Kate Douglass won the 200m breaststroke by more than a second. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
(Sarah Stier via Getty Images)
After a slow start, Team USA is surging back to prominence at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships. Kate Douglass was the latest member of the team to turn in a medal-winning performance, taking gold in the 200m breaststroke.
Douglass was excellent in the event, defeating second-place finisher Evgeniia Chikunova by over a second. Douglass finished with a winning time of 2:18.50. That set a new championships record and a new American record, though did not set a new world record.
For now, Douglass will have to settle for beating the world-record holder. Chikunova holds that title after turning in a 2:17.55 performance back in 2023.
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The win is more of the same for Douglass, who took home the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 2024 Olympics. Though the breaststroke is one of her strongest events, Douglass had never won a gold at the World Championships in the 200m. She finished as the runner-up in both 2024 and 2023 in the event.
Douglass’ medal gives Team USA five golds in swimming at the World Championships. That moves them into a tie with Australia, which also has five gold medals. Team USA does have the most medals of any team so far, with 20.
It’s quite the comeback for Team USA, which battled acute gastroenteritis throughout the event. Multiple swimmers on the team pulled out of races due to the illness, or turned in disappointing performances.
That changed as the team got healthier. Gretchen Walsh, Katie Ledecky, Katharine Berkoff, Luca Urlando and Douglass all picked up golds to push Team USA back to the top after a slow start.
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Americans don’t medal in 4x200m freestyle relay
Team USA just missed out on a medal in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay Friday. The team finished with a time of 7:01.24, good for fourth place at the event.
Great Britain took home gold, turning in a time of 6:59.84.
China took silver with a 7:00.91 showing. Bronze went to Australia, which posted a 7:00.98 time.
This story will be updated.
