The swimming events of the 15th FINA World Aquatics Championships were held July 28 – August 4, 2013, in Barcelona, Spain.^[1] The competition was held in a long course pool inside the Palau Sant Jordi. It featured 40 LCM events, split evenly between males and females. Swimming was one of the five aquatic disciplines at the championships.^[2]

The United States won the overall medal count, led by Missy Franklin who claimed a record-setting six gold medals. China's Sun Yang won three gold medals en route to "male swimmer of the meet". Katie Ledecky, from the United States, was named "female swimmer of the meet" after setting two world records and winning four gold medals. Four other women's world records were broken during the competition, all four in the women's breaststroke events.

Qualifying criteria

If a nation entered one competitor in an event then they only have to meet the B standard, but if they enter two competitors then in an event then they both have to meet the A standard. Each member nation can enter one relay team in each event. Qualifying standards must have been met between July 1, 2012, and July 1, 2013.

Competition format:

• events 200 meters and under: preliminaries-semifinals-finals (top 16 finishers from prelims advanced to semifinals; top-8 in the semifinals advanced to the final).
• events 400 meters and longer: prelims/final (top 8 finishers from prelims advanced to the final).

Schedule

^[3]

Recap

During the World Aquatic Championships, five world records were set (one twice), all by women. Katie Ledecky of the United States broke the world record in the 800-metre freestyle and the 1500-metre freestyle events en route to two gold medals. She also won the 400-metre freestyle to go 3-for-3 in her events.^[4] She added a fourth gold, swimming a leg of the 4x200-metre freestyle relay that the United States won.^[5] Her performance earned her "female swimmer of the meet," beating out fellow American Missy Franklin based on a formula that does not consider relay events. Franklin became the first woman ever to win six golds in a single World Championships. Kristin Otto of East Germany has achieved this at the 1988 Olympic Games. She won the 100-metre and 200-metre backstroke events and the 200-metre freestyle.^[6] She finished fourth in the 100-metre freestyle in personal best-time.^[5] She was also a part of all three women's relay events, which the United States swept.^[6] The previous record of five golds in a single World Championships was held by America's Tracy Caulkins and Australia's Libby Trickett. Among men, Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz of America, Ian Thorpe of Australia all won at least six golds in a single World Championships or Olympics.^[5] Franklin also moved into a tie with Trickett for most all-time gold medals with nine.^[6]

Rūta Meilutytė of Lithuania broke both the 50-metre and 100-metre breaststroke records in the semi-final of each event. Denmark's Rikke Møller Pedersen set the 200-metre breatstroke record in that event's semi-finals.^[4] However, it was Russia's Yuliya Yefimova who won the gold medal in both the 50-metre and 200-metre events, while Meilutytė took gold in the 100-metre.^[7]

On the men's side, Sun Yang claimed three golds by winning the 400-metre, 800-metre, and 1500-metre freestyle events to earn "male swimmer of the meet."^[4] He also swam China to bronze in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay despite starting his anchor leg two seconds behind third place. Ryan Lochte from the United States won two gold to bring his overall World Champions haul to 15. In the 4x100-metre medley relay, the United States appeared to finish first by a wide margin but was disqualified because a swimmer left the platform too early. As a result, France moved up to first. Camille Lacourt won France's first ever 50-metre backstroke title.^[7] César Cielo became the first three-time World Champion of the 50-metre free, winning a final that featured three Olympic gold medalists.^[8]

Medal summary

The United States won the overall medal count with 29 medals (24% of total available) and 13 golds (32%). China won the second most golds (5), but just 9 medals overall (down from 14 in the last World Championships). Australia won 13 medals (3 gold) for second place on the total medal count. Russia won 8 medals, the most for the nation since 1998. Germany, Great Britain, and Italy, all historically strong swimming nations, won just four medals among them.^[9]

Medal table

  *   Host nation

  *   Host nation (Spain)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	13	8	8	29
2	China	5	2	2	9
3	France	4	1	4	9
4	Australia	3	10	0	13
5	Hungary	3	1	1	5
	South Africa	3	1	1	5
7	Russia	2	3	3	8
8	Brazil	2	0	3	5
9	Denmark	1	3	0	4
10	Japan	1	2	3	6
11	Lithuania	1	1	0	2
	Sweden	1	1	0	2
13	Netherlands	1	0	3	4
14	Spain*	0	3	1	4
15	Poland	0	2	1	3
16	Canada	0	1	2	3
17	Italy	0	1	1	2
18	Germany	0	1	0	1
19	New Zealand	0	0	3	3
20	Finland	0	0	1	1
	Great Britain	0	0	1	1
	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	1	1
Totals (22 entries)		40	41	39	120

