Via Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
After an exceptional 12 months of racing that incorporated the Olympics sandwiched between the Lengthy Path and Quick Path International Championships, it’s time to start out freeing our 5th annual Best 100 listing—take a look at closing 12 months’s scores right here.
As in earlier years, we’ve taken a statistically pushed way reliant basically upon global scores and medals gained on the Olympics and, to a lesser extent, Quick Path Worlds and the 2024 Worlds in Doha. We’ve additionally taken under consideration issues reminiscent of doable, long term medal alternatives, accidents, and flexibility. Lengthy direction is weighted extra closely than quick direction, although efficiency doable in each codecs is factored in.
After a big contingent of Russian and Belarusian swimmers raced at Quick Path Worlds in December, the ones swimmers have began to transport again up the scores when they had been low at the lists closing 12 months because of loss of pageant.
We’ll be breaking down the highest 100 into a couple of installments, so stay a watch out as they’re launched.
Those lists are, via nature, subjective. For those who disagree, go away your ideas/ranks within the feedback.
Thanks to Daniel Takata for his assist with the knowledge and compiling the scores. Braden Keith contributed to this file.
Males’s Scores:
#100 – #91
#90 – #81
#80 – #71
#70 – #61
#60 – #51
#50 – #41
#40 – #31
#30 – #21
#20 – #11
#10 – #1
#50: Tom Dean, Nice Britain (2024 Rank: 10) — The British males have turn out to be infamous for his or her intensity within the 200 freestyle. That power used to be a double-edged sword for Tom Dean, one of the vital males who helped identify that legacy, as he neglected out on his probability to protect his 200 freestyle Olympic gold in Paris. He swam a 1:45.09 on the British Trials, which held up for ninth on this planet closing 12 months. Dean nonetheless certified for Crew GB, incomes a roster spot within the 200 IM and at the 4×100 and four×200 freestyle relays. Dean took fifth in his lone person match in Paris, swimming a 1:56.46 that’s simply off his lifetime best possible 1:56.07. He ranked seventh at the 12 months, in the back of a slew of one:55s. He break up 1:45.28 at the 4×200 freestyle relay, serving to Nice Britain turn out to be the primary country to protect its Olympic relay gold with the similar 4 swimmers. Dean hasn’t raced because the Olympic Video games, and so long as he chooses to fit up in 2025, he’ll most probably stay a key piece of the British roster. It harm his inventory in those scores most effective to make the Olympic roster in a single person match however at his best possible, Dean is a danger in each the 200 freestyle and 200 IM.
#49: Nyls Korstanje, Netherlands (2024 Rank: 55) — Dash butterflyer Nyls Korstanje swam an entire life best possible of fifty.59 within the Paris 100 butterfly semifinals, qualifying 4th for the general in a deep box that left many huge names at the outdoor having a look in. The swim ranks him seventh on this planet closing season. Korstanje added quite within the ultimate and positioned sixth in 50.83. The swim advanced on his Twelfth-place end in Tokyo. Even with that good fortune, Korstanje excelled all the way through the short-course season, swimming lifetime bests within the 50/100 fly. Korstanje gained his first person Worlds medal in LCM or SCM on the 2024 Worlds in Budapest, profitable silver and turning into the second-fastest performer in historical past. Lengthy-course is weighted extra closely in those scores, however Korstanje advanced in each pool distances this previous 12 months. And with the 50 butterfly again at the time table for Worlds, he’s were given some other medal alternative to shoot for this 12 months.
#48: Kim Woomin, South Korea (2024 Rank: 65) — Kim Woomin burst onto the worldwide degree initially of 2024, profitable the boys’s 400 freestyle global identify in Doha with a three:42.71. With the swim, he was the primary South Korean guy since Park Taehwan in 2011 to face atop the Worlds podium within the match. He remained at the leading edge of the global scene all the way through the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, decreasing his best possible to a few:42.42 to win on the Monaco Mare Nostrum prevent. Kim, 23, delivered on the Video games, profitable bronze in 3:42.50, retaining off Australia’s Sam Quick via .14 seconds. With the swim, he earned South Korea’s first Olympic medal since 2012. Kim is a flexible freestyler, he reduced his 200 freestyle best possible to one:45.68 in March 2024 and clocked 7:46.03 to win the 800 freestyle on the 2023 Asian Video games. The freestyle mid-distance occasions are frequently crowded, however Kim has carved out an area for himself over the past twelve months and is now the Twelfth quickest performer in 400 unfastened historical past.
