The women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 2 to 3 August at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.

Background The event featured a wide-open field following the absence of Sweden's Sarah Sjöström, who had won the past three World Championship titles and the Paris 2024 Olympic gold. The primary gold medal contenders were Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske of the United States, and Meg Harris of Australia, all seeded with 23.9 seconds. Poland's Kasia Wasick, one of the few active swimmers to have broken 24 seconds before, was also in contention. China’s Wu Qingfeng and Cheng Yujie, along with rising Europeans such as Milou van Wijk of the Netherlands, were expected to contend for places in the final and possibly medal.

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 in an approved qualification event. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 24.86 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 25.73 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionSarah Sjöström23.662024 Summer OlympicsGretchen Walsh23.912025 United States ChampionshipsMeg Harris23.972024 Summer OlympicsTorri Huske23.982025 United States ChampionshipsShayna Jack23.992024 Australian Olympic TrialsKate Douglass24.042025 United States ChampionshipsSimone Manuel24.132024 U.S. Olympic TrialsWu Qingfeng24.182025 Chinese ChampionshipsZhang Yufei24.202024 Summer OlympicsKatarzyna Wasick24.20Texas stop of the 2024 TYR Pro Series

Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.

Heats The heats took place on 2 August at 10:02.

Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 1 10 4 Meg Harris 24.32 Q 2 9 5 Milou van Wijk 24.39 Q 3 9 3 Sara Curtis 24.41 Q, NR 4 10 5 Katarzyna Wasick 24.44 Q 5 11 3 Cheng Yujie 24.47 Q 6 9 6 Béryl Gastaldello 24.53 Q 6 11 5 Wu Qingfeng 24.53 Q 8 9 7 Marrit Steenbergen 24.62 Q 9 10 2 Taylor Ruck 24.63 Q 10 10 3 Florine Gaspard 24.64 Q 10 11 0 Arina Surkova    Neutral Athletes B 24.64 Q 12 10 7 Julie Kepp Jensen 24.65 Q 13 9 4 Torri Huske 24.72 Q 14 11 4 Gretchen Walsh 24.79 Q 15 10 6 Eva Okaro 24.81 Q 16 11 2 Petra Senánszky 24.89 Q 17 11 7 Analia Pigrée 24.93 18 11 9 Caitlin de Lange 24.95 19 10 0 Barbora Janíčková 24.98 20 9 2 Theodora Drakou 25.00 21 10 1 Lorrane Ferreira 25.02 22 8 6 Laura Quilter 25.08 23 9 8 Roos Vanotterdijk 25.09 24 8 4 Lillian Slušná 25.22 25 11 1 Danielle Hill 25.24 26 8 3 Sofia Åstedt 25.31 27 8 2 María Daza 25.40 28 8 7 Iris Julia Berger 25.50 29 9 0 Amanda Lim 25.53 30 9 9 Li Sum Yiu 25.54 31 9 1 Aleksandra Kuznetsova    Neutral Athletes B 25.55 32 10 8 Angelina Köhler 25.56 33 8 1 Hur Yeon-kyung 25.61 34 8 5 Lismar Lyon 25.63 35 8 0 Amel Melih 25.70 36 7 3 Marina Spadoni 25.74 NR 37 10 9 Jenjira Srisaard 25.75 38 7 4 Gloria Muzito 25.76 39 8 9 Andrea Berrino 25.81 40 7 1 Anahira McCutcheon 25.84 NR 41 7 9 Sara Mose 25.96 42 7 5 Jóhanna Elín Guðmundsdóttir 25.98 43 7 6 Kirabo Namutebi 26.10 44 8 8 Chiu Yi-chen 26.12 45 6 4 Elisabeth Timmer 26.25 46 6 5 Tilly Collymore 26.42 NR 47 6 3 Joselle Mensah 26.48 NR 48 7 0 Paige van der Westhuizen 26.55 49 7 7 Cielo Moya 26.62 50 7 2 Adriana Giles 26.88 51 5 3 Varsenik Manucharyan 26.92 51 6 2 Hana Beiqi 26.92 53 6 0 Jovana Kuljača 27.22 54 6 6 Adaku Nwandu 27.23 55 6 1 Alicia Kok Shun 27.35 56 5 6 Ionnah Eliane Douillet 27.38 57 5 2 Noelie Annette Lacour 27.56 NR 58 6 7 Victoria Russell 27.59 59 6 8 Mikaili Charlemagne 27.64 60 5 4 Kennice Greene 27.70 61 5 5 María Fernández 27.77 62 6 9 Riley Miller 27.79 63 3 0 Aminata Barrow 27.83 NR 64 5 1 Jhnayali Tokome-Garap 27.86 65 5 8 Anastasiya Morginshtern 28.15 66 1 2 Timipame-Ere Akiayefa 28.16 67 2 2 Marina Abu Shamaleh 28.25 68 4 5 Kyra Dalilah de Cuba 28.30 69 4 6 Siwakhile Dlamini 28.47 70 5 0 Carlota Filipa Silva 28.61 71 4 2 Maesha Saadi 28.66 72 2 8 Jana Al-Tawil 28.82 73 5 7 Kaiya Brown 28.88 74 1 4 Liana Planz 28.95 75 4 7 Lois Eliora Irishura 29.14 75 4 8 Mayah Chouloute 29.14 77 4 3 Aaliyah Palestrini 29.18 78 4 4 Jasmine Schofield 29.37 79 3 4 Arleigha Hall 29.42 80 4 1 Chanchakriya Kheun 29.60 81 4 0 Adaya Sian Bourne 29.63 82 5 9 Charissa Panuve 29.69 83 2 6 Marta Mpfumo 29.76 84 3 9 Aarya Maharjan 30.07 85 2 5 Tamsiri Christine Niyomxay 30.36 86 1 3 Skyla Connor 30.47 87 4 9 Iman Kouraogo 30.52 88 1 5 Lana Al-Rasheed 30.80 89 3 5 Grace Manuela Nguelo'o 31.09 90 2 7 Saba Sultan 31.27 91 3 2 Hearmela Neguse Melke 31.33 92 2 4 Mst Any Akter 31.39 93 3 3 Lina Alemayehu Selo 31.58 94 3 7 Marie Amenou 32.49 95 3 6 Djenabou Jolie Bah 32.96 96 1 6 Kalisa Keza 33.95 97 3 1 Vanessa Bobimbo 34.62 98 2 3 Oumou Sangafe 38.07 99 2 9 Salena Marlin 41.35 100 2 1 Nadine Dju 53.16 2 0 Rosita Manana Bindang 3 8 Olamide Sam 7 8 Diana Petkova 11 6 Olivia Wunsch 11 8 Silvia Di Pietro

