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.
Swimming was dominated by Americans in Doha, winning eight gold out of 20 medals overall while China came second with seven gold from 11 medals overall.
However, 29 countries won swimming medals in Doha, resulting in the deepest medal table in World Aquatics Championship history.
"I think the sport's really at that point where general dominance of individuals or countries is dissipating," Nowicki told a press conference ahead of the World Championships in Singapore on Thursday.
"It's getting thinner and we're seeing, I think, much, much to the great work of the development of world aquatics and team, but also the national federations.
"We're seeing more and more rising stars, and I think that's a special thing. And so I expect to see more of that here. Will we see more than 30 world records? I don't know. Will we see more than 29 medallist countries? Yeah, maybe. And maybe that's what I expect.
"I think if we can pull that off, that would be a real testament to the growth of our sport. The growth our individuals, the growth through our national federations, an overall commitment from our coaches to really get the best out of the athletes that they possibly can be."
The upcoming championships will notably miss one of Singapore's own swimming heroes. Joseph Schooling, dubbed "Singapore's Flying Fish" and the nation's only Olympic gold medallist with two World Championship bronzes to his name, retired from competitive swimming in April last year at age 28.
The 2025 championships take place in Singapore from July 27 to August 3. The competition after the opening ceremony on Friday started off with the water polo tournament.
(Reporting by Joseph Campbell, writing by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Goa; Editing by Christian Radnedge) - Reuters
