Moesha Johnson (27, Australia, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @swimmer_moe) was the overwhelming race favorite – and proved it again as she won the 5 km today after winning the 10 km race on Wednesday – although her margin of victory over silver medalist Ginevra Taddeucci (28, Italy, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @ginevrataddeucci) was smaller in the shorter race at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Singapore’s Sentosa Island.

If Johnson described the 10 km race as ‘freaky‘, this race must have been ‘super freaky‘.

Johnson and Taddeucci – in what is a sprint race in the open water – absolutely crushed the field, finishing 27 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Ichika Kajimoto (21, Japan, World Aquatics bio here, @chika_0307).

Given the conditions in both the 5 km and 10 km races – 30.2°C (86.3°F) – her victory was simply mind-boggling. Super freaky.

But she was swimming for something greater than herself. She described her victory, “This is huge for my country. I think [Australia] is topping the medal table. We’ve never had back-to-back golds in a competition. I know we’ve had silvers and bronzes, so this is just historic for my country and I’m just so proud to be setting the standard for everyone.”

Despite being zapped with the conditions – as most of the competition was as the women in the 5 km were largely the same field as was in the 10 km, the race strategy of the vaulted Italian team was described by Taddeucci, “I was really tired today so I wanted to try and guarantee myself a medal as early on as possible and there were just a couple of opportunities with some tight turns. If I didn’t make the break then, I don’t know what would have happened at the end. But once the group behind me was only Ginevra on my feet, it was much easier, but that was still a really challenging race. The 5k is much more intense so the heat was just felt a lot more today.”

The impact of the air and water temperatures on Sentosa Island cannot be underestimated, especially when you consider that pool water temperatures would never be allowed to get anywhere nearly this warm…in a temperature-controlled arena.

Swimming research has repeatedly shown that warmer water temperatures lead to faster heart rates and higher generation of lactate in the muscles. Combine the 30.2°C water with similarly high air temperatures in a tropical location with full-body, skin-tight, all-black techsuits and swim caps, and racing at full speed for an hour must have hurt.

Super freaky hurt.

Johnson said, “Mentally, I’m still quite exhausted from dealing with the heat the other day in the 10K race. So the heat is both mentally and physically fatiguing. We fought to the end. It probably didn’t have to be a race that was quite that hard.”

But her time in Singapore is not over – she has the 3 km Knockout Sprints, a 1.5 km leg on the Mixed Relays, and the 800m and 1500m heats (and possibly, the) finals in the pool later next week. She said, “I’ve got to back it up again tomorrow so I was hoping to save a little bit of energy, but we really fought to the end, and that makes it really exciting, fun and it makes the win that much more special.”

It was also a special time for Kajimoto and Japan – as it was for Monaco and Lisa Pou (26, Monaco, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @lisaapou) when she similarly won a bronze medal in the 10 km. Kajimoto’s bronze was Japan’s first podium finish in open water swimming at the World Aquatics Championships – as it was for Monaco on Wednesday. Kajimoto was rightfully proud, “Most [top] open water swimmers come from Central Europe and America, but we have a chance in Asia. My hope is that we have more fantastic races and swimmers from Asia.”

All three podium finishers will face off again in the 3 km Knockout Sprints tomorrow – although the number of starters will only number 30.

With her training partner, Florian Wellbrock (27, Germany, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @flo.swim) also winning the men’s 5 km and 10 km race, German coach Bernd Berkhahn‘s swimmers have swept the podium over the first two days – an unprecedented feat in the sport.

LA28 cannot come fast enough for Johnson, Wellbrock, and Berkhahn.

