
Hungary's Dávid Betlehem took the lead early in the race. He held his lead through the first lap and skipped the feeding station at the end of that lap to further increase his lead. Over the second lap he was caught up by Wellbrock and Paltrinieri. When he was caught up, he dropped to third, settling behind Paltrinieri in second and Wellbrock in first. By the end of lap two, Wellbrock was in first with a two-second lead on Paltrinieri in second. Betlehem was in third, France's Marc-Antoine Olivier was in fourth, and Italy's Marcello Guidi was in fifth.
A pack of swimmers stayed behind Wellbrock over the start of the second lap, and Wellbrock extended his lead from them going into the final turn. On the second-to-last buoy, Paltrinieri broke free of the chasing pack and began trying to catch Wellbrock. He was unable to, though, and Wellbrock won with a time of 57:26.4. Paltrinieri finished second with 57:29.3, and Olivier finished third with 57:30.4.
Wellbrock's win earned him his second gold of the Championships, since he won the 10 km event earlier in the programme, and it was Paltrinieri's second silver, as he placed second in the 10 km. It was Wellbrock's third time winning this event at the World Championships, and it was his eighth World Championship gold medal. It was Paltrinieri's eighteenth World Championship medal.
The water was warm—reported to be —and the air was warm and humid. After the race, Paltrinieri said, "It's so hot. These conditions are one of the toughest I've ever raced in", and Wellbrock said during the Championships: "The conditions here are tough, everybody knows it’s hot outside, and the water temperature is crazy, close to 31 degrees." CNA reported that the conditions were better than in the 10 km race.
+ Results Rank Swimmer Nationality Time Florian Wellbrock Gregorio Paltrinieri Marc-Antoine Olivier 4 Marcello Guidi 5 Denis Adeev Neutral Athletes B 6 Dávid Betlehem 7 Kyle Lee 8 Luca Karl 9 Oliver Klemet 10 Thomas Raymond 11 Paul Niederberger 12 Matheus Melecchi 13 Eric Brown 14 Kristóf Rasovszky 15 Martin Straka 16 Ratthawit Thammananthachote 17 Dylan Gravley 18 Athanasios Kynigakis 19 Sacha Velly 20 Ivan Puskovitch 1:00:26.3 21 Christian Schreiber 1:00:27.7 22 Piotr Woźniak 1:00:31.6 23 Esteban Enderica 1:00:56.0 24 Zhang Jinhou 1:00:56.0 25 Kaito Tsujimori 1:01:00.2 26 Lan Tianchen 1:01:01.8 27 Lev Cherepanov 1:01:03.8 28 Park Jae-hun 1:01:03.9 29 Savelii Luzin Neutral Athletes B 1:01:04.9 30 Diogo Cardoso 1:01:06.7 31 Ronaldo Zambrano 1:01:08.9 32 David Farinango 1:01:09.2 33 Bartosz Kapała 1:01:21.9 34 Oh Se-beom 1:01:22.4 35 Matthew Caldwell 1:01:23.8 36 Diego Vera 1:01:24.0 37 Diego Obele 1:01:24.0 38 Connor Buck 1:01:26.3 39 Riku Takaki 1:01:26.9 40 Logan Vanhuys 1:02:10.5 41 Adrián Ywanaga 1:02:15.4 42 Jamarr Bruno 1:02:40.8 43 José Barrios 1:02:41.2 44 Atakan Ercan 1:02:41.2 45 Diego Dulieu 1:02:41.9 46 Su Bo-ling 1:02:42.1 47 Konstantinos Chourdakis 1:02:43.1 48 Emre Sarp Zeytinoğlu 1:02:43.8 49 Nico Esslinger 1:02:47.9 50 Théo Druenne 1:02:51.9 51 Jeison Rojas 1:02:54.0 52 Tiago Campos 1:03:27.9 53 Tsao Jun-yan 1:03:31.5 54 Esteban Faure 1:03:47.1 55 Ilias El Fallaki 1:03:47.4 56 Grgo Mujan 1:03:55.5 57 Alan González 1:04:12.3 58 Keith Sin 1:04:19.0 59 Mochammad Akbar Putra Taufik 1:04:27.6 60 Prashans Hiremagalur 1:04:27.7 61 Richard Urban 1:04:57.5 62 Tomáš Peciar 1:07:01.8 63 Nithikorn Jeampiriyakul 1:07:19.0 64 Chan Tsun Hin 1:07:20.3 65 Oscar García 1:07:22.1 66 Damien Payet 1:07:22.5 67 Dhrupad Ramakrishna 1:07:25.1 68 Luke Tan 1:07:26.9 69 Dilanka Shehan 1:07:32.5 70 Juan Núñez 1:09:07.7 71 Percy Escobar 1:11:26.2 72 Tharusha Perera 1:11:26.6 73 Joaquín Estigarribia 1:11:28.6 74 Ian Leong 1:11:34.8 — Jayden De Swardt Tristan Nell Connor Grist David Padre Igbaal Bayusuf Benjamin Lutaaya Benco Van Rooyen Galymzhan Balabek Marin Mogić Diego Solano Hamza Kassim Luiz Loureiro Rami Rahmouni
Further information – Race summary and quotes from the medallists – Report on the conditions during the race and an interview with the winner, Florian Wellbrock – Gallery containing images of the race
References