Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 200 metre backstroke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The men's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 31 July to 1 August 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.[1][2]
1 August (final)
| Men's 200 metre backstroke at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | World Aquatics Championships Arena | |||||||||
| Location | Singapore Sports Hub, Kallang | |||||||||
| Dates | 31 July (heats and semifinals) 1 August (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 40 from 32 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 1:53.19 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Background
Olympic champion and 2023 world champion Hubert Kós of Hungary entered as the second seed with the 1:54.26 he swam to win at the 2024 Olympics, which was one-hundredth slower than American Jack Aikins’ 1:54.25 from 2025 US Nationals. Also among the leading contenders were Keaton Jones of the United States, Apostolos Siskos of Greece, and Olympic bronze medalist Roman Mityukov of Switzerland, all of whom had swum under 1:55.00. Also in contention were Pieter Coetze of South Africa, Lukas Märtens of Germany, Thomas Ceccon of Italy, Oleksandr Zheltiakov of Ukraine, Ollie Morgan of Great Britain, and Dmitry Savenko of Russia, representing the Neutral Athletes B team.[3]
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 1:58.07 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 2:02.20 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.[4][5]
| Swimmer | Country | Time | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Aikins |  United States |
1:54.25 | 2025 United States Championships |
| Hubert Kós |  Hungary |
1:54.26 | 2024 Summer Olympics |
| Ryan Murphy | United States |
1:54.33 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Hugo González |  Spain |
1:54.51 | 2024 Spanish Trials |
| Jackson Jones | United States |
1:54.61 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Apostolos Siskos |  Greece |
1:54.66 | 2025 Greek Championships |
| Apostolos Christou | Greece |
1:54.82 | 2024 Summer Olympics |
| Roman Mityukov |  Switzerland |
1:54.85 | 2024 Summer Olympics |
| Daniel Diehl | United States |
1:55.08 | 2025 United States Championships |
| Mewen Tomac |  France |
1:55.38 | 2024 Summer Olympics |
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.[7]
| World record | Aaron Peirsol (USA) | 1:51.92 | Rome, Italy | 31 July 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Competition record | Aaron Peirsol (USA) | 1:51.92 | Rome, Italy | 31 July 2009 |
Heats
The heats took place on 31 July at 10:31.[8][9]
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 8 | Blake Tierney |  Canada | 1:55.17 | Q, NR |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | Luke Greenbank |  Great Britain | 1:55.27 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | Roman Mityukov |  Switzerland | 1:56.15 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 2 | Benedek Kovács | Hungary | 1:56.40 | Q |
| 5 | 3 | 7 | Lee Ju-ho |  South Korea | 1:56.50 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | Apostolos Siskos | Greece | 1:56.55 | Q |
| 6 | 5 | 7 | Kodai Nishiono |  Japan | 1:56.55 | Q |
| 8 | 5 | 1 | Antoine Herlem | France | 1:56.58 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 4 | Hubert Kós | Hungary | 1:56.71 | Q |
