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≡ TOP STORIES OF 2025: 10 to 6 ≡
How could any year follow the sensational Paris Olympic Games and a lot more in 2024?
Well, there was a lot going on in 2025 and not just with more brilliant performances on the field, but also away from the arena, pools and stadia. Let’s start the countdown of The Sports Examiner’s top-10 stories of 2025, from no. 10 to no. 6:
10. Aussie swim star Titmus retires
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus entered 2025 after winning a second straight women’s Olympic 400 m Freestyle, a gold in the 4×200 m Free relay and silvers in the 200 m and 800 m Frees. But at age 25, she stunned the swimming world by announcing her retirement in October. Her post-to-herself on Instagram said in part:
“You’ve just turned 25 and the time feels right to step away from swimming. The pursuit was unrelenting and you gave it every skerrick [every tiny bit] of yourself. You walk away knowing every stone was turned, no regrets. You’re fulfilled, content and happy.
“What’s ahead for you is exciting. New goals, more time with the people you love most and the chance to wholeheartedly put yourself, not your sport first.”
She said in an interview that while swimming had always been first in her life, other goals were now becoming more important. So she’s done, finishing with eight Olympic medals (4-3-1) and nine World Championships medals (4-2-3).
In a not-completely-unrelated development, Canada’s 19-year-old Summer McIntosh won the women’s 400 m Freestyle at the 2025 Worlds, as well as the 200 m Butterfly and the 200-400 m Medleys, and set world records in the 400 Free and both medleys.
9. Russia’s slow return
Two days following the close of the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games will mark the fourth anniversary of the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, on 24 February 2022.
Russia is still fighting and the Ukrainians have made a heroic defense of their country. The world was so shocked by the war that even the Olympic Movement reacted by essentially banning Russian and ally Belarus from international competition, in part so that Russian and Belarusian athletes would not themselves be attacked.
But while the war continues, the International Olympic Committee is leading a long, drawn-out thaw that is allowing some Russians and Belarusians back into international competition. New IOC President Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) has continued the “Individual Neutral Athlete” program – created for Paris 2024 – for the Milan Cortina Winter Games, complete with an independent review panel.
But some International Federations, such as for judo, have been ready to re-admit Russians and Belarusians with full colors and fanfare. The IOC’s recommended ban on team entries held for 2025, but at the Olympic Summit on 11 December, the stakeholders:
“supported the IOC EB’s recommendation that youth athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport should no longer be restricted in their access to international youth competitions, in both individual and team sports. The definition of youth competitions and the application of these recommendations depends for this purpose on the regulations of each International Federation (IF). The Summit participants committed to take these discussions back to their organisations for their consideration. It was recognised that implementation by the stakeholders will take time.”
Moreover, the Court of Arbitration for Sport issued decisions that winter-sport federations for luge and skiing cannot simply ban all Russians and Belarusians, but must make provisions for “neutrals” using the IOC’s guidelines.
Ukrainian officials are furious, as are sports leaders in the Baltic countries, Poland and the Nordic countries. But they are complying. Meanwhile, Russia’s offensive continues.
8. The anti-doping wars continue
This wasn’t the best year in the fight against doping. Beyond the announcement of the Enhanced Games (see below), the brawl between the World Anti-Doping Agency, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the U.S. Congress showed no signs of abating.
The centerpiece of the fight continues to be the WADA handling of the mass-positives incident of 23 Chinese swimmers in January 2021, with the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency issuing no suspensions and eventually no sanctions, insisting on contaminated food. WADA did not appeal and in October 2025, USADA chief Travis Tygart once again slammed back at WADA President Witold Banka (POL):
“His attempts to smear America and our U.S. Olympic and professional athletes is a desperate attempt to divert attention away from his failure in allowing China to sweep 23 positive tests under the carpet [in 2021]. This abject failure potentially robbed the world’s clean athletes of 96 medals, including 18 (14 gold) US swimming medals, from the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Games.
