The women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 1 to 2 August 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.

Background Australia's Kaylee McKeown, the two-time defending champion and world record holder (2:03.14), was the clear favorite to win the event. She held the world’s fastest time in 2025 (2:04.47) and had been under 2:04 six times.

Americans Regan Smith and Claire Curzan were the top challengers. Smith, the former world record holder (2:03.35), won silver at the last two major meets and had swum 2:05.84 in 2025. Curzan, the 2024 World champion in McKeown’s absence, swam a lifetime best of 2:05.09 at the United States Nationals, ranking her second in 2025.

Other medal threats included China’s Peng Xuwei (2:06.54 this season, 2023 Worlds bronze) and Britain’s Katie Shanahan (2:07.45). China’s Liu Yaxin (2:06.71) and Spain’s Estella Tonrath (2:08.03) led a tight group aiming for final spots.

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 2:11.08. 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 2:15.67. 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionKaylee McKeown2:03.302024 Australian TrialsRegan Smith2:03.992024 TYR Pro Swim Series (Westmont)Claire Curzan2:05.092025 United States ChampionshipsKatie Shanahan2:07.532024 Summer OlympicsPeng Xuwei2:07.572024 Chinese ChampionshipsEstella Tonrath2:08.032025 Spanish ChampionshipsHolly McGill2:08.202025 Aquatics GB ChampionshipsHannah Fredericks2:08.252024 Australian TrialsPauline Mahieu2:08.282025 French Elite ChammpionshipsLiu Yaxin2:08.412024 Chinese Championships

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

The following new records were set during this competition. Date Event Name Nationality Time Record 2 August Final Kaylee McKeown 2:03.33 CR

Heats The hats took place on 1 August 2025 at 10:27.

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 5 4 Kaylee McKeown 2:08.01 Q 2 5 7 Dóra Molnár 2:08.53 Q 3 3 4 Claire Curzan 2:08.58 Q 4 4 5 Peng Xuwei 2:08.59 Q 5 4 4 Regan Smith 2:08.65 Q 6 5 2 Anastasiya Shkurdai    Neutral Athletes A 2:08.96 Q 7 3 5 Estella Tonrath 2:09.29 Q 8 5 6 Liu Yaxin 2:09.67 Q 9 4 2 Camila Rebelo 2:09.79 Q 10 5 5 Katie Shanahan 2:09.96 WD 11 4 0 Lise Seidel 2:10.00 Q 12 5 3 Holly McGill 2:10.07 Q 13 3 6 Carmen Weiler 2:10.08 Q 14 5 0 Ingrid Wilm 2:10.11 Q 15 4 3 Hannah Fredericks 2:10.23 Q 16 5 8 Daria Zarubenkova    Neutral Athletes B 2:10.35 Q 17 4 8 Milana Stepanova    Neutral Athletes B 2:10.60 Q 18 4 9 Gabriela Georgieva 2:10.71 19 5 1 Madison Kryger 2:11.40 20 4 1 Mio Narita 2:11.58 21 3 1 Aleksandra Knop 2:11.63 22 4 7 Aviv Barzelay 2:11.85 23 3 2 Eszter Szabó-Feltóthy 2:12.08 24 3 3 Pauline Mahieu 2:12.33 25 3 8 Chiaki Yamamoto 2:12.63 26 5 9 Miranda Grana 2:12.70 27 3 7 Laura Bernat 2:12.86 28 2 4 Xeniya Ignatova 2:14.09 29 3 9 Justine Murdock 2:14.14 30 2 2 Alexia Sotomayor 2:14.56 31 3 0 Cindy Cheung 2:14.73 32 2 6 Chang Ya-jia 2:17.34 33 2 1 Mia Millar 2:18.50 34 2 8 Anishta Teeluck 2:18.88 35 2 3 Zuri Ferguson 2:18.89 36 2 0 Elizabeth Jiménez 2:19.03 37 2 5 Natalia Zaiteva 2:19.38 38 2 9 Taline Mourad 2:22.74 39 1 4 Carolina Cermelli 2:23.30 40 1 5 Minagi Rupesinghe 2:23.70 41 1 3 Marseleima Moss 2:30.72 42 1 6 Piper Raho 2:38.43 2 7 Kristen Romano 4 6 Anastasia Gorbenko

Semifinals The semifinals took place on 1 August at 19:21.

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 1 5 Peng Xuwei 2:07.76 Q 2 1 3 Anastasiya Shkurdai    Neutral Athletes A 2:07.85 Q 3 2 5 Claire Curzan 2:08.13 Q 4 2 4 Kaylee McKeown 2:08.36 Q 5 2 3 Regan Smith 2:08.67 Q 6 2 7 Lise Seidel 2:08.75 Q 7 1 6 Liu Yaxin 2:09.04 Q 8 1 4 Dóra Molnár 2:09.09 Q 9 2 2 Camila Rebelo 2:09.40 10 1 7 Holly McGill 2:09.51 11 1 2 Milana Stepanova    Neutral Athletes B 2:09.57 12 2 6 Estella Tonrath 2:09.84 13 1 1 Ingrid Wilm 2:10.28 14 2 1 Carmen Weiler 2:10.40 15 2 8 Hannah Fredericks 2:10.83 16 1 8 Daria Zarubenkova    Neutral Athletes B 2:10.92

Final The final took place on 2 August at 19:17.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 6 Kaylee McKeown 2:03.33 CR 2 Regan Smith 2:04.29 3 Claire Curzan 2:06.04 4 4 Peng Xuwei 2:07.22 5 5 Anastasiya Shkurdai    Neutral Athletes A 2:08.09 6 1 Liu Yaxin 2:09.71 7 8 Dóra Molnár 2:09.74 8 7 Lise Seidel 2:10.01

Notes

References