The women's 3 km knockout sprints competition at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held on 19 July 2025 off the coast of Palawan Beach, Sentosa. It was the first time this event was held at the World Championships.

Ginevra Taddeucci and Kseniia Misharina won the first and second heats, respectively, and then Moesha Johnson won the semifinal race. In the final, Johnson led for the first part of the race, before she was caught up by the rest of the pack on the final straight. Japan's Ichika Kajimoto overtook the leaders to win gold by a body-length lead. Taddeucci of Italy finished second, and then Johnson and Hungary's Bettina Fábián tied to win joint bronze. Kajimoto's win gave Japan its first ever gold medal in open water swimming at a world championship.

Event description The event featured three rounds of swimming in the open water – the heats, semifinal and final.

The heats consisted of two 1500-metre races, and the top ten finishers of each race qualified for the semifinal. The semifinal consisted of a single 1000-metre race, from which the top ten finishers qualified for the final. The final was a 500-metre sprint which determined the finishing positions. Each round consisted of a single four-corner loop, which was sized according to the distance of the round. The event took place off the coast of Palawan Beach, Sentosa.

Background Italy's Ginevra Taddeucci, Australia's Moesha Johnson and Monaco's Lisa Pou were considered the most likely to win the race because of their success in the women's 10 km race a few days earlier. Germany's Isabel Gose and Kseniia Misharina, representing the Neutral Athletes B team, were also considered likely contenders due to their pool speed. Bettina Fábián of Hungary won the event at the 2025 European Championships.

This was the first time this event was held at the World Aquatics Championships. The event was first seen at the 2024 World Junior Open Water Championships. It had also taken place at the 2025 European Open Water Championships and at two of the stops of the 2025 Open Water Swimming World Cup.

Qualification Each World Aquatics member federation could enter up to two athletes.

Heats The heats were held on 19 July at 08:00 SGT.

Heat 1 Pou led for the start of the race before Gose and Taddeucci took the lead. Taddeucci ended up winning, Japan's Ichika Kajimoto finished second, and Gose finished third. Pou and Johnson were also among those that qualified. + Results Rank Swimmer Nationality Time Notes 1 Ginevra Taddeucci 18:09.7 Q 2 Ichika Kajimoto 18:09.9 Q 3 Isabel Marie Gose 18:11.4 Q 4 Moesha Johnson 18:11.7 Q 5 Lisa Pou 18:13.2 Q 6 Tayla Martin 18:13.6 Q 7 Ana Marcela Cunha 18:14.5 Q 8 Viviane Jungblut 18:14.7 Q 9 Margarita Ershova    Neutral Athletes B 18:15.1 Q 10 Lea Boy 18:15.2 Q 11 Julie Pleskotová 18:16.3 12 Paula Otero 18:18.7 13 Louna Kasvio 18:18.8 14 Mariya Fedotova 18:21.0 15 Sharon Guerrero 18:25.5 16 Candela Giordanino 18:30.3 17 Janka Juhász 18:56.4 18 Nip Tsz Yin 19:02.9 19 Cheng Hanyu 19:14.3 20 Lin Jia-shien 19:14.6 21 Hwang Ji-yeon 19:19.8 22 Pilar Cañedo 19:20.8 23 Selinnur Sade 19:23.5 24 Wang Yi-chen 19:33.1 25 Diksha Sandip Yadav 20:02.0 26 Reza Westerduin 20:29.4 27 Alondra Quiles 20:29.5 28 Meenakshi Gopakumar Menon 20:39.4 29 Susie Worsfold 22:42.9 María Fernanda Arellanos Did not start

Heat 2 Hungary's Bettina Fábián held the lead until the last corner, when Kseniia Misharina, representing the Neutral Athletes B team, overtook her to win. Fábián finished second. The rest of the qualification spots were decided in a close sprint finish.

