By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
There are less than a 100 days until the start of the 2024 Olympic Games. There are still plenty of big meets between now and then, including Olympic Trials for the U.S, Australia, Canada, and France. From the season opening World Cup circuit, the 2024 World Championships, and meets like the Australian Open and Berlin Open, athletes have been putting up fast times all season.
And as the spring rolls on and many countries have already held Olympic Trials or closed their qualification period, it’s beginning to become clearer who is going to be a medal threat in Paris and the times that it may take to get into the final, much less onto the podium.
Heading into the next round of senior level international and domestic meets, here is the state of affairs for the men’s events–the top five so far this season so far (September 1, 2023 – April 30, 2024) as well as what the medal table would look like based on this season so far.
Note: There are Russian swimmers included in the top five rankings but none are included in the medal tables. There are two events on the men’s side this affects: the 100 backstroke and 400 IM.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 50 Free
MCEVOY
21.13
2 | Benjamin PROUD |
GBR | 21.25 | 04/06 |
3 | Vladyslav BUKHOV |
UKR | 21.38 | 02/16 |
4 | Gabe CASTANO |
MEX | 21.67 | 04/13 |
4 | Bjoern SEELIGER |
SWE | 21.67 | 02/16 |
Men’s 100 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Free
PAN
WR 46.80
2 | Chris GIULIANO |
USA | 47.49 | 02/25 |
3 | Alessandro MIRESSI |
ITA | 47.61 | 11/30 |
4 | Kyle CHALMERS |
AUS | 47.63 | 04/20 |
5 | Nandor NEMETH |
HUN | 47.78 | 02/15 |
Men’s 200 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Free
MARTENS
1:44.14
2 | Sunwoo HWANG |
KOR | 1:44.40 | 09/27 |
3 | Matthew RICHARDS |
GBR | 1:44.69 | 04/07 |
4 | Duncan SCOTT |
GBR | 1:44.75 | 04/07 |
5 | Maximillian GIULIANI |
AUS | 1:44.79 | 12/12 |
Men’s 400 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 400 Free
MÄRTENS
3:40.33
2 | Elijah WINNINGTON |
AUS | 3:41.41 | 04/17 |
3 | Samuel SHORT |
AUS | 3:41.64 | 04/17 |
4 | Woomin KIM |
KOR | 3:42.71 | 02/11 |
5 | Oliver KLEMET |
GER | 3:42.81 | 04/19 |
Men’s 800 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 800 Free
WIFFEN
7:40.94
2 | Elijah WINNINGTON |
AUS | 7:42.95 | 02/14 |
3 | Gregorio PALTRINIERI |
ITA | 7:42.98 | 02/14 |
4 | Samuel SHORT |
AUS | 7:43.98 | 04/19 |
5 | Sven SCHWARZ |
GER | 7:44.29 | 02/14 |
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
2023-2024 LCM Men 1500 Free
Wiffen
14:34.07
2 | Gregorio PALTRINIERI |
ITA | 14:41.38 | 11/28 |
3 | Florian WELLBROCK |
GER | 14:42.28 | 04/28 |
4 | David AUBRY |
FRA | 14:44.85 | 02/18 |
5 | David BETLEHEM |
HUN | 14:46.44 | 02/18 |
Men’s 100 Backstroke
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Back
XU
52.05
2 | Thomas CECCON |
ITA | 52.27 | 10/08 |
3 | Miron Lifinstsev |
RUS | 52.34 WJR | 04/15 |
4 | Hunter ARMSTRONG |
USA | 52.68 | 02/13 |
5 | Oliver MORGAN |
GBR | 52.70 | 04/03 |
Men’s 200 Backstroke
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Back
GONZALEZ
1:55.30
2 | Jiayu XU |
CHN | 1:55.37 | 09/29 |
3 | Roman MITYUKOV |
SUI | 1:55.40 | 02/16 |
4 | Bradley Woodward |
AUS | 1:55.56 | 12/03 |
5 | Adam TELEGDY |
HUN | 1:55.57 | 04/12 |
Men’s 100 Breaststroke
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Breast
QIN
57.69
2 | Adam PEATY |
GBR | 57.94 | 04/02 |
3 | Nic FINK |
USA | 58.57 | 02/12 |
4 | Arno KAMMINGA |
NED | 58.68 | 10/20 |
5 | Sun JIAJUN |
CHN | 58.73 | 04/20 |
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Breast
WATANABE
2:06.94
2 | Haiyang QIN |
CHN | 2:07.03 | 09/28 |
3 | YU HANAGURUMA |
JPN | 2:07.07 | 03/21 |
3 | YAMATO FUKASAWA |
JPN | 2:07.07 | 02/17 |
5 | Kirill PRIGODA |
RUS | 2:07.48 | 04/17 |
Men’s 100 Butterfly
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Fly
PONTI
50.16
2 | Matthew William Temple |
AUS | 50.25 | 12/03 |
3 | Caeleb DRESSEL |
USA | 50.84 | 04/12 |
3 | Hubert KOS |
HUN | 50.84 | 04/12 |
5 | Andrei MINAKOV |
RUS | 50.86 | 04/16 |
Men’s 200 Butterfly
