The women's 50 metre breaststroke event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 2 to 3 August 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.
Background Lithuania’s Rūta Meilutytė, the reigning world record holder and three-time defending champion, was the favourite to win the event. Meilutytė had set the current world mark of 29.16 at the 2023 Championships and had dominated the event since returning to swimming in 2022. Italy’s Benedetta Pilato, a former record holder and four-time Worlds medalist in this event, had returned her focus to the 50-metre event after emphasizing the 100 in past seasons. Estonia’s 18-year-old Eneli Jefimova led the 2025 world rankings and had been improving her times at the senior level following two prior World Championship finals. The United States’ Lilly King, a consistent sub-30 performer and two-time world champion in this event, made her final individual appearance before retirement. China’s Tang Qianting, the 2024 Worlds silver medalist, was also among the key contenders.
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 30.75 seconds. 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 31.83 seconds. 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionBenedetta Pilato29.592024 Campionato Italiano AssolutoTang Qianting29.642024 Chinese ChampionshipsEneli Jefimova29.832025 Helsinki Swim MeetLilly King29.882025 United States ChampionshipsMcKenzie Siroky30.052025 United States ChampionshipsTatjana Smith30.092024 South African ChampionshipsAnita Bottazzo30.152025 Canadian TrialsLara van Niekerk30.162024 South African ChampionshipsRūta Meilutytė30.182025 Malmsten Swim Open StockholmAnna Elendt30.28Monaco stop of the 2025 Mare Nostrum Swim Tour
Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
Heats The heats took place on 2 August at 10:52.
Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 6 3 Rūta Meilutytė 29.82 Q 2 4 4 Eneli Jefimova 30.13 Q 3 5 4 Tang Qianting 30.15 Q 4 5 3 Anna Elendt 30.17 Q 5 6 8 Barbara Mazurkiewicz 30.22 Q, NR 6 4 6 Veera Kivirinta 30.36 Q 7 4 5 Anita Bottazzo 30.42 Q 8 6 4 Benedetta Pilato 30.46 Q 9 6 1 Yang Chang 30.54 Q 10 6 5 Lilly King 30.59 Q 11 5 6 Anastasia Gorbenko 30.60 Q 12 5 7 Macarena Ceballos 30.65 Q 13 6 7 Henrietta Fangli 30.67 Q 13 4 1 Teya Nikolova 30.67 Q, NR 15 6 6 Sophie Hansson 30.71 Q 16 5 8 Sienna Toohey 30.76 Q 17 4 2 Silje Slyngstadli 30.80 S/off 17 5 5 McKenzie Siroky 30.80 S/off 19 4 8 Alina Zmushka Neutral Athletes A 30.82 20 6 2 Dominika Sztandera 30.88 21 4 3 Satomi Suzuki 30.91 22 6 0 Alexanne Lepage 30.98 27 3 3 Kaylene Corbett 31.43 28 4 0 Jimena Ruiz 31.50 29 3 5 Andrea Podmaníková 31.56 30 3 8 Phee Jinq En 31.78 31 3 6 Mercedes Toledo 31.80 32 6 9 Jenjira Srisaard 31.83 23 4 7 Kotryna Teterevkova 31.02 24 5 0 Letitia Sim 31.12 25 5 2 Mona McSharry 31.28 26 5 1 Evgeniia Chikunova Neutral Athletes B 31.34 33 5 9 Adelaida Pchelintseva 31.86 34 3 2 Ko Ha-ru 31.99 35 3 9 Melissa Rodríguez 32.00 36 3 1 Lynn El Hajj 32.25 37 3 0 Chen Pui Lam 32.27 38 3 4 Chiu Yi-chen 32.60 39 2 5 Imane Houda El Barodi 32.68 40 2 6 Jayla Pina 33.26 NR 41 2 2 Lea Hojsted 33.38 42 2 3 Valerie Tarazi 33.39 43 2 7 Stella Gjoka 33.61 NR 44 2 4 Alicia Kok Shun 34.40 45 1 8 Maria Batallones 34.53 NR 46 2 8 Sairy Escalante 35.34 47 2 1 Aminata Barrow 35.70 48 1 2 Maesha Saadi 36.23 49 1 7 Hareem Malik 37.11 50 1 5 Tamsiri Christine Niyomxay 38.63 51 1 0 Ceylia Djeutcha 40.92 52 1 6 Skyla Connor 42.19 53 1 3 Oumou Sangafe 48.38 1 1 Rosita Manana Bindang 1 4 Nadine Dju 2 0 Olamide Sam 3 7 Nikoletta Pavlopoulou 4 9 Lisa Mamié 2 9 Marie Mebelle Camara
Swim-off The swim-off was started on 2 August at 12:28.
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 4 Silje Slyngstadli 30.48 R1, NR 2 5 McKenzie Siroky 30.56 R2
Semifinals The semifinals took place on 2 August at 19:27.
RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 2 4 Rūta Meilutytė 29.54 Q 2 2 5 Tang Qianting 30.04 Q 3 1 6 Benedetta Pilato 30.20 Q 4 1 2 Lilly King 30.22 Q 5 1 4 Eneli Jefimova 30.25 Q 6 2 7 Anastasia Gorbenko 30.30 Q, NR 7 2 6 Anita Bottazzo 30.31 Q 8 1 3 Veera Kivirinta 30.37 Q 9 1 5 Anna Elendt 30.40 10 2 8 Sophie Hansson 30.47 11 2 3 Barbara Mazurkiewicz 30.54 12 1 7 Macarena Ceballos 30.56 NR 13 1 8 Sienna Toohey 30.58 14 1 1 Henrietta Fangli 30.81 15 2 1 Teya Nikolova 30.88 16 2 2 Yang Chang 30.91
Final The final took place on 3 August at 19:10.
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Rūta Meilutytė 29.55 5 Tang Qianting 30.03 3 Benedetta Pilato 30.14 4 1 Anita Bottazzo 30.21 5 6 Lilly King 30.25 6 2 Eneli Jefimova 30.29 7 7 Anastasia Gorbenko 30.45 8 8 Veera Kivirinta 30.68
References