The World Games 2025 Wrap-Up

For the first time in history, freediving has been included in the programme of the World Games, and athletes left freediving fans speechless with their performances.

By Asya Kleshchevnikova
Editor Kristina Zvaritch

What Are The World Games?

On August 6–17, the 12th edition of The World Games 2025 was staged in Chengdu, China. The World Games (TWG) are the second-largest world sports event after the Olympic Games. It includes sports and disciplines that are not part of the Olympic Games program. TWG was first held in Santa Clara, USA, in 1981, and has been held every 4 years since then. An interesting fact about TWG is that the program of the event isn't predetermined but depends on the facilities available in the hosting city. Therefore, the sports program changes from one edition of the Games to the next, selected and invited by the host.

TWG 2025 features around 35 sports, in which 4,000 athletes from more than 110 countries participate.

The 11th edition of TWG was hosted by Birmingham, Alabama (USA) in 2022, and the next event will take place in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2029.

According to the IOC decision made on August 12, 2004, the presence of a specific sport at TWG is a factor in its potential inclusion in the Olympic program. Sports or disciplines which have been part of TWG and the Olympics include badminton, baseball and softball, karate, rugby, sport climbing, taekwondo, target archery, triathlon, beach volleyball, and water polo. Target archery is currently on the programs of both, but TWG only holds events in divisions that are not contested in the Olympics.

Finswimming has been a part of TWG from the beginning, while freediving is included in the program for the first time.

Freediving At The World Games

The freediving federation recognized by IWGA and IOC is the World Underwater Federation (CMAS). Freediving was presented as two dynamic disciplines: Dynamic without Fins (DNF) and Dynamic (DYN), judged according to CMAS rules. Only ten of the world's strongest men and ten of the world's strongest women participated in TWG 2025. The selection for TWG was based on the results of the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2024, TWG Series qualifying competitions, and personal invitations from CMAS.

The competition in DNF took place on August 10th, and the competition in DYN was on the following day, August 11th.

For both days, a beautiful online broadcast was arranged, where we could watch two athletes swimming in the same heat, with each athlete visible throughout the entire distance.

Day 1 Results

The women started first in DNF, right away setting the highest level of competition. Nine out of ten athletes swam more than 150m (492ft). Although there were some red cards: Kateryna SADURSKA (UKR) and Ke TANG (CHN) lost consciousness on the surface, trying to cope with the distances of 181.5m (595ft) and 178.5m (586ft), respectively. Impressive as the numbers sound, even if they had been white cards, the results wouldn't have brought the athletes to the podium.

Third and fourth places were separated by just 1.5m: Mirela KARDASEVIC (CRO) swam 192m (630ft), and Magdalena SOLICH-TALANDA (POL) 193.5m (635ft). Hence, Magdalena went home with TWG bronze.

Zsofia TOROCSIK (HUN) took second place with 212.5m (697ft), while Julia KOZERSKA (POL) became the champion of TWG, setting a new world record of 222.5m (730ft). Julia improved her previous world-best mark of 214m (702ft), achieved less than three months ago at the 2025 CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor, by 8.5m (28ft), leaving her nearest competitor 10m (33ft) behind. Even among the men, her TWG result would be the second-best. Simply incredible!

Julia Kozerska set a new absolute world record of 222.5m (730ft) in DNF, winning her a gold medal at The World Games 2025.

Apparently, after watching the women's performances, the men got anxious.

One of the favourites, Guillaume BOURDILA (FRA), had a packing blackout almost at the start. Ming JIN (CHN) stopped his attempt at 71m (233ft). Alexey MOLCHANOV (INT) failed to reach 200m (656ft), having a light surface blackout at 191m (627ft). Kai-Hsiang CHAN (TPE), who had a chance to win gold with an impressive 230m (755ft), also lost consciousness on the surface.

As a result, the winners were: third place–Vanja PELES (CRO) with 185.5m (609ft); second place–Rolando SALGADO MARTINEZ (CUB) with 218m (715ft); and first place–Mateusz MALINA (POL), the leading pool athlete of recent years, with 228.5m (750ft).

