Team USA Caps 2025 World Championships with Five Medals, Ties for Most Gold

SINGAPORE - After seven days of thrilling competition at the OCBC Aquatic Center in Singapore, Team USA capped off the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships with a five-medal haul – including four gold – on the final day of action. The Americans closed the meet with 35 total medals (18 gold, 6 silver, 11 bronze), climbing to second place on the overall medal table and tying Italy for the most golds of any country.

Katie Kubiak (Mequon, Wisconsin) and Paralympian Leanne Smith (Salem, Massachusetts) led the way for Team USA, each finishing the meet as the nation’s most decorated athletes with seven medals apiece. Both capped their standout performances on day seven with dominant gold-medal swims in their final events. Kubiak claimed the women’s 200m freestyle S4 to bring her tally to four gold, one silver and two bronze in her world championship debut, while Smith secured her 13th career world title with a win in the women’s 100m freestyle S3, leaving Singapore with three gold, two silver and two bronze.

“I’m really happy to come out here and be able to perform,” said Smith. “It’s been a really long week, but to close out with a few gold medals and feel as best as I could at this point, I’m just really proud.”

For Kubiak, the event shone a light on the power that Para sport has brought into her life in a short period of time.

“For new athletes, I think it’s never too late to start,” said Kubiak. “Just taking that first step and leaning into it is definitely the scariest, but it’s so worth it. I’ve been able to redefine what sport is for me in such a special way, I’m so grateful to the people that have been around me…It’s really helped me grow as both a person and an athlete.”

Recent three-time world champion Olivia Chambers (Little Rock, Arkansas) extended her dominance in Singapore with another gold, this time in the women’s 200m individual medley S13. Chambers closed the meet with five total medals (four gold, one bronze), highlighted by a victory over the reigning world champion and Paralympic gold medalist in a rematch from Paris. Fellow S13 world champion Grace Nuhfer (Greenwood, Indiana) capped her competition with a strong showing, narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in the same race.

“I didn’t even know what to expect coming here,” said Chambers. “I just thought it would be really cool to come be here in Singapore, and I had no idea what I could throw down.”

In an all-American showdown in the women’s 100m freestyle S7, defending champion Morgan Stickney (Cary, North Carolina) surged in the final meters to capture her second gold of the championships. The victory adds to her earlier win in the 400m freestyle S7 and brings her career tally to five world titles. Teammates Ahalya Lettenberger (Glen Ellyn, Illinois) and Julia Gaffney (Mayflower, Arkansas) also delivered strong swims, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.

“I just wanted to get on the podium, and knowing that I had a shot at doing that, I was really excited,” said Stickney. “I just missed out on gold in Paris so being able to come back and get gold here is amazing. I feel like the 100 free isn’t my best event, and I always go in as an underdog. I go in having that mentality so that always seems to help me.”

In her sole race of the meet, Paralympian Christie Raleigh Crossley (Toms River, New Jersey) came from an eighth-place seeding in the morning preliminary heats to claim a come-from-behind bronze in the women’s 50m freestyle S9. After a year of health complications, Raleigh Crossley reflected on the year’s struggles and how much the win meant to her and her family. 

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” said Raleigh Crossley. “I was definitely not expecting to podium. Just being here first and foremost is the biggest accomplishment. I’m so happy and proud to come given battling cancer.”

“The next goal was to make finals, and I accomplished that this morning. I can’t thank my support staff enough. Everybody who has been helping me through this really tough time. I really wish my kids were here, but I’m happy that I have something to bring back to show them.”

Paralympian Taylor Winnett (Hershey, Pennsylvania) kicked off the night for the American squad, taking a sixth-place finish in the women’s 100m backstroke S10 while the foursome of Koehn Boyd (Ramsey, Minnesota), Stickney, Jessica Long (Baltimore, Maryland) and Noah Jaffe (Carlsbad, California) swam to a sixth place to cap off the grand finale in the 4x100m freestyle relay 34 pts – mixed.

Highlights from Singapore 2025 are available to view at www.youtube.com/paralympics. For more information on U.S. Paralympics Swimming, visit usparaswimming.org.

For photo or interview requests, please contact Annemarie.Blanco@usopc.org.

Team USA Results: 

Olivia Chambers, gold, women’s 200m IM SM13

Katie Kubiak, gold, women’s 200m freestyle S4

Leanne Smith, gold, women’s 100m freestyle S3

Morgan Stickney, gold, women’s 100m freestyle S7

Christie Raleigh-Crossley, bronze, women’s 50m freestyle S9 

Grace Nuhfer, fourth, women’s 200m IM SM13

Ahalya Lettenberger, fifth, women’s 100m freestyle S7

Taylor Winnett, sixth, women’s 100m backstroke S10

Julia Gaffney, seventh, women’s 100m freestyle S7 

Koehn Boyd, Morgan Stickney, Jessica Long & Noah Jaffe, sixth, 4x100m freestyle 34 pts – mixed