The women's 200 metre butterfly event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 30 to 31 July 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.

Background Summer McIntosh of Canada entered the event as the favorite, aiming for her fourth consecutive major title. She had set a new Canadian, Commonwealth, and Americas record of 2:02.26 at the Canadian Trials, the second-fastest time in history and 0.45 seconds shy of Liu Zige’s 2009 world record of 2:01.81. Given that McIntosh swam her best time each of the previous three summers in the major final, she was predicted to be well-positioned for a potential world record challenge.

Regan Smith of the United States, a consistent medalist since 2021, ranked second this year with a time of 2:05.38 and was the only other swimmer in the field with a personal best under 2:04. Her teammate Caroline Bricker had a breakout year, clocking 2:05.80 to win U.S. Nationals and ranking third globally in 2025. Also under 2:07 this season were Brittany Castelluzzo of Australia (2:06.86) and Keanna Macinnes of Great Britain (2:06.93), both of whom were predicted to contend for bronze. Australia's Elizabeth Dekkers was also predicted to be a bronze medal contender. China's 12-year-old Yu Zidi swam 2:06.83 at Chinese nationals and was predicted to potentially reach the final. Other final hopefuls included Helena Rosendahl Bach of Denmark, Emily Richards of Great Britain, Lillou Ressencourt of France, and Ma Yonghui of China.

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 2:09.21 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 2:13.73 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionSummer McIntosh2:02.262025 Canadian TrialsRegan Smith2:03.842024 Summer OlympicsElizabeth Dekkers2:05.202024 Australian ChampionshipsCaroline Bricker2:05.802025 United States ChampionshipsHelena Rosendahl Bach2:06.652024 Summer OlympicsYu Zidi2:06.832025 Chinese ChampionshipsBrittany Castelluzzo2:06.862025 Australian ChampionshipsKeanna Macinnes2:06.932025 AP Race InternationalMa Yonghui2:08.042025 Chinese ChampionshipsLana Pudar2:08.152024 European 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 31 July Final Summer McIntosh 2:01.99 CR

Heats The heats took place on 30 July at 11:21.

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 3 4 Summer McIntosh 2:07.07 Q 2 3 3 Brittany Castelluzzo 2:07.84 Q 3 2 4 Regan Smith 2:08.17 Q 4 1 4 Elizabeth Dekkers 2:08.45 Q 5 1 5 Yu Zidi 2:08.95 Q 6 1 3 Ma Yonghui 2:08.96 Q 7 2 6 Ellen Walshe 2:09.15 Q 8 3 5 Caroline Bricker 2:09.23 Q 9 2 3 Keanna Macinnes 2:09.24 Q 10 1 2 Georgia Damasioti 2:09.34 Q 11 2 5 Helena Rosendahl Bach 2:09.36 Q 12 2 2 Yasuki Fujimoto 2:09.70 Q 13 1 6 Lilou Ressencourt 2:09.86 Q 14 3 2 Laura Cabanes 2:09.89 Q 15 3 6 Emily Richards 2:09.98 Q 16 2 7 Park Su-jin 2:10.17 Q 17 2 1 Lea Polonsky 2:11.65 18 3 7 Kamonchanok Kwanmuang 2:12.13 19 1 1 Amina Kajtaz Pinjo 2:12.60 20 1 7 Yeung Hoi Ching 2:13.46 21 3 1 Quah Jing Wen 2:13.50 22 3 8 Yasmin Silva Contreras 2:13.72 23 2 8 Anje van As 2:19.43 24 1 8 Lia Lima 2:23.77 25 2 0 Inana Soleman 2:25.75 26 3 0 Amaya Bollinger 2:35.09 27 1 0 Ony Andrianaivo 2:59.22

Semifinals The semifinals took place on 30 July at 20:16. RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 1 5 Elizabeth Dekkers 2:06.13 Q 2 2 4 Summer McIntosh 2:06.22 Q 3 2 5 Regan Smith 2:06.96 Q 4 2 6 Ellen Walshe 2:07.48 Q, NR 5 2 8 Emily Richards 2:07.71 Q 6 1 6 Caroline Bricker 2:07.86 Q 7 2 7 Helena Rosendahl Bach 2:07.92 Q 8 2 3 Yu Zidi 2:07.95 Q 9 1 4 Brittany Castelluzzo 2:08.04 10 1 2 Georgia Damasioti 2:08.39 NR 11 1 3 Ma Yonghui 2:08.59 12 1 1 Laura Cabanes 2:10.07 13 1 7 Yasuki Fujimoto 2:10.20 14 1 8 Park Su-jin 2:10.26 15 2 1 Lilou Ressencourt 2:10.87 16 2 2 Keanna Macinnes 2:11.18

Final The final took place on 31 July at 14:02.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 5 Summer McIntosh 2:01.99 CR, AM 3 Regan Smith 2:04.99 4 Elizabeth Dekkers 2:06.12 4 8 Yu Zidi 2:06.43 5 1 Helena Rosendahl Bach 2:07.47 6 7 Caroline Bricker 2:07.59 7 2 Emily Richards 2:07.99 8 6 Ellen Walshe 2:08.34

Notes

References