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Fly
HONDA
1:53.15
2 | Genki Terakado |
JPN | 1:54.07 | 03/21 |
3 | Kuan-Hung WANG |
TPE | 1:54.53 | 09/29 |
4 | Noè PONTI |
SUI | 1:54.59 | 04/07 |
5 | Alberto RAZZETTI |
ITA | 1:54.65 | 02/14 |
Men’s 200 IM
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 IM
Wang
1:54.62
2 | Duncan SCOTT |
GBR | 1:55.91 | 04/05 |
3 | Shaine CASAS |
USA | 1:56.06 | 11/30 |
4 | Alberto RAZZETTI |
ITA | 1:56.21 | 11/28 |
5 | Thomas DEAN |
GBR | 1:56.44 | 04/05 |
Men’s 400 IM
2023-2024 LCM Men 400 IM
LITCHFIELD
4:09.14
2 | Alberto RAZZETTI |
ITA | 4:09.29 | 11/30 |
3 | Ilya BORODIN |
RUS | 4:09.59 | 04/18 |
4 | Lewis CLAREBURT |
NZL | 4:09.72 | 02/18 |
5 | Tomoru HONDA |
JPN | 4:09.98 | 11/30 |
Medal Table
Note: Organized by number of gold, then silver, then bronze. Caeleb Dressel (USA) and Hubert Kos (Hungary) are tied for third in the 100 butterfly world rankings, which counts as a “bronze” for both for the purposes of this table.
More than anything, this medal table serves as a reflection of the training cycles of each country and which have already held their Olympic Trials. The top three countries on this table–China, Japan, and Germany–have all closed their Olympic qualification periods.
China and Germany’s qualification windows both closed at the end of this month with their national championships. However all of China’s four top times of the season come from earlier in the year; the most recent was Pan Zhanle‘s 100 freestyle world record in Doha. Qin Haiyang (100 breast), Xu Jiayu (100 back), and Wang Shun (200 IM) all swam their top times in the fall at either the Asian Games or in Qin’s case, on the World Cup circuit. September’s Asian Games were a home meet for China and some swimmers prioritized that meet in 2023.
On the flip side, Germany’s top times, courtesy of Lukas Märtens, all came from the 22-year-old’s performances at German Championships at the end of April.
Similarly, the British men’s rankings in the top five all come from their Olympic Trials. There, Ben Proud, Duncan Scott, Matt Richards, Tom Dean, Adam Peaty, Oliver Morgan, and Max Litchfield all swam top five times in the world, with Litchfield taking the top time in the men’s 400 IM. Great Britain’s men are tied in the medal table with the Australian men, who haven’t had their Trials yet.
Irish swimmers have one last opportunity to earn qualifying times at the end of May at the Irish Open Championships. Like Germany, their two “golds” are thanks to one swimmer, in their case Daniel Wiffen, who swept the distance events at the 2024 World Championships.
Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
China | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
Japan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Germany | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Ireland | 2 | 2 | ||
Australia | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Great Britain | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Spain | 1 | 1 | ||
Italy | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
United States | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
South Korea | 1 | 1 | ||
Hungary | 1 | 1 | ||
New Zealand | 1 | 1 | ||
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) | 1 | 1 |
15 countries are represented on this hypothetical medal table. That is only one less than the 16 countries who medalled in the individual men’s events at the 2020 Olympics. The countries on this list that did not medal in Tokyo are Ireland, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), and New Zealand. At the 2020 Games, the U.S that led the men’s individual events medal table with six gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.
From a total medals lens, China still leads the table with six. But four countries–Australia, Great Britain, Italy, and the U.S–all follow with five entries in the top three of the world rankings. Neither Australia nor the U.S have held their Olympic Trials yet.
SwimSwam: Who Leads the World Rankings With Less Than 90 Days To Paris? (Men’s Edition)
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