Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar Pulls Out Of 2025 World Championships For Health Reasons

Just days before the 2025 World Championships are set to begin in Singapore, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Lana Pudar has announced her withdrawal from the meet due to illness. The 19-year-old, who is heading to the University of Virginia in a few months, broke the news in an Instagram post on Thursday, sharing that health complications during her final training camp forced the difficult decision.

See the full post below, translated into English:

Despite my strong desire to compete at my fourth World Championships, unfortunately, I am forced to withdraw from the competition in Singapore for health reasons. Just two days after arriving at the final training camp in Turkey, I ended up in the hospital on an IV and was prescribed antibiotic therapy.

As this is now my second week unable to train or prepare properly for the Championships, my team and I have concluded that under these circumstances, it doesn’t make sense to attend the World Championships just for the sake of competing and to further risk my health, especially when I’m unable to perform at my best.

It was truly very difficult for me to make this decision, as I had been preparing for this championship for a long time and with great effort, but I believe this is the only right decision at this moment.

Now, I will focus on a full recovery so that I can be in the best possible shape for my move to the United States, where I will begin training in the second half of August.

Pudar is recognized as one of the world’s best all-around butterflyers. She was the bronze medalist in the 200 fly last February at the World Championships in Doha, clocking a time of 2:07.92. She achieved her best time in the event at the European Junior Championships in 2023, when she won with 2:06.26, 4.4 seconds ahead of runner-up Alina Baievych of Germany.

Also in 2023, she won gold medals in the 100 fly (57.77) and 200 fly (2:07.20, a meet record) and was runner-up in the 50 fly (26.26) at the World Junior Championships in Netanya, Israel. Her best 100 fly time comes from the 2023 Euro Juniors, when she won gold with 56.95.

Pudar competed at both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. This past summer in Paris, she was a semifinalist in the 200 fly, finishing 12th with a time of 2:08.74, and placed 17th in the prelims of the 100 fly with 57.97. At the Tokyo Games, she touched 19th in the 100 fly (58.32) and was the second-youngest swimmer at the meet.

In short course meters, she earned a bronze medal in the 200 fly at the 2021 World Championships in Abu Dhabi, just months after the Tokyo Olympics.

Pudar holds BIH national records in the long course meter 100/200/400 free, LCM 50/100/200 fly, short course meter 50/100/400 free, SCM 50 back, and SCM 50/100/200 fly.

Most recently, at the 2025 European U23 Championships earlier this month, Pudar posted season bests of 58.90 in the 100 fly (5th) and 2:10.85 in the 200 fly (2nd).