Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 50 metre freestyle

The event featured a wide-open field following the absence of Sweden's Sarah Sjöström, who had won the past three World Championship titles and the Paris 2024 Olympic gold. The primary gold medal contenders were Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske of the United States, and Meg Harris of Australia, all seeded with 23.9 seconds. Poland's Kasia Wasick, one of the few active swimmers to have broken 24 seconds before, was also in contention. China’s Wu Qingfeng and Cheng Yujie, along with rising Europeans such as Milou van Wijk of the Netherlands, were expected to contend for places in the final and possibly medal. ==Qualification==

Each National Federation was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but they could do so only if both of them had attained the "A" standard qualification time in an approved qualification event. For this event, the "A" standard qualification time was 24.86 seconds. Federations could enter one athlete into the event if they met the "B" standard qualification time. For this event, the "B" standard qualification time was 25.73 seconds. Athletes could also enter the event if they had met an "A" or "B" standard in a different event and their Federation had not entered anyone else. Additional considerations applied to Federations who had few swimmers enter through the standard qualification times. Federations in this category could at least enter two men and two women to the competition, all of whom could enter into up to two events. ==Records==

Prior to the competition, the existing world and championship records were as follows. ==Heats==

The heats took place on 2 August at 10:02. ==Semifinals==

The semifinals took place on 2 August at 19:51. ==Final==

The final took place on 3 August at 19:18. ==References==