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle[10] details	César Cielo  Brazil	21.32	Vladimir Morozov  Russia	21.47 NR	George Bovell  Trinidad and Tobago	21.51
100 m freestyle[11] details	James Magnussen  Australia	47.71	Jimmy Feigen  United States	47.82	Nathan Adrian  United States	47.84
200 m freestyle[12] details	Yannick Agnel  France	1:44.20	Conor Dwyer  United States	1:45.32	Danila Izotov  Russia	1:45.59
400 m freestyle[13] details	Sun Yang  China	3:41.59	Kosuke Hagino  Japan	3:44.82 NR	Connor Jaeger  United States	3:44.85
800 m freestyle[14] details	Sun Yang  China	7:41.36	Michael McBroom  United States	7:43.60 NR	Ryan Cochrane  Canada	7:43.70
1500 m freestyle[15] details	Sun Yang  China	14:41.15	Ryan Cochrane  Canada	14:42.48	Gregorio Paltrinieri  Italy	14:45.37 NR
50 m backstroke[16] details	Camille Lacourt  France	24.42	Matt Grevers  United States Jérémy Stravius  France	24.54	Not awarded
100 m backstroke[17] details	Matt Grevers  United States	52.93	David Plummer  United States	53.12	Jérémy Stravius  France	53.21
200 m backstroke[18] details	Ryan Lochte  United States	1:53.79	Radosław Kawęcki  Poland	1:54.24 ER	Tyler Clary  United States	1:54.64
50 m breaststroke[19] details	Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa	26.77	Christian Sprenger  Australia	26.78 OC	Giulio Zorzi  South Africa	27.04
100 m breaststroke[20] details	Christian Sprenger  Australia	58.79	Cameron van der Burgh  South Africa	58.97	Felipe Lima  Brazil	59.65
200 m breaststroke[21] details	Dániel Gyurta  Hungary	2:07.23 CR, ER	Marco Koch  Germany	2:08.54	Matti Mattsson  Finland	2:08.95 NR
50 m butterfly[22] details	César Cielo  Brazil	23.01	Eugene Godsoe  United States	23.05	Frédérick Bousquet  France	23.11
100 m butterfly[23] details	Chad le Clos  South Africa	51.06 NR	László Cseh  Hungary	51.45 NR	Konrad Czerniak  Poland	51.46
200 m butterfly[24] details	Chad le Clos  South Africa	1:54.32	Paweł Korzeniowski  Poland	1:55.01	Wu Peng  China	1:55.09
200 m individual medley[25] details	Ryan Lochte  United States	1:54.98	Kosuke Hagino  Japan	1:56.29	Thiago Pereira  Brazil	1:56.30
400 m individual medley[26] details	Daiya Seto  Japan	4:08.69	Chase Kalisz  United States	4:09.22	Thiago Pereira  Brazil	4:09.48
4×100 m freestyle relay[27] details	France Yannick Agnel (48.76) Florent Manaudou (47.93) Fabien Gilot (46.90) Jérémy Stravius (47.59)	3:11.18	United States Nathan Adrian (47.95) Ryan Lochte (47.80) Anthony Ervin (47.44) Jimmy Feigen (48.23)	3:11.42	Russia Andrey Grechin (48.09) Nikita Lobintsev (47.91) Vladimir Morozov (47.40) Danila Izotov (48.04)	3:11.44
4×200 m freestyle relay[28] details	United States Conor Dwyer (1:45.76) Ryan Lochte (1:44.98) Charlie Houchin (1:45.59) Ricky Berens (1:45.39)	7:01.72	Russia Danila Izotov (1:45.14) Nikita Lobintsev (1:46.23) Artem Lobuzov (1:46.16) Alexander Sukhorukov (1:46.39)	7:03.92	China Wang Shun (1:47.41) Hao Yun (1:47.25) Li Yunqi (1:46.92) Sun Yang (1:43.16)	7:04.74 NR
4×100 m medley relay[29] details	France Camille Lacourt (53.23) Giacomo Perez d'Ortona (59.26) Jérémy Stravius (51.33) Fabien Gilot (47.39)	3:31.51	Australia Ashley Delaney (53.55) Christian Sprenger (58.47) Tommaso D'Orsogna (52.34) James Magnussen (47.28)	3:31.64	Japan Ryosuke Irie (53.48) Kosuke Kitajima (59.29) Takuro Fujii (51.67) Shinri Shioura (47.82)	3:32.26
AF African record | AM Americas record | AS Asian record | CR Championship record | ER European record | OC Oceania record | WR World record | NR National record