#47: Hunter Armstrong, USA (2024 Rank: 24) — Hunter Armstrong slipped at the get started of the boys’s 100 backstroke semifinal on the U.S. Olympic Trials. However the “Magic Man” clawed his long ago in the course of the box, making the general and in the long run qualifying for his second-straight Olympic Video games within the match. Armstrong additionally completed 4th within the 100 freestyle, qualifying for the boys’s 4×100 freestyle relay after swimming an entire life best possible 47.59 within the semifinals. Armstrong’s best possible swim of the Paris Olympics got here on that relay; he delivered a blistering 46.75 break up to assist the U.S. males win gold. Armstrong has a historical past of eking thru round-to-round sooner than unleashing within the ultimate, and whether or not that plan misfired or he had a foul swim, Armstrong discovered himself locked out of the boys’s 100 backstroke ultimate in eleventh. The 24-year-old hasn’t raced since Paris, however he has made a coaching exchange, returning to Ohio State after a stint at Cal. He additionally stated he’s “shifted [his] focus from just swimming into setting up [his] life for after swimming.” The International Championships brings the 50 backstroke, the place Armstrong is the sector file holder, again into the development lineup; Armstrong is likely one of the U.S.’s maximum skilled dash backstrokers, and his 100 freestyle break up on the Video games is intriguing.
#46: Caeleb Dressel, USA (2024 Rank: 29) — Caeleb Dressel finished his comeback to skilled swimming in 2024. After an advanced two years the place he reevaluated his courting with the game, Dressel made his 3rd Olympic group. He had a robust week on the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, qualifying for the Video games in my view within the 100 butterfly (50.19) and 50 freestyle (21.41), and as a part of the 4×100 freestyle relay with a third position within the 100 freestyle (47.53). Dressel’s quickest swims of the 12 months got here at Trials; he didn’t fit them in Paris however nonetheless positioned sixth within the 50 freestyle (21.61). He additionally took thirteenth within the 100 butterfly (51.57). He anchored the U.S. males’s 4×100 freestyle relay to gold, the tenth Olympic medal of his occupation, and the American males’s most effective gold till the general day of pageant. With some other kid at the manner, Dressel is doing his “due diligence” as he figures out what 2025 and the following Olympic cycle will appear to be. But when 2024 used to be it for Dressel, it used to be a suitable send-off for a swimmer who has impressed many now not just for his good fortune within the pool however for his openness about his psychological well being and the paintings it took to go back to the pool.
#45: Jordan Crooks, Cayman Islands (2024 Rank: 77) — 19.90. Jordan Crooks made historical past on the 2024 Quick Path International Championships, turning into the primary guy to wreck the 20-second barrier within the 50 freestyle–a feat lots of the greatest sprinters within the recreation’s historical past got here up simply in need of attaining. It used to be a mythical swim from Crooks within the Budapest semifinals as he reduced the sector file he set in prelims. The following night, he defended his 50 freestyle global identify, including a moment medal to his haul after taking bronze within the 100 freestyle. Crooks has advanced a development of getting his best possible swim in prelims/semifinals and lacking his best possible all the way through the global ultimate. It took place in each the 50 and 100 freestyle in Budapest, because it did within the 50 freestyle on the 2022 SC Worlds. The similar factor took place on the Paris Video games, although Crooks nonetheless confirmed that he may translate his SCM prowess into the long-course pool. He took eighth in Paris, turning into the primary Caymanian to make a swimming Olympic ultimate after hitting a countrywide file 21.51 in prelims. Crooks has advanced into a fantastic short-course sprinter (yards and meters), and whilst his construction in LCM has been slower, he’s endured to make stable growth. Crooks has proven he can throw down the ancient time, however it will be improbable to look him produce the ancient time within the global ultimate.