+ Results Rank Swimmer Nationality Time Notes 1 Kseniia Misharina    Neutral Athletes B 18:33.3 Q 2 Bettina Fábián 18:34.7 Q 3 Clémence Coccordano 18:35.5 Q 4 Ángela Martínez 18:35.6 Q 5 Caroline Jouisse 18:35.8 Q 6 Antonietta Cesarano 18:36.0 Q 7 Mariah Denigan 18:36.4 Q Callan Lotter 9 Klaudia Tarasiewicz 18:36.7 Q 10 Georgia Makri 18:36.8 Q 11 Tian Muran 18:38.9 12 Alena Benešová 18:39.2 Brinkleigh Hansen 14 Špela Perše 18:39.3 15 Chantal Liew 18:42.0 Emma Finlin 17 Leonie Tenzer 18:45.6 18 Su İnal 19:12.2 19 Nikita Lam 19:23.4 20 Citlali Mora 19:25.6 21 Amica de Jager 19:26.4 22 Kate Ona 20:01.5 23 Kim Sue-ah 20:07.5 24 Darya Pushko 20:08.7 25 Madison Bergh 20:31.5 26 Cielo Peralta 20:32.0 27 Isabella Hernández 20:33.3 28 Sera Mawira 26:21.0 Victoria Okumu Did not start

Semifinal The semifinal was held at 08:30. Gose took the lead at the start, ahead of Taddeucci and Fábián. Taddeucci and Gose maintained their leads and were first and second coming out of the final turn, where Johnson was slowed by contact with other swimmers. Over the final straight, Johnson swam to the front to win, while Kajimoto finished second, Taddeucci finished third, and Gose finished fourth. Fábián and Pou also qualified along with four other swimmers.

+ Results Rank Swimmer Nationality Time Notes 1 Moesha Johnson 12:09.6 Q 2 Ichika Kajimoto 12:09.7 Q 3 Ginevra Taddeucci 12:10.0 Q Isabel Marie Gose 5 Ángela Martínez 12:10.5 Q 6 Margarita Ershova    Neutral Athletes B 12:10.9 Q 7 Kseniia Misharina    Neutral Athletes B 12:11.1 Q 8 Bettina Fábián 12:11.3 Q 9 Lisa Pou 12:11.7 Q Lea Boy 11 Clémence Coccordano 12:13.1 12 Viviane Jungblut 12:16.3 13 Antonietta Cesarano 12:18.1 14 Klaudia Tarasiewicz 12:18.2 15 Ana Marcela Cunha 12:18.5 16 Callan Lotter 12:21.6 17 Mariah Denigan 12:21.9 18 Caroline Jouisse 12:23.7 19 Georgia Makri 12:23.8 20 Tayla Martin 12:28.5

Final

The final was held at 08:45. Johnson took an early lead, opening up a gap on the rest of the field. She maintained her lead until the final turn, when Gose pulled alongside her. Fábián caught up to Gose and Johnson to swim alongside them, and then Kajimoto and Pou also caught up, leaving five swimmers abreast on the final straight. Kajimoto, who had lost her swimming cap, broke away from the group to win by a body length with a time of 6:19.9. At the same time, Taddeucci moved up the field to finish second with 6:21.9, and then Johnson and Fábián tied for third with 6:23.1. Gose and fellow German Lea Boy tied for fourth with 6:23.3.

Kajimoto's win gave Japan its first ever gold medal in open water swimming at a world championship. Fábián's bronze was her first individual world championship medal.

Andy Ross from World Aquatics described the race as "chaotic" and wrote that Kajimoto flew "under the radar" to overtake and take advantage of the still water at the front. Dawn wrote that Kajimoto timed her final sprint to "perfection".

+ Results Rank Swimmer Nationality Time Ichika Kajimoto 6:19.9 Ginevra Taddeucci 6:21.9 Moesha Johnson 6:23.1 Bettina Fábián 5 Isabel Marie Gose 6:23.3 Lea Boy 7 Lisa Pou 6:25.1 8 Margarita Ershova    Neutral Athletes B 6:26.9 9 Ángela Martínez 6:28.1 10 Kseniia Misharina    Neutral Athletes B 6:30.3

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