China and US to lead as usual and aquatics chief expects record medal spread at World Swimming Championships in Singapore

Singapore's artistic swimmers with Ollie the Otter and Dewey the Dugong, mascots for the World Aquatics Championships Singapore 2025. -- ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE (Reuters): World Aquatics chief Brent Nowicki is expecting to see swimming medallists from more countries than ever at the upcoming World Championships in Singapore, reflecting the sport's growth outside its traditional power bases.

China claimed 23 gold medals out of a table-topping total of 33 in the previous edition last year in Doha, with United States well behind as the next most successful team bagging nine gold out of 23 medals overall across six sports.