#44: Nic Fink, USA (2024 Rank: 19) — Nic Fink has been america’ maximum loyal breaststroker over the past Olympic cycle, frequently discovering some way onto the rostrum and handing over well timed relay splits. Fink used to be one of the vital greatest U.S names to wait the Doha International Championships, and he gained 5 medals, medaling throughout all 3 person breaststroke distances and profitable the 100 breaststroke. Fink appeared to put extra emphasis at the 100 breaststroke slightly than the 200 (which he made his first Olympic group in) and he certified for his moment Video games within the 100 breaststroke. The lads’s 100 breaststroke ultimate in Paris used to be gradual, however Fink nonetheless earned the primary Olympic medal of his occupation in a tie for silver with Adam Peaty. He then earned two extra medals (1 gold, and 1 silver) contributing to relays. At 31, Fink has already begun to suppose past his skilled swimming occupation, however he’s made no public announcement about his retirement plans. Whilst the younger American breaststrokers have stuck as much as him within the 200 breaststroke, Fink nonetheless holds the merit over the sector within the 100 breast. He’s racked up a variety of revel in and so long as he needs to proceed swimming, is aware of what it takes to qualify for the united statesinternational roster and be able onto the rostrum on the giant meet, regardless of how briskly the sector.
#43: Roman Mityukov, Switzerland (2024 Rank: 39) — The Olympic bronze medalist within the 200 again, Mityukov took benefit of a gentle box on this match (his time used to be nearly a moment slower than the bronze medalist from 2016) to win his nation’s 4th-ever Olympic medal in swimming. Nonetheless, an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, and you’ll be able to most effective race the swimmers who display up. He dropped part a moment to land on that podium in 2024 and has dropped time principally annually of his grownup lifestyles. No longer a lot of a medal hope in every other match, however on this one, he’s a just right wager for some other podium end in Singapore.
#42: Pieter Coetze, South Africa (2024 Rank: 50) — South African backstroker Pieter Coetze put a large number of emphasis in 2024, even skipping out at the 2023 International Championships to concentrate on closing 12 months’s packed time table. He did display up for the 2024 International Championships in Doha, incomes bronze within the 200 again within the lead-up to the Olympic Video games. Coetze made finals within the 100 and 200 backstroke in Paris, completing fifth and seventh, respectively. He broke the African file in each occasions (52.68/1:55.60), together with downing the super-suited 200 again global file, which stood since 2009. Coetze’s onslaught at the continental file books endured on the International Cup. He reset the African file within the 50/100 backstroke as he finished Triple Crowns within the 100 and 200 backstroke. Coetze skipped the 2024 SC Worlds however has established himself as a flexible backstroker at the global degree and can glance to push even additional up the ranks in 2025.
#41: Chris Guiliano, USA (2024 Rank: NR) — Chris Guiliano endured his meteoric upward thrust at the U.S. nationwide scene in 2024. He adopted up his marvel qualification to the 2023 International Championship group with a breakout season in yards that noticed him vault up the best-ever ranks within the dash freestyle occasions. He rose even upper on the U.S. Olympic Trials, turning into the primary American guy since Matt Biondi to qualify for the Olympics within the 50/100/200 freestyle. Guiliano swam lifetime bests in all 3 occasions (21.59/47.25/1:45.38) as he certified for his debut Video games, and in some ways, Trials used to be the height of his season as the ones occasions held as much as rank ninth/4th/Twelfth at the 12 months. He neglected the semifinals in each the 50 and 200 freestyle on the Paris Olympics. He made the 100 freestyle ultimate and positioned eighth. If Guiliano can put in force the teachings from his first Video games, it’ll most probably serve him smartly in 2025 and extra alongside within the Olympic quad. He used to be most probably nearer to his targets on the 2024 Quick Path International Championship, taking fourth within the 50/100 freestyle. Because the Notre Dame males’s swimming group’s suspension, Guiliano has popped up at Texas to impress their dash squad, which gifts some other giant studying alternative as he trains with Bob Bowman and some of the star-studded groups in america.
Learn the entire tale on SwimSwam: SwimSwam’s Best 100 For 2025: Males’s #41-50
