The 2025 World Aquatics Championships are underway and Team USA got off to a slow start after several swimmers came down with a stomach bug.
SwimSwam reported that a significant chunk of Team USA suffered from acute gastroenteritis at its pre-world championship training camp in Thailand. One coach with an athlete on the team described the amount of swimmers affected as "almost half" the roster.
It was later reported by both SwimSwam and Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde that 10 swimmers were deemed too sick to travel with the rest of the team. The issue is also apparently hitting Great Britain's team, which used the same Thanyapura Phuket resort to prepare for worlds.
In the first day of action in Singapore, three-time Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske and rising star Claire Weinstein both pulled out of events. USA Swimming announced Huske was pulling out of the 100-meter butterfly, the event she won in Paris, to focus on the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. The U.S. then finished second in the 400 free relay final, just .44 seconds behind gold-medal-winning Australia — an admirable result given star Gretchen Walsh pulled out shortly before the event.
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Katie Ledecky was able to compete, renewing her rivalry with Canada's Summer McIntosh in the 400 freestyle. McIntosh comfortably won the final in 3:56.26, with Ledecky finishing third at 3:58.49. Neither Ledecky nor McIntosh swam near their best times from earlier in the year.
McIntosh, who won three gold medals at last year's Paris Olympics, is attempting to join Michael Phelps as the only swimmers to win five golds at a World Championships. The bronze was Ledecky's 27th career World Championships medal.
Australia won the men's 400 free relay, with the United States finishing third.
As Forde noted, the American men also struggled in the heats for the 400-meter freestyle. All of them missed out on the final after failing to finish in the top eight. Then on Monday morning, Jack Aikins struggled in the 100-meter backstroke. He finished in a distant last — nearly two full seconds behind the rest of the pack — in his heat and failed to advance. Tommy Janton also failed to advance, though just barely.
After days of withdrawals and disappointing finishes, Gretchen Walsh ended Team USA's poor streak Monday, winning the 100m butterfly.
Walsh's win could be the start of a Team USA resurgence. After most of the team battled illness to begin the event, swimmers are finally starting to recover.
The swimming portion of the World Aquatics Championships are scheduled to take place until next Sunday.
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