When Is Katie Ledecky Swimming At Worlds? Times And Watch Guide

The 2025 World Aquatic Championships are the biggest international aquatics competition since the 2024 Paris Olympics. The event began on Friday, July 11 in Singapore, but the swimming starts this weekend.

The competition runs for eight days, from Sunday, July 27 to Sunday, August 3. Swimming fans are used to seeing preliminary sessions in the morning and finals in the evening, though with Singapore 12 hours ahead of Eastern Time, that schedule will be flipped for American viewers. Preliminary sessions begin in Eastern Time at 10:00 pm ET, which means the first session of swimming at the World Championships will be on Saturday, July 26 for American fans. Finals begin at 7:00 am ET throughout the competition.

All sessions will air live on Peacock, with NBC showing a delayed highlight broadcast on Saturday, August 3 and Saturday, August 9.

Schedule

All the events from the 2024 Olympic schedule will be on offer in Singapore, though the schedules are different. The World Championship schedule also features 50-meter races for butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke. World Aquatics announced in April that these events would be added to the 2028 LA Olympics.

The only other event change from the Olympic lineup is the mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Day 1

• Preliminaries: Women’s 200-meter IM, Men’s 400-meter freestyle, Women’s 100-meter Butterfly, Men’s 50-meter butterfly, Women’s 400-meter freestyle, Men’s 100-meter breaststroke, Women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay
• Finals: Men’s 400-meter freestyle final, Women’s 100-meter butterfly semifinals, Men’s 50-meter butterfly semifinals, Women’s 400-meter freestyle final, Men’s 100-meter breaststroke semifinals, Women’s 200-meter IM semifinals, Women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay final, Men’s 4×100-meter freestyle final

Day 2

• Preliminaries: Women’s 100-meter backstroke, Men’s 100-meter backstroke, Women’s 100-meter breaststroke, Men’s 200-meter freestyle, Women’s 1500-meter freestyle
• Finals: Men’s 100-meter breaststroke final, Women’s 100-meter butterfly final, Men’s 100-meter backstroke semifinals, Women’s 100-meter breaststroke semifinals, Men’s 50-meter butterfly final, Women’s 100-meter backstroke semifinals, Men’s 200-meter freestyle semifinals, Women’s 200-meter IM final

Day 3

• Preliminaries: Men’s 50-meter breaststroke, Women’s 200-meter freestyle, Men’s 200-meter butterfly, Men’s 800-meter freestyle
• Finals: Men’s 200-meter freestyle final, Women’s 1500-meter freestyle final, Men’s 50-meter breaststroke semifinals, Women’s 100-meter backstroke final, Men’s 100—meter backstroke final, Women’s 200-meter freestyle semifinals, Men’s 200-meter butterfly semifinals, Women’s 100-meter breaststroke final

Day 4

• Preliminaries: Women’s 50-meter backstroke, Men’s 100-meter freestyle, Men’s 200-meter IM, Women’s 200-meter butterfly, Mixed 4×100-meter medley relay
• Finals: Men’s 800-meter freestyle final, Women’s 200-meter freestyle final, Men’s 100-meter freestyle semifinals, Women’s 50-meter backstroke semifinals, Men’s 200-meter butterfly final, Men’s 50-meter breaststroke final, Women’s 200-meter butterfly semifinals, Men’s 200-meter IM semifinals, Mixed 4×100-meter medley relay final

Day 5

• Preliminaries: Women’s 100-meter freestyle, Men’s 200-meter backstroke, Women’s 200-meter breaststroke, Men’s 200-meter breaststroke, Women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay
• Finals: Women’s 200-meter butterfly final, Women’s 100-meter freestyle semifinals, Men’s 200-meter IM final, Men’s 100-meter freestyle final, Women’s 200-meter breaststroke semifinals, Women’s 50-meter backstroke final, Men’s 200-meter breaststroke semifinals, Men’s 200-meter backstroke semifinals, Women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay final

Day 6

• Preliminaries: Men’s 100-meter butterfly, Women’s 200-meter backstroke, Men’s 50-meter freestyle, Women’s 50-meter butterfly, Men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay, Women’s 800-meter freestyle
• Finals: Women’s 100-meter freestyle final, Men’s 100-meter butterfly semifinals, Women’s 200-meter backstroke semifinals, Men’s 50-meter freestyle semifinals, Men’s 200-meter breaststroke final, Men’s 200-meter backstroke final, Women’s 200-meter breaststroke final, Women’s 50-meter butterfly semifinals, Men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay final

Day 7

• Preliminaries: Women’s 50-meter freestyle, Men’s 50-meter backstroke, Women’s 50-meter breaststroke, Mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Men’s 1500-meter freestyle
• Finals: Women’s 50-meter butterfly final, Men’s 50-meter freestyle final, Women’s 200-meter backstroke final, Men’s 100-meter butterfly final, Women’s 50-meter freestyle semifinals, Men’s 50-meter backstroke semifinals, Women’s 800-meter freestyle final, Mixed 4×100-meter freestyle relay final