Semifinals The semifinals took place on 2 August at 19:51.

RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 1 5 Katarzyna Wasick 24.19 Q 2 1 4 Milou van Wijk 24.29 Q 3 1 1 Gretchen Walsh 24.31 Q 3 2 4 Meg Harris 24.31 Q 5 2 3 Cheng Yujie 24.36 Q 5 2 6 Wu Qingfeng 24.36 Q 7 2 1 Torri Huske 24.41 Q 8 1 2 Florine Gaspard 24.45 Q 9 2 5 Sara Curtis 24.48 10 2 2 Taylor Ruck 24.53 11 2 8 Eva Okaro 24.55 12 1 6 Marrit Steenbergen 24.61 13 1 3 Béryl Gastaldello 24.64 13 2 7 Arina Surkova    Neutral Athletes B 24.64 15 1 7 Julie Kepp Jensen 24.77 16 1 8 Petra Senánszky 24.87

Final The final took place on 3 August at 19:18.

Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 6 Meg Harris 24.02 7 Wu Qingfeng 24.26 2 Cheng Yujie 24.28 4 3 Gretchen Walsh 24.40 5 5 Milou van Wijk 24.47 6 1 Torri Huske 24.50 7 8 Florine Gaspard 24.63 8 4 Katarzyna Wasick 24.74

References