World Championships, Day Eight Finals: Meg Harris Turns Olympic Silver into World Championships 50 Freestyle Gold
Australia’s Meg Harris has turned Paris Olympic silver into Singapore World Championships gold with an all-the-way win in the women’s 50-meter freestyle.
The 23-year-old Queenslander, who has a moderate hearing loss, nailed the start, surfaced in front and was never headed to win her first major individual gold medal after claiming Olympic silver last summer, World Championships bronze in Budapest in 2022 and Commonwealth Games silver in Birmingham in 2022.
Harris was a clear winner, clocking 24.02 to finish ahead of Chinese pair Wu Qingfeng (24.26) and Cheng Yujie (24.28).
OFF TO A FLYER: Meg Harris off to a flying start in the 50m freestyle final, Singapore World’s 2025 Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
It was her second gold medal of the meet, after swimming a vital leg on Australia’s gold medal-winning 4x100m freestyle on Night One with Mollie O’Callaghan, Olivia Wunsch and Milla Jansen.
Before Sunday night, Harris had won 10 relay golds – including five World Championships and two Olympic relay gold medals – and has been a key member of the dominant Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle team from Tokyo and Paris.
Her Olympic teammate Ariarne Titmus, commentating for Australian host broadcaster Channel 9, described Harris as a “much loved member of the Australian Swim Team…and now she has a world championship gold medal won all on her own.
“She has targeted the 50m and actually made the final of the 100 at our Trials to post a time for the relay but wanted to concentrate her efforts on the 50 and full marks to Meg..this is a very popular win…a girl who is so humble and she now stands there as a world champion.”
HI MUM: Meg Harris saluting her family after winning gold in the women’s 50m freestyle gold, Singapore 2025 Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
Harris joins esteemed company as just the third Australian to win a World Championships 50 freestyle gold, joining Libby Trickett who went back-to-back in 2005 in Montreal and 2007 in Melbourne and Bronte Campbell in Kazan in 2015.
Coached by Damien Jones with the Rackley Swim Team in Brisbane, Harris began her career at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau in the Bahamas when she won the 50m freestyle.
Harris said she had achieved a dream.
“I’m so happy, just stoked. That’s the most fun I’ve had in a race. For a while, I’ve been pretty nervous, but I’ve been specifically training for this race; but decided to
and relax and talk to the girls in marshalling room. And it seemed to work. So I’m happy with that,” Harris said.
“I achieved (something) that I’ve been dreaming of this whole time…this is why I swim…also for the enjoyment, but it is nice winning.
PRECIOUS GOLD: World 50m freestyle champion Meg Harris and Rackley head coach Coach Damien Jones embrace, Singapore Worlds 2025. Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
“Starting low, finishing strong, I’m pretty happy with that. This Australian team has been amazing this week. Yeah, it’s been one to remember.
“I’m just happy to finish off the week strong. We started with the girls at the start of the week, winning the 4x100m freestyle relay so it’s just nice to finish it off.”
Harris said she had been working on trying to swim the race without taking a breath.
“I’ve been working on that but I (actually) took a breath,” said Harris.
“Pretty much my whole training has been to focus on not taking a breath. But it didn’t feel so great in the semis, so I just tried to do whatever came naturally, and the breath came naturally.
“It’s usually always about (the) 35 meter (mark) I have my eyes on the lines around there. So, I’ll take a breath.”
Silver medallist Wu Qingfeng said she wasn’t thinking about medals.
“I didn’t think so much about medals, I just wanted to put a good race together,” she said. “My experience in Singapore has just been about taking each day as they come. I’ll take this medal and work hard on myself and improve further.”
Bronze medallist Cheng Yujie said: “The time is within expectation, but my placing is probably better than what I thought. I really like competing on the international stage. I feel that when I compete domestically, I tend to fear losing.”
WOMEN’S 50M FREESTYLE PODIUM (L-R) Silver medallist Wu Qingfeng (CHN), Gold medallist Meg Harris (AUS) and bronze medallist Cheng Yujie (CHN) Singapore World Championships 2025. Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
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