Propulsion Swimming Podcast · Propulsion Swimming

Top 10 Swims of the World Championships

·34 min·2 clips

Léon Marchand broke Ryan Lochte’s 200m individual medley world record in 1:52.

1. Propulsion Swimming Podcast ranks its top 10 swims from the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. 2. Scott and Dan host the episode, and they matter because they spent about half an hour building the list. 3. The episode asks which races were the best swims of the week and which performances deserve the top ranking. 4. The hosts exclude relays and focus only on individual swims, including the women’s 4x1 medley and the men’s 4x1 medley only as examples of what they left out. 5. They give honourable mentions to Lucas Martins and Sam Short in the 400m freestyle, Guilherme Costa in the 1500m freestyle, and Kaylee McKeown’s 200m backstroke. 6. They also cite Hubert Kos’s 153 low in the men’s 200m backstroke, Luca Orlando’s 1:51 in the 200m butterfly, and Léon Marchand’s 4:04 in the 400m individual medley. 7. The first ranked race discussed is Kaylee McKeown versus Regan Smith in the women’s 100m backstroke. 8. McKeown wins in 57.16 with a personal best, and the hosts call her duel with Regan Smith one of the best rivalries in world swimming. 9. The ninth-ranked race is the men’s 100m backstroke, where Peter Curtsy wins and Thomas Chequon comes within five hundredths. 10. The hosts stress that three swimmers went under 52 seconds and that the podium was split by seven hundredths. 11. The men’s 50m freestyle at number eight centers on Cam McAvoy beating Ben Proud in 21.1. 12. Ben Proud’s illness before the race and McAvoy’s recent fatherhood are both mentioned as part of the context. 13. Maxime Groset’s men’s 100m butterfly is ranked seventh after he goes sub-50 for the first time and wins the double. 14. The hosts note that Noponti and Leandro both pushed hard, and nearly the top four finished under 50 seconds. 15. David Popovich’s 100m freestyle at number six is described as a near-perfect 46.5 that threatened the world record. 16. His 200m freestyle against Luke Hobson is ranked fifth because both men went sub 1:44 and attacked with different race plans. 17. The episode’s tone is conversational and evaluative, with Scott and Dan disagreeing briefly, swapping examples, and justifying their order. 18. The format is a ranked countdown with honourable mentions, short debates, and repeated references to split times, records, and head-to-head matchups. 19. Listeners who follow elite swimming, World Championships finals, and race analysis will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners who want one race recap without ranking debate may skip it.

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