The Shadow
SINGAPORE– Virginia swimming student-athletes and alumni won 13 medals at the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships, held July 26 through August 3 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore.
The Cavaliers tallied 13 medals (seven gold, five silver, one bronze), helping to lead the US to the top of the medal table.
Alumna Gretchen Walsh won individual golds in the 50m Butterfly (24.83) and 100m Butterfly (54.73), the first long-course world titles of her career. She also earned relay gold in the 4x100m Medley Relay.
“I knew that was going to be a fight for me, and that swim took a lot of guts, but I’m really so happy with the result,” Walsh said of her performance in the 100 Fly. “I was aiming for a 55, so to go 54 was really a surprise, and something I’m really proud of. In my mind, I am thinking, ‘do not let these people catch you.’ I’m a swimmer who flies and dies, and I’ve just been working so hard at staying strong on the end. I wanted to do that here. So I was just thinking, keep my technique, keep my form, and that’ll get me to the finish.”
Alumna Kate Douglass won three golds, including an individual title in the 200m Breaststroke (2:18.50), setting an American record with her swim.
“I was more excited, I think, about the time than the title itself,” Douglass said. “I really wanted to go two-eighteen last summer, so to finally drop below two-nineteen, I was just so happy about that. With the training I’ve done this year, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go that this summer, but these last four weeks, I feel like I’ve really had great two breast training. And then I just got really excited to race the world record holder in this event. I think we both pushed each other to be better, and she pushed me to be able to go to a two eighteen tonight.”
Douglass swam on two gold medal relays, helping Team USA set world records in both the 4x100m Medley Relay (3:49.34) and the Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (3:18.48). She also earned silvers in the 100m Breaststroke (1:05.27) and the 4×100 Free Relay (3:31.04).
Team USA was tied with Australia in the gold medal race with eight apiece heading into the final event of the championship, the 4x100m Medley Relay. Douglass posted the fifth-fastest breaststroke split in history (1:04.27) before turning the race over to Walsh, who posted the fastest butterfly split in history (54.98) to keep the relay on record pace before Torri Huske brought it home for the gold.
Rising junior Claire Curzan also earned gold with the 4×100 Medley Relay. Curzan, a backstroke specialist, swam the butterfly leg in prelims, earning the Americans the top seed in the evening final. Curzan competed individually in the 200m Backstroke (2:06.04) at the championships, earning a bronze medal.
Other medalists for the Cavaliers included alumna Alex Walsh, who took silver in the 200m IM (2:08.58), and rising sophomore Anna Moesch, who earned two relay silvers in the 4x100m and 4x200m Freestyle Relays.
Team USA finished with nine gold medals, with Australia earning eight. The Americans had 29 total medals, Australia 20 and China 14.
Virginia had 10 athletes competing: six women and two men swimming for Team USA and two women swimming for other nations.
Incoming freshman Sara Curtis, representing Italy, made the finals of the 100m Freestyle, placing 8th overall (53.41). She just missed the final of the 50m Freestyle, placing ninth in the semifinals after setting an Italian record in the event in prelims (24.41). She also helped the Italians set a national record in the Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (3:42.19).
Rising senior Aimee Canny swam in two individual events for South Africa, the 200m Freestyle (1:57.72) and 200m IM (2:12.70), as well as helping set an African Continental Record while swimming the anchor leg of the 4x100m Medley Relay (3:59.47).
For the final three Americans, rising sophomore Katie Grimes made the final of the 400m IM, finishing sixth (4:36.52). Rising senior Jack Aikins swam the prelims of the 100m and 200m Backstroke. Incoming freshman Thomas Heilman competed in the prelims of the 100m Butterfly.
CAVALIER MEDAL TALLY
Gold (7)
50 Fly (Gretchen Walsh), 100 Fly (Gretchen Walsh), 200 Breast (Kate Douglass), Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (Kate Douglass), 4×100 Medley Relay (Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, Claire Curzan)
Silver (5)
200 IM (Alex Walsh), 100 Breast (Kate Douglass), 4×100 Free Relay (Douglass, Anna Moesch), 4×200 Free Relay (Moesch)
Bronze (1)
200 Backstroke (Claire Curzan)
By Athlete
Kate Douglass (5): Gold: 200 Breast, Mixed 4×100 Free Relay, 4×100 Medley Relay, Silver: 100 Breast, 4×100 Free Relay
Gretchen Walsh (3): Gold: 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 4×100 Medley Relay
Claire Curzan (2): Gold: 4×100 Medley Relay, Bronze: 200 Back
Anna Moesch (2): Silver: 4×100 Free Relay, 4×200 Free Relay
Alex Walsh (1): Silver: 200 IM
WORLD AND NATIONAL RECORDS
Kate Douglass: 4x100m Medley Relay (World and American), Mixed 4x100m Free Relay (World and American), 200m Breast (American)
Gretchen Walsh: 4x100m Medley Relay (World and American)
Sara Curtis: 50m Free (Italian), 4x100m Mixed Free Relay (Italian)
Aimee Canny: 4x100m Medley Relay (African Continental Record)