“Those who value clean and fair sport should stand up and demand that WADA be fixed.”
The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, continues to refuse to forward U.S. dues of $3.625 million for 2024, and in June, S. 233, the U.S. Senate’s “Restoring Confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency Act of 2025” was reported out of committee. It has stalled, but the situation continues to deteriorate.
Moreover, the alarm bell over the effectiveness of the worldwide anti-doping effort was rung by Athletics Integrity Unit leader David Howman (NZL), who said at the World Conference on Doping in Sport in December:
“But let’s be honest and pragmatic – the system has stalled. Intentional dopers at elite level are evading detection. We are not effective enough nowadays in catching cheats. We have great education programmes which help but they don’t impact the intentional rule-breakers in elite sport.”
7. The Enhanced Games
On top of the other issues in doping came the May announcement of the Enhanced Games, in which doping will be allowed, with events in athletics, swimming and weightlifting, to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2026.
The lure was money and plenty of it, with founder Aron D’Souza (AUS) promising medical supervision and safety and a full-on chase of “world records.”
The announcement immediately shook the anti-doping community, with stern warnings from WADA and national anti-doping authorities about the dangers inherent in the event, and bans for athletes, coaches or officials who participate.
However, the event has hardly taken off. Athlete recruitment was difficult from the start and at year’s end, a total of nine swimmers, three track athletes and two weightlifters have signed up, including 2022 World 100 m champ Fred Kerley of the U.S., who is facing multiple legal issues in Florida off the track. That’s 14 out of the 100 or so the organizers say they need.
Recruitment got so tough that a lawsuit was filed against WADA, World Aquatics and USA Swimming for their actions against pro-doping events, but a U.S. District Judge dismissed the action for lack of a valid claim in November. Then, D’Souza was replaced as the head of the organization and a $40 million cash infusion was reported in a transaction that will place Enhanced Games as a trading stock on the NASDAQ exchange in 2026.
There are a lot of folks in the Olympic Movement who do not want to see the Enhanced Games take place. If the financing comes through as promised, it seems that at least one edition is likely to be held, but there are many more questions than answers.
6. World Athletics’ sensational return to Tokyo
There was great anticipation for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, where the Olympic Games had been held in 2021 with no spectators, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It turned out that the wait was worth it, with more than 50,000 in the stands for each of the evening sessions and fabulous competitions on the track and the infield.
Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set another men’s vault world record at 6.30 m (20-8) and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson went 1-2 in the men’s 100 m, but the U.S. dominated with 16 gold medals in all.
Sprint star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won three, in the women’s 100-200-4×100 m and hurdles icon Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won two, running the second-fastest women’s 400 m in history and a leg on the winning 4×400 m team. The women also saw field-event wins from Katie Moon (vault), Tara Davis-Woodhall (long jump), Valarie Allman (discus) and Anna Hall in the heptathlon.
The American men had Noah Lyles win his fourth 200 m title, a sweep in the hurdles from Cordell Tinch (110) and Rai Benjamin (400) and a stunning victory from Paris 1,500 m winner Cole Hocker in the 5,000 m. The U.S. men won the 4×100 m relay with Lyles on anchor and Olympic champ Ryan Crouser, out all season with an injury, defended his Worlds shot put title in his only meet in 2025. And the U.S. won the mixed 4×400 m as well.
The meet was superb and the U.S. team was impressive. The sport as a whole benefitted from having the Worlds at the end of the season, leading to a better-organized training and development schedule for the athletes, especially the big stars.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR) reflected in December, noting:
“On any matrix of assessment, any metric, Tokyo was our most successful World Championships …
“For 84 countries to leave a world championships with either a finalist, or a top-eight finish, is unprecedented. I will say this, and I will never tire of saying it, there is no sport that has that global reach at world-championship level.”
These were all important developments this year, but there were more. Coming tomorrow: the top five stories of 2025!
Rich Perelman
Editor
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