Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships

The number of events competed for at each edition of the championships has grown steadily through the years. In 1973, 29 events were swum: 15 for men and 14 for women, all in the pool. Since 2015, the combined number of events for men and women including pool and open water events has been 49, a drastic increase compared to the first edition. Historically, 50 different events have been held across the 17 editions of the championships.

A select number of athletes have won medals at both long course and open water events, including Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia, Hayley Lewis from Australia, Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy, Florian Wellbrock from Germany, and Sharon van Rouwendaal from the Netherlands. For a full list of medalists covering all editions of the championships see List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men) and List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women). For a complete list of medal winners in open water swimming see List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming.

Updated after the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

Swimming

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	222	167	117	506
2	Australia	79	82	58	219
3	East Germany	50	40	25	115
4	China	49	25	42	116
5	Hungary	32	19	27	78
6	Great Britain	22	18	37	77
7	Germany	21	34	34	89
8	Russia	20	36	28	84
9	Italy	18	19	25	62
10	France	16	18	22	56
11	Sweden	14	17	16	47
12	Netherlands	11	25	25	61
13	Soviet Union	11	20	21	52
14	South Africa	11	6	14	31
15	Japan	10	25	35	70
16	Brazil	9	11	9	29
17	Canada	8	18	33	59
18	West Germany	8	7	11	26
19	Ukraine	7	6	6	19
20	Poland	6	9	8	23
21	Denmark	4	8	8	20
22	Spain	4	6	6	16
23	Zimbabwe	3	5	0	8
24	Finland	3	2	1	6
25	Romania	2	1	7	10
26	Belarus	2	1	1	4
27	Serbia	2	1	0	3
28	South Korea	2	0	1	3
29	Tunisia	1	2	3	6
30	Lithuania	1	2	2	5
31	Norway	1	2	1	4
32	Costa Rica	1	1	2	4
33	Greece	1	1	0	2
34	Belgium	1	0	2	3
35	Suriname	1	0	0	1
36	New Zealand	0	5	6	11
37	Switzerland	0	5	1	6
38	Austria	0	3	3	6
39	Slovakia	0	3	2	5
40	Croatia	0	2	0	2
41	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2
	Iceland	0	1	1	2
	Jamaica	0	1	1	2
	Yugoslavia	0	1	1	2
45	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
46	Egypt	0	0	2	2
	Singapore	0	0	2	2
48	Argentina	0	0	1	1
	Puerto Rico	0	0	1	1
	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	1	1
	Venezuela	0	0	1	1
Totals (51 nations)		653	657	651	1961

Open water swimming

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Germany	13	15	12	40
2	Russia	12	11	9	32
3	United States	10	9	7	26
4	Italy	9	7	16	32
5	France	6	6	3	15
6	Brazil	6	3	6	15
7	Netherlands	4	6	4	14
8	Australia	3	6	5	14
9	Greece	2	4	3	9
10	Great Britain	2	1	1	4
11	Hungary	1	2	1	4
	Spain	1	2	1	4
13	Canada	1	1	1	3
14	Bulgaria	1	0	3	4
15	South Africa	1	0	1	2
	Tunisia	1	0	1	2
17	China	1	0	0	1
	Switzerland	1	0	0	1
19	Belgium	0	1	0	1
	Czech Republic	0	1	0	1
	Ecuador	0	1	0	1
22	Argentina	0	0	1	1
	Egypt	0	0	1	1
Totals (23 nations)		75	76	76	227

Boldface denotes active swimmers and highest medal count among all swimmers (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

All events

Rank	Swimmer	Country	Gender	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Michael Phelps	United States	M	2001	2011	** 26 **	6	1	** 33 **
2	Ryan Lochte	United States	M	2005	2015	* 18 *	5	* 4 *	** 27 **
3	Katie Ledecky	United States	F	2013	2019	15	3	–	18
4	Caeleb Dressel	United States	M	2017	2019	13	2	–	15
5	Simone Manuel	United States	F	2013	2019	* 11 *	3	2	* 16 *
6	Missy Franklin	United States	F	2011	2015	11	2	3	16
	Sun Yang	China	M	2009	2019	11	2	3	16
8	Ian Thorpe	Australia	M	1998	2003	11	1	1	13
9	Grant Hackett	Australia	M	1998	2015	10	6	* 3 *	* 19 *
10	Nathan Adrian	United States	M	2009	2019	** 10 **	4	2	** 16 **

* including one medal in the relay event in which this swimmer participated in the heats only
** including two medals in the relay events in which this swimmer participated in the heats only

Individual events

Rank	Swimmer	Country	Gender	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Michael Phelps	United States	M	2001	2011	15	5	–	20
2	Sun Yang	China	M	2009	2019	11	2	1	14
3	Katie Ledecky	United States	F	2013	2019	11	2	–	13
4	Ryan Lochte	United States	M	2005	2015	10	3	3	16
5	Katinka Hosszú	Hungary	F	2009	2019	9	1	5	15
6	Sarah Sjöström	Sweden	F	2009	2019	8	5	3	16
7	Grant Hackett	Australia	M	1998	2007	7	6	1	14
8	Aaron Peirsol	United States	M	2001	2009	7	1	–	8
9	Caeleb Dressel	United States	M	2017	2019	7	–	–	7
10	Yuliya Yefimova	Russia	F	2009	2019	6	6	3	15

The World Championships have often been the occasion at which elite swimmers reach the peak of their season, and hence numerous world records are often broken.

• List of World Championships records in swimming
• Major achievements in swimming by nation
• Swimming at the Summer Olympics

• FINA Official Championship Results History – Swimming (men)
• FINA Official Championship Results History – Swimming (women)