A Landmark Year, A Stronger Future for Singapore Aquatics

Dear members of the aquatics community,

We’ve come to an end of an eventful year.
This is a good chance for us to reflect on the highlights while expressing appreciation for all who made this possible.
2025 was a landmark year for aquatics in Singapore, with the World Aquatics Championships being held here for the first time.

Our athletes did us proud.
14-year-old Ainslee Kwang was the first Singaporean diver to reach the semi-finals of the world championships, while Olympian Gan Ching Hwee broke four national records.
Our artistic swimmers set personal bests, while the men’s water polo team recorded their first victory at the world championships level.

We capped off a great year at the 33rd SEA Games in December, where our athletes won 22 gold medals, 14 silvers and 9 bronzes. Aquatics’ gold medal haul accounts for more than 40% of Singapore’s total medal tally at the Games,
and our goal in this regard remains to continue making significant contributions to the nation’s overall tally, while striving for greater heights on the Asian and world levels.
There are significant milestones from the recent SEA Games that we can celebrate as encouraging signs of progress:

• Letita Sim’s outstanding performance of 5 gold medals, 5 Games records, and 1 National Record
• Gan Ching Hwee’s triple-triple in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events
• Avvir Tham winning Singapore’s first individual diving gold at the SEA Games since 1965
• Quah Ting Wen becoming Singapore’s most bemedalled SEA Games athlete with 65 medals over 10 SEA Games
• The men’s water polo team winning their 29th gold in 30 editions
• Artyom Lukasevits clinching our first men’s open water swimming medal in 14 years

We also celebrate the arrival of the next generation.
We had a contingent of 70 athletes, of which 40 were competing at the SEA Games for the first time.
Swimmer Julia Yeo and divers Ainslee Kwang and Ryenne Cham, all aged 14, showed remarkable composure and courage in their SEA Games debuts to return with medals.

Beyond these achievements in the pool, there were plenty of opportunities for the community to come together to exchange ideas and engage in discussions on uplifting the aquatics ecosystem.
We launched the SwimSingapore presented by OCBC national framework in July, as part of our commitment to ensure that every Singaporean can build confidence in the water and pursue a lifelong journey in aquatics.

The World Aquatics Championships also provided a platform for the community to come together through ambassador programmes, clinics and sharing sessions.
These initiatives created opportunities to inspire the next generation of aquatics athletes, as well as empower lives through aquatics.
The World Aquatics Masters Championships, which saw over 6000 participants aged 25 and above competing across five aquatic sports, showed that age is no barrier when it comes to staying active through aquatic sports.

We have a busy year ahead of us, with our athletes and coaches preparing for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
We will look to build on the successes of 2025, while at the same time keeping an eye on Olympic qualification efforts and strengthening the pipeline for 2029 SEA Games on home ground and beyond.

More exciting events and updates are in the works for 2026 as we look towards building to become an aquatics powerhouse in Asia. More information will be shared throughout the year.

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to athletes and coaches, as well as affiliates, sponsors, partners, officials and volunteers for contributing in your various roles to grow aquatics in Singapore.

Finally, my sincere appreciation goes to the families and significant others of the SAQ staff.
2025 was an exceptionally demanding year as we scaled new heights with the World Aquatics Championships while simultaneously preparing for the SEA Games.
The pace and pressure of this work inevitably spilled beyond office hours and into family life.

Thank you for carrying more than your fair share at home during this period, and for the patience, understanding, and quiet sacrifices that made our work possible.
Our staff’s contributions matter deeply to our athletes in Singapore and on the international stage—and your support makes them possible.
We do not take their work for granted, and we certainly do not take your support for granted.
Thank you for standing with us!

I wish you all a happy and healthy 2026.

Prof. Kenneth Goh
President, Singapore Aquatics