Contenders Galore in Men’s Breaststroke Events at World Championships
Many of the men who have most consistently graced the podium for breaststroke events at major meets will be missing the upcoming World Championships in Singapore. Adam Peaty, who came up just two hundredths short of a 100 breaststroke three-peat in Paris, is taking this year off. Zac Stubblety-Cook is missing the meet with a back injury. Also absent will be Nic Fink, Peaty’s co-silver medalist from Paris, and Arno Kamminga, who thrice won silver in the event at major meets.
Returning to the fray are China’s Qin Haiyang, who became the first man to sweep all three distances of a single stroke at the 2023 World Championships, as well as Paris 100 breast winner Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy. Leon Marchand won Olympic gold in the 200 breast as part of his magical four-gold-medal performance, but he could opt to drop the event at Worlds because of a schedule conflict with the 200 IM.
Then there’s the 50 breast, which has been contested at the World Championships since 2001 but was just added to the Olympic schedule for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. That means swimmers will devote more emphasis to the one-lap sprint then ever before, and several have already blasted times that have made clear their intentions to contend in the event moving forward.
Leading the way in the 50 right now is Ludovico Viberti, a 23-year-old Italian who clocked 26.27 at the Sette Colli meet last month. That made Viberti the third-fastest performer in history behind Peaty and Qin. Right behind him in the 2025 standings is Ilya Shymanovich, the short course world-record holder in the 100 breast from Belarus. Shymanovich will be officially representing “Neutral Athletes A” this year, and he could reach the podium after swimming as fast as 26.37 in April, just a tick behind his best of 26.28 that sits at fourth-best in history
At the last fully-attended World Championships in 2023, Sun Jiajun won bronze in 26.79, and there have already been nine men to beat that time this year. Russia’s Ivan Kozhakin is also under 26.5, having been 26.49 in April, and he is followed by Qin, Italy’s Simone Cerasuolo, Australia’s Sam Williamson, Austria’s Luka Mladenovic, Martinenghi and the Netherlands’ Koen De Groot. Williamson won the world title last February but will miss Singapore because of injury, and the presence of three Italians at the top of the world rankings means one will be left out. Of the swimmers in the field, only Shymanovich, Qin and Martinenghi (if he is one of the two Italian entrants) have ever won a medal at a long course Worlds.
Men’s 100 breaststroke Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
As for the 100, four swimmers have already matched or surpassed the 59.03 that Martinenghi swam for gold in Paris. It’s no surprise to see Qin atop the world rankings at 58.61, but second is American Campbell McKean, who did not swim under 1:01 until early May. Now, McKean has a best time of 58.96, and the quickly-improving teenager represents the best American hope for a medal in men’s breaststroke this year. Sun has also been under 59 this year.
Ranked fourth in the world Shin Ohashi, a young swimmer Japanese darting up the rankings with his time of 59.03. Shin will not be in Singapore, but he can be expected to make an impact in the future. The tight pack atop the rankings includes two further Japanese swimmers, Yamato Fukasawa and Taku Taniguchi, a third Chinese swimmer in Dong Zhihao, Italians Viberti and Martinenghi, Russians Kozhakin and Kirill Prigoda, American Josh Matheny, Germany’s Lucas Matzerath and Melvin Imoudu and the Netherlands’ Caspar Corbeau.
Not a lot of household names in that mix. Imoudu and Matzerath placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Paris final while Corbeau’s eighth-place finish was a precursor to his bronze medal in the 200 breast, but very few of these contenders have ever won international medals in the event: only Qin, Martinenghi and Prigoda, whose last podium appearance came all the way back in 2019.
The 200 breast figured to be filled with more recognizable faces, but that changed with Stubblety-Cook’s withdrawal. Qin will be among the favorites, plus Marchand if he indeed swims the event. Corbeau and Prigoda could also contend while Matheny is the top American after reaching the finals in Paris and at the 2023 Worlds. But Japan is expected to put a massive stamp on this event. Japan has historically excelled in the 200 breast, and the same is true in 2025. Currently, five swimmers have broken 2:08 this year, and four of them are Japanese: Fukasawa, Ohashi, Ippei Watanabe and Yu Hamaguruma. Fukasawa and Watanabe will be the two representatives in this event, and Japan has a strong chance at winning at least one medal in the event.
The influx of new contenders to the breaststroke events make them among the most unpredictable on the schedule in Singapore. Qin would ordinarily be favored in all three, but he is coming off a disastrous individual performance in Paris, where he fell to seventh in the 100 breast and did not make the final in the 200. Qin did rebound to deliver his usual swift swimming on China’s medley relays, so perhaps that was just a fluke. This year’s Worlds could mark a return to Qin’s dominance of two years ago or the arrival of a new generation of breaststroke stars.
