The world’s fastest swimmers never miss out on the World Aquatics Championships, which usually take place every other year; however, 2026 is the first year since 2022 when there was not a meet held. The World Aquatics Championships will take place in Budapest, Hungary, in 2027, which will precede the 2028 Olympics.
The World Aquatics Championships now entails six different events, which include swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo.
From the first meet in 1973 that hosted 47 nations and 686 athletes, the Championship has grown to include 206 countries and over 2,000 swimmers.
The United States has won 14 of the 22 meets, and China has won 6 out of the 22 meets. Recently, China has been extremely dominant, winning every Championship since 2023.
The Championships have diverse hosting locations, spanning from Colombia to Australia. The previous and future locations are as follows:
- Yugoslavia (Belgrade, 1973)
- Colombia (1975)
- West Germany (1978)
- Ecuador (1982)
- Spain (1986)
- Australia (1991)
- Italy (1994)
- Australia (1998)
- Japan (2001)
- Spain (2003)
- Canada (2005)
- Australia (2007)
- Italy (2009)
- China (2011)
- Spain (2013)
- Russia (2015)
- Hungary (2017)
- South Korea (2019)
- Hungary (2022)
- Japan (2023)
- Qatar (2024)
- Singapore (2025)
- Hungary (2027)
- China (2029)
