More Countries Than Ever Won Medals At The 2024 World Championships

By Daniel Takata on SwimSwam

The 2024 World Aquatics Championships were unusual in many ways. Having been the first in history to be held in an Olympic year, the number of absences of major international stars was the highest in history, and this was clearly reflected in the results.

With the absence of many big stars, this paved the way for several swimmers to win medals and even gold medals. Swimmers who would be ranked lower in a “normal” championship managed to reach the podium. And the same can apply to nations.

Medals were more distributed than ever. There were 30 nations winning medals, with 18 of them winning gold medals, the highest numbers in history.

For comparison purposes, the previous highest number was from the 2009 World Championships, when there were 25 nations winning medals, 17 of them winning gold medals.

Year
Nations winning medals
Nations winning gold medals

1973
13
8

1975
11
6

1978
14
6

1982
14
7

1986
15
7

1991
17
9

1994
16
10

1998
18
11

2001
19
12

2003
24
13

2005
22
10

2007
23
11

2009
25
17

2011
20
15

2013
22
13

2015
23
12

2017
22
13

2019
21
12

2022
19
11

2023
21
12

2024
30
18

In common, the 2009 and 2024 World Championships were atypical. The 2009 edition was marked by the high-tech suits, with more than 40 world records. Obviously, the suits affected the results, some swimmers benefited from the suits more than others, and this could have affected the medal standings.

And the 2024 World Championships, as already mentioned, was marked by a large number of absences.

It is worth noting that, in 2009, fewer races were contested than in 2024, because of the mixed relays. Even so, if an average is taken (by taking the numbers mentioned and dividing by the number of events in each championship), the numbers for 2024 are still higher. In terms of medalist nations per event, 0.71 x 0.62. And in terms of gold medalist nations per event, 0.428 x 0.425.

As a curiosity, the World Championships that presented the least variation in medalist nations was that of 1975: 11 medalist nations and six gold medalist nations. At that edition, East Germany and the United States dominated the meet, having won 76% of the events and 62% of the medals, leaving few medals for the other nations.

These are the nations that, in 2024, won their first medals, or gold medals, in the history of World Aquatics Championships in swimming events:

Ireland – won its first medals, and also its first gold medals (Daniel Wiffen, gold in men’s 800 and 1500 freestyle)
New Zealand – won its first gold medals (Erika Fairweather in women’s 400 freestyle and Lewis Clareburt in men’s 400 IM)
Portugal – won its first gold medals (Diogo Ribeiro in men’s 50 and 100 butterfly)
Hong Kong – won its first gold medal (Siobhan Haughey in women’s 200 freestyle)
Israel – won its first medal (Anastasia Gorbenko, silver in women’s 400 IM)
Bosnia and Herzegovina – won its first medal (Lana Pudar, bronze in women’s 200 butterfly)

Read the full story on SwimSwam: More Countries Than Ever Won Medals At The 2024 World Championships