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
50 m freestyle[30] details	Ranomi Kromowidjojo  Netherlands	24.05	Cate Campbell  Australia	24.14	Francesca Halsall  Great Britain	24.30
100 m freestyle[31] details	Cate Campbell  Australia	52.34	Sarah Sjöström  Sweden	52.89	Ranomi Kromowidjojo  Netherlands	53.42
200 m freestyle[32] details	Missy Franklin  United States	1:54.81	Federica Pellegrini  Italy	1:55.14	Camille Muffat  France	1:55.72
400 m freestyle[33] details	Katie Ledecky  United States	3:59.82 AM	Melanie Costa  Spain	4:02.47 NR	Lauren Boyle  New Zealand	4:03.89
800 m freestyle[34] details	Katie Ledecky  United States	8:13.86 WR	Lotte Friis  Denmark	8:16.32	Lauren Boyle  New Zealand	8:18.58 OC
1500 m freestyle[35] details	Katie Ledecky  United States	15:36.53 WR	Lotte Friis  Denmark	15:38.88 ER	Lauren Boyle  New Zealand	15:44.71 OC
50 m backstroke[36] details	Zhao Jing  China	27.29	Fu Yuanhui  China	27.39	Aya Terakawa  Japan	27.53 NR
100 m backstroke[37] details	Missy Franklin  United States	58.42	Emily Seebohm  Australia	59.06	Aya Terakawa  Japan	59.23
200 m backstroke[38] details	Missy Franklin  United States	2:04.76 CR	Belinda Hocking  Australia	2:06.66	Hilary Caldwell  Canada	2:06.80 NR
50 m breaststroke[39] details	Yuliya Yefimova  Russia	29.52 NR	Rūta Meilutytė  Lithuania	29.59	Jessica Hardy  United States	29.80 =AM
100 m breaststroke[40] details	Rūta Meilutytė  Lithuania	1:04.42	Yuliya Yefimova  Russia	1:05.02 NR	Jessica Hardy  United States	1:05.52
200 m breaststroke[41] details	Yuliya Yefimova  Russia	2:19.41 NR	Rikke Møller Pedersen  Denmark	2:20.08	Micah Lawrence  United States	2:22.37
50 m butterfly[42] details	Jeanette Ottesen  Denmark	25.24 NR	Lu Ying  China	25.42 AS	Ranomi Kromowidjojo  Netherlands	25.53
100 m butterfly[43] details	Sarah Sjöström  Sweden	56.53	Alicia Coutts  Australia	56.97	Dana Vollmer  United States	57.24
200 m butterfly[44] details	Liu Zige  China	2:04.59	Mireia Belmonte  Spain	2:04.78 NR	Katinka Hosszú  Hungary	2:05.59
200 m individual medley[45] details	Katinka Hosszú  Hungary	2:07.92	Alicia Coutts  Australia	2:09.39	Mireia Belmonte  Spain	2:09.45 NR
400 m individual medley[46] details	Katinka Hosszú  Hungary	4:30.41	Mireia Belmonte  Spain	4:31.21 NR	Elizabeth Beisel  United States	4:31.69
4×100 m freestyle relay[47] details	United States Missy Franklin (53.51) Natalie Coughlin (52.98) Shannon Vreeland (53.22) Megan Romano (52.60)	3:32.31 AM	Australia Cate Campbell (52.33) OC Bronte Campbell (53.47) Emma McKeon (53.19) Alicia Coutts (53.44)	3:32.43 OC	Netherlands Elise Bouwens (55.68) Femke Heemskerk (52.86) Inge Dekker (54.58) Ranomi Kromowidjojo (52.65)	3:35.77
4×200 m freestyle relay[48] details	United States Katie Ledecky (1:56.32) Shannon Vreeland (1:56.97) Karlee Bispo (1:57.58) Missy Franklin (1:54.27)	7:45.14	Australia Bronte Barratt (1:57.04) Kylie Palmer (1:56.29) Brittany Elmslie (1:56.42) Alicia Coutts (1:57.33)	7:47.08	France Camille Muffat (1:56.45) Charlotte Bonnet (1:56.81) Mylène Lazare (1:59.15) Coralie Balmy (1:56.02)	7:48.43
4×100 m medley relay[49] details	United States Missy Franklin (58.39) Jessica Hardy (1:05.10) Dana Vollmer (56.31) Megan Romano (53.43)	3:53.23	Australia Emily Seebohm (59.40) Sally Foster (1:06.84) Alicia Coutts (56.89) Cate Campbell (52.09)	3:55.22	Russia Dariya Ustinova (1:00.58) Yuliya Yefimova (1:04.82) Svetlana Chimrova (57.64) Veronika Popova (53.43)	3:56.47
AF African record | AM Americas record | AS Asian record | CR Championship record | ER European record | OC Oceania record | WR World record | NR National record

Records

The following world and championship records were broken during the competition.

World records

Date	Event	Time	Name	Nation
July 29	Women's 100 m breaststroke semifinals	1:04.35	Rūta Meilutytė	Lithuania
July 30	Women's 1500 m freestyle final	15:36.53	Katie Ledecky	United States
August 1	Women's 200 m breaststroke semifinals	2:19.11	Rikke Møller Pedersen	Denmark
August 3	Women's 50 m breaststroke heats	29.78	Yuliya Yefimova	Russia
August 3	Women's 50 m breaststroke semifinals	29.48	Rūta Meilutytė	Lithuania
August 3	Women's 800 m freestyle final	8:13.86	Katie Ledecky	United States

Championship records

Date	Event	Established for	Time	Name	Nation
July 29	Women's 100 m breaststroke heats	(same)	1:04.52	Rūta Meilutytė	Lithuania
July 29	Women's 100 m breaststroke semifinals	Women's 50 m breaststroke	29.97 †	Rūta Meilutytė	Lithuania
August 2	Men's 200 m breaststroke finals	(same)	2:07.23	Dániel Gyurta	Hungary
August 3	Women's 200 m backstroke finals	(same)	2:04.76	Missy Franklin	United States

Legend: † – en route to final mark