| 10 | 4 | 8 | Joshua Edwards-Smith |  Australia | 1:56.77 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 0 | Christian Bacico |  Italy | 1:56.79 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 8 | Jan Čejka |  Czech Republic | 1:56.79 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 7 | Yohann Ndoye-Brouard | France | 1:56.82 | Q |
| 14 | 3 | 1 | John Shortt |  Ireland | 1:56.98 | Q |
| 15 | 3 | 4 | Keaton Jones | United States | 1:57.00 | Q |
| 16 | 4 | 3 | Pieter Coetze |  South Africa | 1:57.11 | Q |
| 17 | 3 | 3 | Thomas Ceccon | Italy | 1:57.15 | |
| 18 | 4 | 1 | Ethan Ekk | Canada | 1:57.20 | |
| 19 | 3 | 6 | Hidekazu Takehara | Japan | 1:57.25 | |
| 20 | 4 | 6 | Lukas Märtens |  Germany | 1:57.31 | |
| 21 | 5 | 3 | Oliver Morgan | Great Britain | 1:57.57 | |
| 22 | 3 | 2 | Bradley Woodward | Australia | 1:57.71 | |
| 23 | 2 | 3 | Inbar Danziger |  Israel | 1:57.82 | |
| 24 | 5 | 4 | Jack Aikins | United States | 1:58.56 | |
| 25 | 5 | 9 | Humberto Nájera |  Mexico | 1:58.65 | |
| 26 | 2 | 4 | Iván Martínez | Spain | 1:58.66 | |
| 27 | 4 | 9 | Yeziel Morales |  Puerto Rico | 1:59.27 | |
| 28 | 5 | 0 | Kai van Westering |  Netherlands | 1:59.93 | |
| 29 | 5 | 6 | Dmitrii Savenko |  Neutral Athletes B | 2:00.20 | |
| 30 | 3 | 9 | Mohamed-Yassine Ben Abbes |  Tunisia | 2:00.30 | |
| 31 | 2 | 1 | Quah Zheng Wen |  Singapore | 2:00.58 | |
| 32 | 2 | 2 | Jack Harvey |  Bermuda | 2:01.50 | |
| 33 | 3 | 5 | Oleksandr Zheltyakov |  Ukraine | 2:02.17 | |
| 34 | 1 | 4 | Edhy Vargas |  Chile | 2:02.29 | NR[10] |
| 34 | 2 | 5 | Yu Jingming |  China | 2:02.29 | |
| 36 | 2 | 7 | Nikolass Deičmans |  Latvia | 2:02.50 | |
| 37 | 2 | 6 | Hayden Kwan |  Hong Kong | 2:03.09 | |
| 38 | 2 | 8 | Guðmundur Leo Rafnsson |  Iceland | 2:03.36 | |
| 39 | 1 | 5 | Alexis Kpade |  Benin | 2:06.23 | |
| 40 | 1 | 3 | Gleb Kovalenya |  Kazakhstan | 2:10.35 | |
| 4 | 0 | Ksawery Masiuk |  Poland | Did not start | ||
Semifinals
The semifinals took place on 31 July at 20:31.[8][11]
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 8 | Pieter Coetze | South Africa | 1:54.22 | Q, AF |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | Yohann Ndoye-Brouard | France | 1:54.47 | Q, NR |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | Hubert Kós | Hungary | 1:54.64 | Q |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Roman Mityukov | Switzerland | 1:54.83 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | Blake Tierney | Canada | 1:55.03 | Q, NR |
| 6 | 1 | 3 | Apostolos Siskos | Greece | 1:55.06 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 7 | Jan Čejka | Czech Republic | 1:55.46 | Q, NR[12] |
| 8 | 1 | 4 | Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 1:55.64 | Q |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | Lee Ju-ho | South Korea | 1:55.70 | NR[13] |
| 10 | 2 | 7 | Christian Bacico | Italy | 1:56.02 | |
| 11 | 2 | 6 | Kodai Nishiono | Japan | 1:56.04 | |
| 12 | 2 | 8 | Keaton Jones | United States | 1:56.20 | |
| 13 | 1 | 2 | Joshua Edwards-Smith | Australia | 1:56.28 | |
| 14 | 1 | 5 | Benedek Kovács | Hungary | 1:56.69 | |
| 15 | 1 | 1 | John Shortt | Ireland | 1:57.30 | |
| 16 | 1 | 6 | Antoine Herlem | France | 1:57.45 |
Final
The final took place on 1 August at 19:59.[8][14]
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 3 | Hubert Kós | Hungary | 1:53.19 | ER |
 | 4 | Pieter Coetze | South Africa | 1:53.36 | AF[15] |
 | 5 | Yohann Ndoye-Brouard | France | 1:54.62 | |
| 4 | 2 | Blake Tierney | Canada | 1:55.09 | |
| 5 | 7 | Apostolos Siskos | Greece | 1:55.13 | |
| 6 | 1 | Jan Čejka | Czech Republic | 1:55.37 | NR[12] |
| 7 | 6 | Roman Mityukov | Switzerland | 1:55.57 | |
| 8 | 8 | Luke Greenbank | Great Britain | 1:56.26 |