The 2025 World Championships officially have a pool with the new World Aquatics Championships Arena (WCH Arena) being unveiled yesterday in Singapore at the Singapore Spots Hub.
The facility will be home to a few large aquatics events in the coming months, and the World Championships will not be the first event hosted in the new pool. Later this week, the Southeast Asian Age Group Championships will christen the facility from June 20th-27th.
Mark Chay, the co-chair of the Singapore 2025 organizing committee said “Young aquatics athletes from Southeast Asia will inaugurate the WCH Arena, followed by the professional athletes competing in the World Aquatics Championships and our Masters athletes participating in the World Aquatics Masters Championships.
At 4,800 permanent seats, the arena comes in just under the permanent capacity of some of the recent World Championships sites. The Duna arena in Hungary and the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha both have 5,000 permanent seats.
Swimming fans will also be pleased to read that the pool has a depth of three meters, which matches World Aquatics’ recommendation when it comes to pool depth. This should assuage any concerns about pool depth, which was a major conversation during the 2024 Olympics due to La Défense Arena’s depth of 2.15 meters.
Paris Olympians will see one familiar sight with the starting blocks, which are the exact same model that was used at the Games last year.
- via World Aquatics Championships 2025 Singapore
Only Swimming and Artistic Swimming competitions will be held in the new arena. The rest of the events will be evenly spread out between Palawan and the OCBC Aquatic Centre
Sport by Sport Competition Schedule:
| Sport | Venue | Dates |
| Water Polo | OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Sports Hub |
July 11-24 2025 |
| Open Water Swimming | Palawan Beach, Sentosa | July 15-20 2025 |
| Artistic Swimming | WCH Arena, Singapore Sports Hub | July 18-25 2025 |
| High Diving | Palawan Green, Sentosa | July 25-27 2025 |
| Diving | OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore Sports Hub |
July 26 to August 3 2025 |
| Swimming | WCH Arena, Singapore Sports Hub | July 27 to August 3 2025 |
I believe the world masters championships will be held here too. I know a few people going. It will be awesome to have normal people swim in this arena!
Indeed it will. It’s a privelege to swim in the same pool/arena as the elites. Over the alst few years, the Rome pool (pools – the indoor warm-up/swim down pool with its athlete mosaics was special also), the Fukuoka pool, Belgrade (ish) were really special to use.
Off topic:
@Braden Keith, today Manchester City will play their first match of the FIFA Club World Cup in your city at Lincoln Financial Field.
Attendance numbers so far haven’t been great in most matches in the US.
What’s the situation/vibes in Philadelphia? Are people interested? Did you buy tickets or are you not a fan of soccer?
Anyways, it looks like Philadelphia is gonna host 7 World Cup matches in total.
5 matches in the group stages and 2 knockout games (1 Round of 16 + 1 Quarterfinal).
I’m actually going to the game today! It’s my birthday, and this was a Christmas present for my dad.
There’s been some buzz. I’ve seen the soccer fans out and about, and everyone knows it’s happening. Probably less buzz than an Eagles game. This one seems to sit in a funny little niche. Soccer is growing in popularity here, but the Club World Cup doesn’t seem to be super popular anywhere. From what I see of the conversation around the world, folks would much rather it be a smaller tournament, maybe 8-12 teams, 1 from each continent and a couple of wildcards.
Ticket prices were high by soccer standards. I think FIFA believed that because the prices weren’t that high… Read more »
I’m sure an earlier article (maybe in 2024) reported that swimming would be held in a temporary pool? Can anyone verify that?
yes this pool is temporary, but the government hasn’t decided what to do with it after the world champs yet
Looks like a nice facility. Better than anything we have here in CA. Maybe the slightly smaller size will translate into a louder meet. Looking fwd to it being broken in.
That’s a really low bar. At least a dozen states have better pools than CA.
Enough with the complaints and excuses. The best swimmer in the world, Summer Mac said the pool depth in Paris was not too shallow.
and so ? Can we believe her ?
Marchand said the same thing and they didn’t break any wr(s).
When we see what Summer has made this year in trials, we can ask ourselves some questions, right ?
They were perfectly tapered and in great shape and I’m quite sure they would have broken wr(s in a “normal” pool (plus cameras and other devices in the pool).
Almost certain : Marchand (200im 400im and 200 br) and Summer (200im and 400im not sure 400fr but maybe).
Titmus won the 400 free, not Summer
Lowkey tired of the “slow pool crap” for the mid performances in Paris. It was NOT the slow pool. You telling me pan went a 45 in a regular pool? Titmus dropped a 1:52 in a shallower pool! The two main factors were the poor living conditions and illness.
Said the guy who’s never been world class
I think it was a combination of things. The pool was slow but also the horrendous living conditions in Paris contributed too.
The pool was slow because of the 2m depth and the unnecessary amount of camera/lighting equipment on the bottom of the pool. After 4 days they removed that and the times became faster.
They’d removed most of the tech in the pool by time Pan swam crazy fast times
Pan broke the OR on day 1 with 46.92 and then the WR on day 5. Pool depth and tech equipment was no issue
You are clearly new
I meant he went half a second quicker from day 1 to day 5
Was that a 45.x if the pool depth was 3 meters?
I was mainly talking about the tech equipment being removed but go off
Reminds me of the Westmont layout
Oh I’m sure swimming fans will complain about pool depth once again if records are not broken every event. Or the blocks. Or the time change. Or the walls.
Nah, most pools at major meets get it right/follow a reasonable depth/standard, and we don’t see many complaints.
Paris just blew it in their planning…no way to sugarcoat it.