Women’s 10 km Results

1. Moesha Johnson, 27 Australia 1:02:01.30
2. Ginevra Taddeucci, 28, Italy 1:02:02.30
3. Ichika Kajimoto, 21, Japan 1:02:28.90
4. Maria de Valdes, 26, Spain 1:02:33.10
5. Celine Rieder, 24, Germany 1:02:33.10
6. Lisa Pou, 26, Monaco 1:02:36.30
7. Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, 21, Hungary 1:02:39.40
8. Ana Marcela Cunha, 33, Brazil 1:03:10.20
9. Ines Delacroix, 22, France 1:03:10.50
10. Giulia Gabbrielleschi, 28, Italy 1:03:40.00
11. Bettina Fabian, 20, Hungary 1:03:53.50
12. Caroline Laure Jouisse, 31, France 1:04:06.50
13. Mariah Denigan, 22, USA 1:04:08.60
14. Ekaterina Sorokina, 24, Neutral Athletes B 1:04:09.70
15. Muran Tian, 27, China 1:04:10.90
16. Callan Lotter, 19, South Africa 1:04:21.60
17. Paula Otero Fernandez, 21, Spain 1:04:28.70
18. Julie Pleskotova, 23, Czech Republic 1:04:35.30
19. Emma Finlin, 20, Canada 1:04:37.20
20. Tayla Martin, 26, Australia 1:04:37.40
21. Viviane Jungblut, 29, Brazil 1:04:56.70
22. Brinkleigh Hansen, 15, USA 1:05:00.60
23. Mafalda Rosa, 21, Portugal 1:05:00.60
24. Polina Koziakina, 17, Neutral Country B 1:05:24.00
25. Klaudia Tarasiewicz, 21, Poland 1:06:05.40
26. Louna Kasvio, 19, Finland 1:06:25.30
27. Su Inal, 15, Turkey 1:06:26.00
28. Georgia Makri, 19, Greece 1:06:28.90
29. Alena Benesova, 27 Czech Republic 1:06:31.00
30. Candela Gordanino, 21, Argentina 1:06:32.30
31. Jia-Shien Lin, 17, Chinese Taipei 1:06:34.20
32. Hany Cheng, 19, China 1:06:34.30
33. Danna Martinez, 19, Ecuador Hany Cheng, 19, China 1:06:34.30
34. Malak Meqdar, 18, Mauritius 1:06:49.30
35. Catherine van Rensburg, 21, South Africa 1:06:50.40
36. Spela Perse, 28, Slovakia 1:08:34.90
37. Leonie-Sarah Josephine Tenzer, 19, Finland 1:08:36.20
38. Ana Abad, 21, Ecuador 1:08:49.90
39. Klara Bosnjak, 21, Croatia 1:08:55.60
40. Tsz Yin Nip, 25, Hong Kong 1:08:58.00
41. Paulina Ananis Hernandez, 20, Mexico 1:09:50.50
42. Yi-Chen Wang, 25, Chinese Taipei 1:09:53.00
43. Kate Ona, 17, Singapore 1:09:53.90
44. Nathalie S Medina Hernandez, 19, Venezuela 1:09:53.00
45. Yanci Vanegas, 22, Guatemala 1:09:55.60
46. Pilar Canedo, 21, Uruguay 1:09:57.80
47. Sueah Kim, 18, South Korea 1:11:15.80
48. Jiyeon Hwang, 18, South Korea 1:11:42.70
49. Chonpasaop Chatwuti, 14, Thailand 1:11:42.70
50. Daniela Chinquinquira Suarez Correa, 16, Venezuela 1:11:42.80
51. Saida Yelemes, 16, Kazakhstan 1:11:47.10
52. Izzy Dwifaiva Hefrisyanthi, Indonesia, 20, 1:11:50.40
53. Pac Tung Nikita Lam, 24, Hong Kong 1:12:10.40
54. Maria Porres, 22, Guatemala 1:12:27.40
55. Alondra Itzel Quiles, 20, Puerto Rico 1:12:31.50
56. Isabella Hernandez, 20 Dominica Republic 1:12:35.60
57. Sara Abigail Martinez Ortiz, 15, Mexico 1:13:23.10
58. Alexandra Mejia Gallego, 19, Andorra 1:13:36.60
59. Maria Fernanda Arellanos, 16, Peru 1:13:46.00
60. Muse Goh, 17, Singapore 1:13:57.40
61. Minagi Rupesinghe, 19, Sri Lanka 1:14:03.20
62. Cielo Peralta, 18, Paraguay 1:15:09.60
63. Christina Duran, 20, Dominica Republic 1:15:31.40
64. Dayana Melendez, 18, El Salvador 1:15:31.50
65. Reza Westerduin, 17, Namibia 1:15:42.60
66. Ayazhan Ainabekova, 18, Kazakhstan 1:16:07.80
67. Meenakshi Menon, 15, India 1:16:42.40
68. Madison Sara Bergh, 16, Namibia 1:16:56.20
69. Selinnur Sade, 17, Turkey OTL
70. Desak Nyo Pradnyaswari Dewi, 16, Indonesia OTL
71. Micheline Gabrielie Bathfield, 19, Mauritius OTL
72. Purva Sandip Gawade, 18, India OTL
73. Loreley Daleney, 17, Bolivia DNF
74. Victoria Okumu, 21, Kenya DNF
75. Maria Bianchi, 19, Kenya DNF
76. Ana Beatriz Domingues, 17, MOZ DNF
77. Swagiah Mubiru, 20, UGA DNF
78. Jeannette Spiwoks, 26, Germany DNS

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