Unraveling the Mystery: The Highest FINA Points Swim and Its Complex Secrets

Data provided by Barry Revzin and Daniel Takata 

The final significant global event of the year—the 2024 Short Course World Championships—witnessed a flurry of world records achieved. And not merely achieved—records were obliterated as athletes like Gretchen Walsh, Noe Ponti, and Luke Hobson rewrote the swimming record books.

Ponti achieved 1061 points in the men’s 50 butterfly final amid this record-breaking spree, leading a commentator to inquire, “What’s the swim that has scored the most FINA points?”

Interestingly, Ponti’s swim was not even the highest at the competition. Walsh’s performances in the 100 butterfly and 100 IM finals garnered 1078.2 points. Nonetheless, the inquiry remains significant, revealing a multifaceted challenge.

FINA points—currently termed Swimming Points after the World Aquatics rebranding—evaluate results across various events in relation to the existing world record. Performances are assessed against a base time established by World Aquatics annually, based on the most recently validated world record. The quicker a swim is compared to the base time, the more points the swimmer receives. (You can learn more about the points calculation methodology on the World Aquatics website.)

Compounding the complexity is the fact that the cut-off dates for resetting base times are August 31st for short-course meters and December 31st for long-course meters.

We do not definitively know when they first began calculating FINA Points swims, or when the current framework was established, so everything revolves around the present system, as applied to previous years.

When examining long and short-course meters swims, our data specialists Barry Revzin and Daniel Takata—who are accountable for all metrics in this article—identified Claire Guttenstein’s long-course 100 freestyle world record performance from 1910 as the swim that achieved the highest point total in history; she garnered 1320 points, bringing the world record down from 1:35 to 1:26. Nonetheless, during the early 1900s, records were frequently broken more readily and in larger increments—thus, it was more customary to witness a remarkably high score.

Keeping that in consideration, our metrics experts established several cut-off dates. To allow records ample time to “settle” after the initial burst that occurs with the establishment of a new event, they designated 1980 for the 50 freestyle and 1968 for all other events. Taking into account all events except mixed relays, here are the top 20 highest-scoring swims.

Table of Highest-Scoring Swims

Note: 1980 cut-off for 50 freestyle, 1986 for all other events. Excludes mixed relays.

Rank	Point Total	Swimmer	Event	Time	Date
1	1114.8	Angela Kennedy	Female SCM 50 Fly	26.56	1995-02-12
2	1103.4	Ulrike Tauber	Female LCM 400 IM	4:42.77	1976-07-24
3	1098.8	Ulrike Richter	Female LCM 100 Back	1:02.98	1974-09-01
4	1093.7	Neil Walker	Male SCM 50 Back	23.42	2000-03-13
4	1093.7	Amy Van Dyken	Female SCM 50 Fly	26.73	1995-02-01
6	1089.9	Cameron van der Burgh	Male SCM 50 Breast	25.43	2009-08-08
7	1083.6	Therese Alshammar	Female SCM 50 Free	23.59	2000-03-18
8	1083.5	Jessica Hardy	Female SCM 50 Breast	28.80	2009-11-14
9	1082.4	Naber/Hencken/Vogel/Montgomery	Men’s LCM 4×100 Medley Relay	3:42.22	1976-07-22
10	1082.3	Ulrike Richter	Female LCM 100 Back	1:03.30	1974-08-23
11	1081.4	Cameron van der Burgh	Male SCM 100 Breast	55.99	2009-08-09
12	1081.2	Michael Burton	Male LCM 1500 Free	16:08.57	1968-09-03
13	1080.8	Ed Moses	Male SCM 200 Breast	2:03.17	2002-01-26
14	1080.7	Sarah Sjostrom	Female LCM 50 Fly	24.43	2014-07-05
15	1079.0	Alexander Popov	Male SCM 100 Free	46.74	1994-03-19
16	1078.2	Gretchen Walsh	Female SCM 100 IM	55.11	2024-12-13
16	1078.2	Gretchen Walsh	Female SCM 100 Fly	52.71	2024-12-14
18	1078.0	Inge de Bruijn	Female LCM 50 Fly	25.64	2000-05-26
18	1078.0	Grant Hackett	Male SCM 400 Free	3:35.01	1999-04-02
20	1077.9	Ed Moses	Male SCM 200 Breast	2:03.28	2002-01-22

An important aspect to keep in mind with this table is that the “base time” which establishes the calculation formula for how many points a swim earns resets only once a year, not every time the world record is surpassed. This explains why, in February 1995, Angela Kennedy and Amy Van Dyken both achieved such high scores in the event. At the beginning of the year, the world record was at 27.54 set in 1990—then Van Dyken brought it down to 26.73. However, the base time did not reset when Van Dyken set the new world record, meaning that when Kennedy took the record less than two weeks later with a 26.56, her points total exceeded that of Van Dyken; her performance was assessed against the original world record, not Van Dyken’s time.

Walsh’s world records in the 100 butterfly (52.71) and 100 IM (55.11) scored 1078.2 points. These performances tie for sixteenth place in the top 20. However, if this list exclusively featured swims from 2000 onwards, she would elevate to seventh, highlighting how exceptional a performance like her appearance in Budapest has become.

Ulrike Richter, Cameron van der Burgh, and Ed Moses are all present on the list multiple times. Richter and Moses’ swims occurred in the same year and event—underscoring again that some swims accumulate points as high as they do due to when they occurred, rather than solely because they broke a world record. However, Van der Burgh’s two entries are from the same year but different events. He shattered the world records for 50 and 100 breaststroke in August 2009 while wearing a super-suit, recording times of 25.43 in the 50 breaststroke and 55.99 in the 100 breaststroke.

Examining van der Burgh’s times accentuates one of the peculiarities within the swimming points system mentioned previously—the cut-off dates. The base times for short-course meters swims are recalibrated on August 31st. Van den Burgh swam faster than these times later in the same year, achieving times of 25.25/55.61 in November.

Nevertheless, by November, the base time had reverted to his standard from August, thus the swims earned fewer points. His time of 25.25 garnered 1021 points, but had he swum it before the August 31 cut-off, he would’ve achieved 1113 points.

These nuances draw attention to the challenging nature of this analysis. Our metrics experts established their selected cut-off dates to eliminate times from the early 20th century when athletes were drastically reducing seconds off world records through simpler enhancements that resulted in significant impacts. However, a table with different cut-off dates would produce alternate outcomes—whether one opted to broaden the range back to 1900 or restrict it to 2000.