The men's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships was held from 29 to 30 July 2025 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang, Singapore.
Background The event was expected to feature a leading group of Sam Short of Australia, Lukas Märtens and Sven Schwarz of Germany, Daniel Wiffen of Ireland, and Bobby Finke of the United States. Short held the Oceanian record of 7:37.76 and had a strong performance at the 2025 Australian Trials. Märtens, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400 m freestyle, had recently swum 7:39.10. Schwarz, European record holder at 7:38.12, had shown rapid improvement. Wiffen, the defending Olympic champion, had a best of 7:38.19, while Finke, the 2024 Olympic silver medallist, had recorded 7:38.67. Other contenders included Ahmed Jaouadi of Tunisia, Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkey, and Luca De Tullio of Italy.
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 7:48.66. 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 8:05.06. 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 timesSwimmerCountryTimeCompetitionSven Schwarz7:38.122025 German ChampionshipsDaniel Wiffen7:38.192024 Summer OlympicsBobby Finke7:38.752024 Summer OlympicsLukas Märtens7:39.102025 Malmsten Swim Open StockholmGregorio Paltrinieri7:39.382024 Summer OlympicsSamuel Short7:40.952025 Australian Swimming TrialsFlorian Wellbrock7:41.102025 Malmsten Swim Open StockholmAhmed Jaouadi7:42.072024 Summer OlympicsElijah Winnington7:42.862024 Summer OlympicsDavid Aubry7:43.592024 Summer Olympics
Records Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows.
Heats The heats took place on 29 July 2025 at 11:05.
RankHeatLaneSwimmerNationTimeNotes 1 2 3 Ahmed Jaouadi 7:41.58 Q 2 3 3 Samuel Short 7:42.22 WD 3 3 4 Sven Schwarz 7:43.60 Q 4 3 5 Bobby Finke 7:44.02 Q 5 2 8 Victor Johansson 7:44.81 Q, NR 6 2 7 Kuzey Tunçelli 7:45.13 Q, NR 7 2 5 Lukas Märtens 7:45.54 Q 8 2 4 Daniel Wiffen 7:46.36 Q 9 3 2 Benjamin Goedemans 7:48.66 Q 10 2 1 David Betlehem 7:50.57 11 3 7 Fei Liwei 7:51.01 12 3 0 Ilia Sibirtsev 7:51.98 13 2 6 Luca de Tullio 7:53.04 14 1 4 Ethan Ekk 7:53.30 15 3 1 Zhang Zhanshuo 7:53.74 16 3 6 David Aubry 7:54.83 17 3 8 Dimitrios Markos 7:54.88 18 2 0 Guilherme Costa 7:58.84 19 3 9 Juan Morales 7:59.29 20 1 3 Milan Vojtko 8:02.57 21 2 2 Kristóf Rasovszky 8:05.09 22 2 9 Khiew Hoe Yean 8:08.62 23 1 5 Aryan Nehra 8:21.30 24 1 6 Liggjas Joensen 8:21.60 25 1 2 Kevin Teixeira 8:25.32 26 1 7 Vladimir Hernández Mojarrieta 8:41.26
Final The final took place on 30 July at 19:02.
Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes 4 Ahmed Jaouadi 7:36.88 5 Sven Schwarz 7:39.96 7 Lukas Märtens 7:40.19 4 3 Bobby Finke 7:46.42 5 6 Victor Johansson 7:47.00 6 2 Kuzey Tunçelli 7:49.09 7 8 Benjamin Goedemans 7:50.72 8 1 Daniel Wiffen 7:58.56
References