The 1986 World Aquatics Championships took place in M86 Swimming Center in Madrid, Spain between August 13 and August 23, 1986, with 1119 participating athletes. In swimming, the 50 m freestyle events and women's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay were held for the first time.

Medal table

Place	Nation				Total
1	East Germany	14	12	4	30
2	United States	9	10	13	32
3	Canada	4	2	2	8
4	West Germany	4	2	1	7
5	Hungary	3	0	0	3
6	China	2	4	1	7
7	Soviet Union	2	3	7	12
8	Romania	1	0	1	2
9	Australia	1	0	0	1
	Yugoslavia	1	0	0	1
11	Italy	0	3	0	3
12	Netherlands	0	1	4	5
13	Bulgaria	0	1	1	2
	France	0	1	1	2
	Switzerland	0	1	1	2
16	New Zealand	0	1	0	1
17	Great Britain	0	0	2	2
	Japan	0	0	2	2
19	Denmark	0	0	1	1
Total		41	41	41	123

Medal summary

Diving

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
3 m springboard	Greg Louganis (USA)	Tan Liangde (CHN)	Li Hongping (CHN)
10 m highboard	Greg Louganis (USA)	Li Kongzheng (CHN)	Bruce Kimball (USA)

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
3 m springboard	Gao Min (CHN)	Li Yihua (CHN)	Marina Babkova (URS)
10 m highboard	Chen Lin (CHN)	Lü Wei (CHN)	Wendy Wyland (USA)

Swimming

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
50 m freestyle	Tom Jager (USA)	Dano Halsall (SUI)	Matt Biondi (USA)
100 m freestyle	Matt Biondi (USA)	Stéphan Caron (FRA)	Tom Jager (USA)
200 m freestyle	Michael Gross (FRG)	Sven Lodziewski (GDR)	Matt Biondi (USA)
400 m freestyle	Rainer Henkel (FRG)	Uwe Daßler (GDR)	Dan Jorgensen (USA)
1500 m freestyle	Rainer Henkel (FRG)	Stefano Battistelli (ITA)	Dan Jorgensen (USA)
100 m backstroke	Igor Polyansky (URS)	Dirk Richter (GDR)	Sergei Zabolotnov (URS)
200 m backstroke	Igor Polyansky (URS)	Frank Baltrusch (GDR)	Frank Hoffmeister (FRG)
100 m breaststroke	Victor Davis (CAN)	Gianni Minervini (ITA)	Dmitry Volkov (URS)
200 m breaststroke	József Szabó (HUN)	Victor Davis (CAN)	Steve Bentley (USA)
100 m butterfly	Pablo Morales (USA)	Matt Biondi (USA)	Andy Jameson (GBR)
200 m butterfly	Michael Gross (FRG)	Anthony Mosse (NZL)	Benny Nielsen (DEN)
200 m individual medley	Tamás Darnyi (HUN)	Alex Baumann (CAN)	Vadim Yaroshchuk (URS)
400 m individual medley	Tamás Darnyi (HUN)	Vadim Yaroshchuk (URS)	Alex Baumann (CAN)
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	United States (USA) Tom Jager Mike Heath Paul Wallace Matt Biondi	Soviet Union (URS) Gennadiy Prigoda Nikolay Yevseyev Sergey Smiriyagin Aleksey Markovsky	East Germany (GDR) Dirk Richter Jörg Woithe Sven Lodziewski Steffen Zesner
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	East Germany (GDR) Lars Hinneburg Thomas Flemming Dirk Richter Sven Lodziewski	West Germany (FRG) Rainer Henkel Michael Gross Alexander Schowtka Thomas Fahrner	United States (USA) Eric Boyer Mike Heath Dan Jorgensen Matt Biondi
4 × 100 m medley relay	United States (USA) Dan Veatch David Lundberg Pablo Morales Matt Biondi	West Germany (FRG) Frank Hoffmeister Bert Göbel Michael Gross André Schadt	Soviet Union (URS) Igor Polyansky Dmitry Volkov Aleksey Markovsky Nikolay Yevseyev

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
50 m freestyle	Tamara Costache (ROU)	Kristin Otto (GDR)	Marie-Thérèse Armentero (SUI)
100 m freestyle	Kristin Otto (GDR)	Jenna Johnson (USA)	Conny van Bentum (NED)
200 m freestyle	Heike Friedrich (GDR)	Manuela Stellmach (GDR)	Mary T. Meagher (USA)
400 m freestyle	Heike Friedrich (GDR)	Astrid Strauß (GDR)	Sarah Hardcastle (GBR)
800 m freestyle	Astrid Strauß (GDR)	Katja Hartmann (GDR)	Debbie Babashoff (USA)
100 m backstroke	Betsy Mitchell (USA)	Kathrin Zimmermann (GDR)	Natalya Shibayeva (URS)
200 m backstroke	Cornelia Sirch (GDR)	Betsy Mitchell (USA)	Kathrin Zimmermann (GDR)
100 m breaststroke	Sylvia Gerasch (GDR)	Silke Hörner (GDR)	Tanya Bogomilova (BUL)
200 m breaststroke	Silke Hörner (GDR)	Tanya Bogomilova (BUL)	Allison Higson (CAN)
100 m butterfly	Kornelia Greßler (GDR)	Kristin Otto (GDR)	Mary T. Meagher (USA)
200 m butterfly	Mary T. Meagher (USA)	Kornelia Greßler (GDR)	Birte Weigang (GDR)
200 m individual medley	Kristin Otto (GDR)	Yelena Dendeberova (URS)	Kathleen Nord (GDR)
400 m individual medley	Kathleen Nord (GDR)	Michelle Griglione (USA)	Noemi Lung (ROU)
4 × 100 m freestyle relay	East Germany (GDR) Kristin Otto Manuela Stellmach Sabine Schulze Heike Friedrich	United States (USA) Jenna Johnson Dara Torres Mary T. Meagher Betsy Mitchell	Netherlands (NED) Conny van Bentum Laura Leideritz Karin Brienesse Annemarie Verstappen
4 × 200 m freestyle relay	East Germany (GDR) Manuela Stellmach Astrid Strauß Nadja Bergknecht Heike Friedrich	United States (USA) Betsy Mitchell Mary T. Meagher Kim Brown Mary Wayte	Netherlands (NED) Annemarie Verstappen Jolanda van de Meer Marianne Muis Conny van Bentum
4 × 100 m medley relay	East Germany (GDR) Kathrin Zimmermann Sylvia Gerasch Kornelia Greßler Kristin Otto	United States (USA) Betsy Mitchell Jenny Hau Mary T. Meagher Jenna Johnson	Netherlands (NED) Jolanda de Rover Petra van Staveren Conny van Bentum Annemarie Verstappen

Synchronised swimming

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Solo routine	Carolyn Waldo (CAN)	Sarah Josephson (USA)	Muriel Hermine (FRA)
Duet routine	Michelle Cameron (CAN)  Carolyn Waldo (CAN)	Karen Josephson (USA)  Sarah Josephson (USA)	Megumi Itō (JPN)  Mikako Kotani (JPN)
Team routine	Canada (CAN)	United States (USA)	Japan (JPN)

Water polo

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Team	Yugoslavia	Italy	Soviet Union

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Team	Australia	Netherlands	United States