Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships
The aquatics discipline of swimming is considered the flagship event at every edition of the World Aquatics Championships since its introduction in 1973. While open water swimming events were added to the program in 1991, it is considered a separate discipline to swimming.
Championships
Member federations referred to as winners, second, and third, in the table below, are the top three nation's listed on the medal tally based on the standard method of ranking. This table includes medals won both in long course swimming and in open water swimming.Events
The number of events competed for at each edition of the championships has grown steadily through the years. In 1973, 29 events were swum: 15 for men and 14 for women, all in the pool. Since 2015, the combined number of events for men and women including pool and open water events has been 49, a drastic increase compared to the first edition. Historically, 53 different events have been held across the 22 editions of the championships.Long course
Long course events have been competed since the inaugural edition of the championships in 1973. The youngest male swimmer to participate in the World Swimming Championships was Ahnt Khaung Htut from Myanmar, who was 12 years old in 2015. He took part at the 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke events. The youngest female swimmer to participate in the World Swimming Championships was 10-year-old Alzain Tareq from Bahrain in 2015. She participated at the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle events.Open water
Open water events have been competed since the sixth edition of the championships in 1991.Medalists
A select number of athletes have won medals at both long course and open water events, including Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia, Hayley Lewis from Australia, Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy, Florian Wellbrock from Germany, and Sharon van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands. For a full list of medalists covering all editions of the championships see List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men) and List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women). For a complete list of medal winners in open water swimming see List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming.All-time medal table
Updated after the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.Multiple medalists
Boldface denotes active swimmers and highest medal count among all swimmers per type.All events
World records
The World Championships have often been the occasion at which elite swimmers reach the peak of their season, and hence numerous world records are often broken.| Edition | Men | Women | Mixed | Total |
| 1973 | 7 | 10 | Not held | 17 |
| 1975 | 1 | 4 | Not held | 5 |
| 1978 | 4 | 10 | Not held | 14 |
| 1982 | 4 | 3 | Not held | 7 |
| 1986 | - | 6 | Not held | 6 |
| 1991 | 7 | - | Not held | 7 |
| 1994 | 3 | 7 | Not held | 10 |
| 1998 | - | - | Not held | 0 |
| 2001 | 8 | - | Not held | 8 |
| 2003 | 12 | 2 | Not held | 14 |
| 2005 | 5 | 4 | Not held | 9 |
| 2007 | 7 | 8 | Not held | 15 |
| 2009 | 17 | 26 | Not held | 43 |
| 2011 | 2 | - | Not held | 2 |
| 2013 | - | 6 | Not held | 6 |
| 2015 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2017 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| 2019 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 10 |
| 2022 | 2 | - | 1 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| 2024 | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |