By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
After the record-setting year that was 2023, we’re gearing up for another exciting year over here at SwimSwam, and part of that is releasing our fourth annual Top 100 list—check out last year’s rankings here.
Similar to 2023, we’ve taken a statistically driven approach reliant primarily upon world rankings and World Championship medals. We’ve also taken into account things such as potential, Olympic medal opportunities, injuries, and versatility. Long course is weighted more than short course, though performance potential in both formats is factored in.
We’ve also moved Russian and Belarusian swimmers way down this list because of their likely absence from the Olympics or either World Championship meet. While that doesn’t preclude them from swimming fast at domestic meets (including whatever Russia comes up with to replace the Olympics), those swims just won’t mean quite as much without the international spotlight.
We’ll be breaking down the top 100 into multiple installments, so keep an eye out as they’re released.
These lists are, by nature, subjective. If you disagree, leave your thoughts/ranks in the comments.
Women’s Rankings:
- #100 – #91
- #90 – #81
- #80 – 71
- #70 – 61
- #60 – 51
- #50 – #41
- #40 – #31
- #30 – #21
- #20 – #11
- #10 – #1
In this next range, we see a group of swimmers who have found success on the international stage, but could easily find more if they make improvements in 2024. A few are on the cusp of breakthroughs, while others are battling stacked events domestically that they’ll need to battle through to make their respective Olympic teams.
#80: Olivia Wunsch, Australia – Last summer, at 17, Wunsch was the belle of the ball at the World Junior Championships. She came away with 5 gold medals including the 50 and 100 free individually, and in the 50 tied a Meet Record. While 24.59/53.71 on their own might not rank her this high normally, given her age and the Australian success lately, there’s some projection in this placement. Projection – and those relay splits. She was 52.61 and 52.73 in Netanya, which says her individual swims can go even lower. Breaking through for an individual swim in Paris is going to be hard in the world’s best sprint nation, but no Madi Wilson means a relay swim (and gold medal) are within reach.
#79: Barbora Seemanova, Czech Republic – Seemanova swam five races at the World Championships, and she had an okay 200 free (1:56.50 for 9th in the semifinals). But if she can pare that schedule back at the Olympics and narrow in her focus, she has big upside. Seemanova swam best times in a few primary events in 2023, but the most exciting swim came in December when she launched a 57.75 in the 100 fly in Rotterdam. At 23, she’s already a two-time Olympian.
#78: Reona Aoki, Japan – Aoki salvaged her season with a 1:05.98 showing in November in the 100 breast at the Tokyo Swimming Invitational after missing the final at the World Championships. She’s another breaststroker on this list having a renaissance in her late 20s.
#77: Kotryna Teterevkova, Lithuania – Teterevkova, who turns 22 next week, is part of the great Lithuanian breaststroking tradition. Unlike many of the breaststroke names behind her on this list, she can swim all three distances, which she showed by sweeping gold at the 2023 World University Games. Her Worlds performance was a bit downturn, but a 2:22.86 in the 200 breast in Chengdu showed that she’s still in the mix.
#76: Moesha Johnson, Australia – Johnson swam 15:55 in the 1500 free at Worlds in 2022, but backslid a bit to 16:03 at Trials and 16:05 at Worlds in 2023, missing the final in Fukuoka. She swam both open water and pool events at the 2023 World Championships, finishing 10th in the 5k and 9th in the 1500. She’ll do the same at the 2024 World Championships with an Olympic bid in the open water 10k on the line. At Worlds, open water will come before racing in the pool, but at the Olympics, pool swimming comes first. Whether she winds up making the Olympic team in open water or not, she should have a lot fewer meters under her belt going into the 1500 in Paris than she did in Fukuoka, which implies we’ll see an improved performance.
#75: Nikoletta Padar, Hungary – Padar is heading to Arizona State in fall 2025, where her countrymates Zalan Sarkany and Hubert Kos are having so much success. Until then, the 17-year-old is having plenty of success training at home. She continued to improve late into the year in 2023, swimming a best time of 1:56.17 in the long course 200 free at the Budapest stop of the World Cup Series, then a best time of 1:53.51 in the 200 free in short course at the European Championships in December (among other late-in-the-year best times). She has a choice to make whether to go up to the 400 or down to the 100, though.
#74: Anastasia Gorbenko, Israel – Gorbenko swam breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle, and IM races at the World Championships. The only one where she really had success was the 200 IM, where she placed 5th. A frontrunner for the long course world title in February, if she can get focused at Worlds, she has a chance at chasing a 200 IM medal in what will be one of the best fields in the meet.
#73: Wang Xueer, China – The Asian Games champion in the 50 back, Wang won a swim-off to make a final at the 2023 Worlds in the same event. Her best 100 back time came at May’s Chinese Championships, where she swam 58.99. At 26, she’s past the age when most Chinese swimmers peak historically, but without a spot on China’s team for the World Championships, all of her eggs will be in the 100 backstroke basket (which could include a relay medal).
#72: Tess Howley, USA – The retirement of Hali Flickinger leaves a big hole in the 200 fly for the U.S. Olympic Team behind Regan Smith. Dakota Luther (2:06.79), Howley (2:06.85), the incumbent Lindsay Looney (2:07.35), and the young Alex Shackell (2:07.95) are the leaders to take that spot. Howley also swam 58.99 in the 100 fly at Junior Nationals last summer. She’s training at Virginia, where the women’s team is firing on all cylinders, again. No best times for her yet as a Cavalier. Whoever makes the team for the American women is a medal contender.
#71: Gao Weizhong, China – Gao was China’s second entry at Worlds in the 1500 free behind bronze medalist Li Bingjie, and while she only placed 11th — she was also only 15 years old at the time. Times of 4:06 in the 400, 8:25 in the 800, and 16:01 in the 1500 at the Chinese Spring National Championships in May, all before her 16th birthday, are electric, and she took silver in the 1500 at the Asian Games. China is crowded in the middle-distance races (with Li potentially taking up a spot at every distance from 200 through 1500), but Gao could be a three-event finalist in Paris if she can break through.
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