Day 8

• Preliminaries: Men’s 400-meter IM, Women’s 400-meter IM, Men’s 4×100-meter medley relay, Women’s 4×100-meter medley relay
• Finals: Men’s 50-meter backstroke final, Women’s 50-meter breaststroke final, Women’s 50-meter freestyle final, Men’s 1500-meter freestyle final, Men’s 400-meter IM final, Women’s 400-meter IM final, Women’s 4×100-meter medley relay final, Men’s 4×100-meter medley relay final

When To Watch The World Championships’ Biggest Stars

All dates and times in ET

Katie Ledecky

• Preliminaries: July 26, 400-meter freestyle; July 28, 1500-meter freestyle; July 31, 800-meter freestyle
• Finals: July 27, 400-meter freestyle final; July 29, 1500-meter freestyle final; August 2, 800 freestyle final

Katie Ledecky arrives at the World Championships in sensational form. She broke her 800-meter freestyle world record from 2016 during an in-season meet in May, swimming 8:04.12. At the same meet, she posted the second-fastest 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle of her career. She carried that momentum to the 2025 U.S. Nationals, sweeping the distance freestyle events to qualify for her seventh World Championships.

Ledecky is in prime position to add to the 26 World Championship medals she has won over the course of her storied career. She could write her name into the history books once again at this meet—a gold in the 800-meter freestyle would make her the first swimmer to win seven consecutive World Championship golds in an individual event. But she will need to have the race of her life to complete the feat as teenage phenom Summer McIntosh has added the event to her Worlds program.

In addition to her individual events, Ledecky should swim in the final of the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay for the United States on July 31.

Summer McIntosh

• Preliminaries: July 26, 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter IM; July 29, 200-meter butterfly, July 31, 800-meter freestyle; August 2, 400-meter IM
• Finals: July 27, 400-meter freestyle final and 200-meter IM semifinals; July 28, 200-meter IM final; July 30, 200-meter butterfly semifinals; July 31, 200-meter butterfly final; August 2, 800-meter freestyle final, August 3, 400-meter IM final

McIntosh dazzled at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning three gold medals and one silver just three years after making her Olympic debut in Tokyo at just 14 years old. The versatile teenager has taken this year by storm, breaking three world records at the Canadian World Trials.

She has also added the 800-meter freestyle to her already crowded schedule this season, putting her at five individual events. McIntosh is aiming to become the first swimmer since Michael Phelps to win five individual gold medals at a single World Championships and her battles with Ledecky in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle will be two of her biggest tests on the road to her goal. The first day of the competition will also be crucial, as McIntosh will race the 400-meter freestyle final about 30 minutes before the 200-meter IM semifinals.

Despite a busy individual schedule, McIntosh should also take part in at least one of the Canadian women’s relays.

Léon Marchand

• Preliminaries: July 29, 200-meter IM; August 2, 400-meter IM
• Finals: July 30, 200-meter IM semifinals; July 31, 200-meter IM final; August 3, 400-meter IM final

After a stunning home Olympic Games where he won four gold medals—including two in a single session—Léon Marchand is taking a more relaxed approach to the 2025 World Championships. He was originally entered in the four events he won Olympic gold in last summer but French media reported this week Marchand would not swim the 200-meter breaststroke nor the 200-meter butterfly. The report was confirmed by the updated entry book, where Marchand is only entered in the 200-meter and 400-meter IM.

The reduced schedule removes a couple of tough doubles for Marchand and gives him a clear shot at Ryan Lochte’s 14-year-old 200-meter IM world record (1:54.00). Marchand missed the mark by just six-hundredths in Paris, swimming 1:54.06 to complete his quartet of Olympic golds. Should Marchand break Lochte’s world record in Tokyo, he would then own the long-course world record in both the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley.

Gretchen Walsh

• Preliminaries: July 26, 100-meter butterfly; July 30, 100-meter freestyle; July 31, 50-meter butterfly; August 1, 50-meter freestyle
• Finals: July 27, 100-meter butterfly semifinals; July 28, 100-meter butterfly final; July 31, 100-meter freestyle semifinals; August 1, 100-meter freestyle final and 50-meter butterfly semifinals; August 2, 50-meter butterfly final and 50-meter freestyle semifinals; August 3, 50-meter freestyle final

Gretchen Walsh has been on fire since last summer, when she first took over the 100-meter butterfly world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials and won four medals at her debut Olympics. Since the 2024 Olympics, Walsh turned in historic performances at the 2024 Short Course World Championships and the 2025 NCAA Championships, the latter of which earned her an ESPY nomination for Best Collegiate Athlete in Women’s Sports.

Walsh lowered her 100-meter butterfly world record twice during an in-season meet in May, swimming 54.60 in the final to become the first woman under 55 seconds in event history. She qualified for four individual events at the 2025 World Championships and will be a medal threat in all of them.

As the world record holder in the women’s 100-meter butterfly and the second-place finisher in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2025 U.S. Nationals, Walsh will be a key swimmer for the U.S relays. Along with her four individual events, she should race on the 4×100-meter freestyle and medley relays for both the women’s and mixed events.