World Records in Women’s Breaststroke Could Last For Years
Almost very discipline in women’s swimming saw at least one long course world record beaten or challenged in 2025. At the Fort Lauderdale Pro Series in May, Katie Ledecky knocked off her long-standing record in the 800 freestyle while Gretchen Walsh twice broke marks in the 100 butterfly. Summer McIntosh smashed marks in the 400 free and both individual medley events at Canadian Trials while coming close to the standards in the 800 free and 200 fly. As for the backstroke events, Kaylee McKeown came within tiny margins of her top times in the 100 and 200.
Breaststroke was a different story. The world champion in each distance recorded times nowhere close to the best in history; compared to the world records, the top times were 0.39 off in the 50-meter race, 1.06 in the 100 and 0.95 in the 200. Not exactly busting down the door, and it would be no surprise if these records survived for several years to come.
The event with the biggest gap is the two-length race, where no one has to come close to 1:04.13 since Lilly King blasted that mark on the way to gold at the 2017 World Championships. Moreover, times under 1:05 have been rare in major finals. Within the last four years, the only time a swimmer has gone that fast at a global competition was in 2023, when Ruta Meilutyte went 1:04.62 in a surprising victory. Since then, Meilutyte has virtually disappeared from the event while China’s Tang Qianting, South Africa’s Tatjana (Schoenmaker) Smith and Germany’s Anna Elendt have all been 1:05-low in their victorious efforts since.
Tang did blast into 1:04-territory at China’s Olympic selection meet last year, but she has not replicated that. The top time in the world for 2025 was Elendt’s 1:05.19 from the Worlds final, an outside-smoke victory for a swimmer largely absent from title contention the previous two years. Elendt narrowly held off the United States’ Kate Douglass, who was racing the event internationally for the first time. Douglass dropped more than a second off her best time in the event this year, and she blasted a sizzling 1:04.27 relay split later in the meet. Given that recent track record, she might be in position to hit a flat-start 1:04 before long, but not 1:04-low.
Kate Douglass — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
In the 200, Douglass is the clear No. 1 swimmer in the world, with an Olympic gold medal and world titles in short course and long course over the past 18 months. Douglass smashed the American record and recorded the second-fastest time ever on her way to gold in 2025, but she is still a second behind the world record of 2:17.55 set by Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova in 2023. That time came during the long stretch when Russians were banned from international racing due to their country’s war in Ukraine, and although Chikunova returned to the Worlds final in Singapore, she was still well off Douglass’ pace with her silver-medal time of 2:19.96.
It’s not out of the question for Douglass to drop another second in the next year or two or for Chikunova, still only 20, to return to her best form, but not likely either. Meanwhile, there is no one else close to these two right now, with only three other swimmers under 2:23 all year: Great Britain’s Angharad Evans (2:21.86), the United States’ Alex Walsh (2:22.45) and Lithuania’s Kotryna Terterekova (2:22.98).
In the 50, another Lithuanian swimmer appears to have the event on lockdown. While Meilutyte fell off suddenly and sharply in the 100, she has not lost the 50 since her return to international racing in 2022. She has captured four consecutive world titles in the event, and her 2025 best time of 29.54 was three tenths better than anyone else. Still, she sits was well off the world record of 29.16 she set in 2023 in Fukuoka.
Moving forward, the 28-year-old will try to maintain her form long enough to contend for gold in the inaugural Olympic final of the 50 breaststroke in 2028, which would be 16 years after she previously won Olympic gold in the 100 in London. In this year’s Worlds final, she won by almost a half-second over silver medalist Tang, suggesting that she won’t need to approach the world record to maintain her dominance in the coming years. Her biggest challenge could come from Estonian teenager Eneli Jefimova, who ranked No. 2 in the world for 2025 and edged Meilutyte for gold at the European Short Course Championships in December, but her current best time is 29.83.
Of course, this current outlook could change rapidly, with new contenders constantly bursting onto the scene. It’s been only four-and-a-half years since Lydia Jacoby came from nowhere to win Olympic gold in the 100 breast in Tokyo. But the world records are currently so far removed from the best times in the world as breaststroke lacks the transcendent star-power dominating this era of women’s swimming.
