World Championships Medal Leaders: McIntosh, Marchand Climbing All-Time List Alongside Phelps and Ledecky
The World Aquatics Championships has been held each of the past four years, with meets in Budapest, Fukuoka, Doha and Singapore taking place in succession. That scheduling is an outlier, with the meet typically held every two to four years before massive schedule changes resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving forward, the every-other-year format is expected to return.
While world titles are less prestigious than Olympic medals, they still represent major accomplishments that form the backbone of Hall-of-Fame careers. And in this stretch of so many major competitions, swimmers have built a huge collection of medals. Since the inaugural edition of the World Championships in 1973, there are only 10 swimmers who have won at least seven individual world titles in pool events, and two of them did not debut until 2022.
Not surprisingly, those two names are Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand, the consensus best swimmers in the world, and both put up these numbers without swimming at the 2024 edition of the meet.
McIntosh won her first world titles in 2022, topping the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, and she defended both wins in 2023. The 2025 meet brought golds for the Canadian in the 400 freestyle and 200 IM before she again won the 200 fly and 400 IM. For her career, McIntosh’s eight world titles ranks her fourth all-time among women, trailing Katie Ledecky (18), Sarah Sjostrom (14) and Katinka Hosszu (nine). Adding in the silver and two bronze medals she has won, McIntosh’s 11 individual medals ranks her fifth behind Sjostrom (23), Ledecky (22), Hosszu (15) and Yuliya Efimova (15).
Marchand’s ledger includes titles in both individual medley events in 2022, 2023 and 2025, with stunning world-record performances in the 400 IM two years ago and the 200 IM this year. Among male swimmers, the Frenchman’s seven individual world titles put him in a tie with Australian distance swimmer Grant Hackett and American backstroker Aaron Peirsol for fifth-most all-time. Those ahead of him include Michael Phelps (15), Sun Yang (11), Ryan Lochte (10) and Caeleb Dressel (eight). His eight total medals sits in a four-way tie for fifth with Dressel, Peirsol and Ian Thorpe, with Phelps, Lochte, Sun and Hackett ahead.
Two other women who raced in Singapore hold spots on the top-10 list for individual events: Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown own six individual world titles apiece, and both women added to their accomplishments this year, with Meilutyte topping the 50 breaststroke for a fourth consecutive Worlds and McKeown sweeping the 100 and 200 backstroke. The swimmers they jumped this year include American breaststroker Lilly King, who finished her career with five individual golds.
Include relay events in the medal counts, and the top-10 men’s list includes three active swimmers who skipped this year’s meet but could return in the future: Dressel, Adam Peaty and Ryan Murphy. For the women, there were five competitors who finished Singapore with at least 14 total medals over their careers. Atop that list is Simone Manuel, the veteran American sprinter who swam at her first Worlds since 2019 but the fifth in her career.
Manuel earned four relay medals this year, two of them gold, and her 13 gold medals and 20 total medals at Worlds during her career ranks third all-time behind Ledecky (23/30) and Sjostrom (14/25). Manuel is tied with Natalie Coughlin for third-most medals. Of note, King is fourth in number of gold medals; her prelims effort on the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay resulted in her 12th.
Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan has only been racing at Worlds since 2022, but she has already captured 11 gold medals, tied with Missy Franklin for fifth-most ever among women, and 17 total medals. O’Callaghan’s five podium finishes in Singapore included individual gold in the 200 free. Kate Douglass and Regan Smith each won five medals in Singapore, bringing their career totals to 19 for Douglass and 14 for Smith.
We must also note Germany’s Florian Wellbrock, the owner of 10 gold medals and 14 total podium finishes at the World Championships. Nine of his gold medals were achieved in open water races, including an impressive four-gold-medal sweep in Singapore. If those are counted with pool events, his eight individual golds would put him in a tie with Dressel for fourth-most in history.