Fun fact: Among the women, four athletes successfully swam a distance greater than 190m (623ft), while among the men, only two athletes managed to do so.

Day 2 Results

On the second day, the athletes competed in DYN.

The women started first again. Perhaps fatigue from the first day, or perhaps the desire to ensure a white card, led to almost all of them showing results well below their personal bests. On the bright side, all 10 women swam cleanly and received white cards.

But there was one exception: Zsofia TOROCSIK (HUN) performed right at her maximum capacity, demonstrating phenomenal skill. After a blackout at 289m (948ft) during the 2025 CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor in May, and a cautious 280m (919ft) dive at the 34th AIDA World Championship in June—which still brought her gold—Zsofia pushed her limits to an entirely new level and successfully completed a 300m (984ft) dive. She didn’t just improve the world’s best DYN result by 6m (20ft) in one leap; she also became the first woman in history to reach the 300m (984ft) milestone. And she did it at The World Games! We are speechless.

Zsófia Törőcsik set a new absolute world record of 300m (984ft) in DYN, winning her a gold medal at The World Games 2025.

Second place went to Julia KOZERSKA (POL)–256.5m (842ft), third to Mirela KARDASEVIC (CRO)–250m (820ft), and fourth to Magdalena SOLICH-TALANDA (POL)–248m (814ft).

For the men, things were once again complicated and dramatic. Vanja PELES (CRO) opened the race but stopped at only 142.5m (468ft). Ming JIN (CHN) blacked out at 253m (830ft)—more than 50m (164ft) less than his personal best—making it a disappointing home competition. Guillaume BOURDILA (FRA) swam a modest 240m (787ft) compared to his previous results (PB: 306.60m / 1,006ft) and dropped out of the competition for medals. Rolando SALGADO MARTINEZ (CUB), silver medalist from the first day, turned at 300m (984ft) and seemed certain to medal, but failed the surface protocol. The judges first issued a yellow card, but after review, changed it to a red card and disqualification.

Kai-Hsiang CHAN (TPE) swam 277m (909ft), 23m (75ft) less than his personal best, and was left without a medal. Bronze went to Mauro GENERALI (ITA), who swam 2m (7ft) further than Kai-Hsiang and finished with a white card at 279m (915ft).

Perhaps the only man to set a new personal best in DYN was Alexey MOLCHANOV (INT). Alexey turned at 300m (984ft) and posted 305.5m (1,002ft), winning silver. It is remarkable how Alexey can combine depth records with top results in the pool.

The winner, as on the previous day, was Mateusz MALINA (POL), with 310.5m / 1,019ft (his PB and the absolute World Record in DYN is 326.5m / 1,071ft, set at the 2025 CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor).

Congratulations to all the freedivers who, for the first time ever, participated in The World Games! You've reached the top, and if freediving ever becomes an Olympic sport, you will always be remembered as the pioneers who took the first step in that direction.

While we usually keep our competition reports neutral and don't distinguish Molchanovs athletes from other competitors, this time we can't help but shed the spotlight on our incredible team. First, we have to celebrate two wonder women—Julia and Zsofia—who both set new absolute World Records in DNF and DYN, respectively. For many athletes, simply competing at The World Games would be the pinnacle of a career. There is no higher-level event. But setting a world record under such pressure, competing against the best of the best, is absolutely mind-blowing and gives us goosebumps. Moreover, Zsofia and Julia together brought the Molchanovs PRO Monofin 4X Carbon to the podium twice, making it the world’s best monofin in the pool.

Zsófia Törőcsik and Alexey Molchanov at The World Games 2025 in Chengdu.

Our second, yet strongest, round of applause goes to Alexey Molchanov, who, despite being the world’s deepest freediver, businessman, trainer, father, and an inspiration for thousands, still found the time and energy to train for pool disciplines and became the Vice-Champion in DYN.

We are proud and honored to be part of your success and to assist you on your journey into the history of freediving.