Top-20 Men’s Swimmers within the World: SCM World-Record Holders

Ranking the Top-20 Men’s Swimmers within the World, Part I (16-20): Short Course World-Record Holders Stand Out

At the current World Championships, swimmers competed for medals in 42 pool occasions, and the outcomes clearly present the perfect swimmer on this planet for every race. Comparing swimmers throughout occasions is a subjective job, with components together with versatility, dominance, longevity, big-race efficiency and relay contributions all thought-about. With the summer time competitors season concluded, we’ll once more attempt to stack up the varied opponents from one by 20.

These rankings shall be based mostly largely on performances on the World Championships however outcomes from different meets shall be thought-about. Swimmers who sat out this 12 months’s main competitions won’t be included on this checklist.

Honorable Mention

Determining which swimmers ought to make the reduce for the top-20 was a troublesome job, and it required the omission of a number of robust candidates. That contains junior-level standout breaststrokers Filip Nowacki and Shin Ohashi, who went 1-2 within the 100 and 200 breast on the current World Junior Championships. Nowacki really swam quicker than the successful time on the senior-level Worlds whereas Ohashi was simply off that point.

The puzzling Pan Zhanle didn’t make the reduce just one 12 months after posting an otherworldly 100 freestyle world report of 46.40 on the Paris Olympics. This time, Pan didn’t qualify for any particular person finals at Worlds, though he did acquire a relay silver. The different Olympic champion to fall off the checklist is Dan Wiffen, the space swimmer who battled appendicitis previous to Singapore.

Ilya Kharun was barely left off regardless of successful 100 fly bronze at Worlds. He fell off the rostrum within the 200 fly and missed the 50 fly remaining regardless of coming into the meet with the world’s quickest time. Miron Lifintsev was the leadoff backstroker on two gold-medal-winning medley relays for the impartial athletes (blended and males’s), and his finest 100 again leadoff would have been the second-fastest time ever, though it was unofficial because it got here in a mixed-gender occasion. If Lifintsev can convey that pace to particular person occasions, he shall be a part of future rankings of the top-20.

American Shaine Casas was reduce regardless of his outstanding efficiency within the 200 IM at Worlds, the place a time of 1:54.30 made him the fourth-fastest performer in historical past and simply off Ryan Lochte’s world report from previous to the meet. But Casas was baffling in his different occasions, failing to make it out of prelims within the 100 butterfly or 50 backstroke and shedding his spot on the U.S. males’s 400 medley relay.

There was additionally no room on the checklist for France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, who boosted his international standing tremendously with a pair of bronze medals within the 100 and 200 again in Singapore. Ndoye-Brouard crammed out the quickest podiums ever in each occasions as he broke 52 within the 100-meter occasion and swam underneath 1:55 for the primary time within the 200.

---

20. Nicolo Martinenghi, Italy

Narrowly making the reduce for the top-20 is an Italian breaststroker who has been among the many world’s most constant swimmers within the final half-decade. Martinenghi gained his first Olympic medal within the 100-meter race in Tokyo, and he has not missed a serious podium within the occasion since, wracking up three medals on the Olympics, eight on the lengthy course World Championships and 10 on the 25-meter version of the worldwide meet. His profession spotlight got here final 12 months in Paris, when he took down the likes of Adam Peaty, Nic Fink and Qin Haiyang to win Olympic gold.

This 12 months was not his most interesting however nonetheless a lot strong, with the 26-year-old remaining entrenched among the many world’s elite within the 100 breast. In the World Championship remaining, Martinenghi had the lead many of the race, and although he couldn’t maintain off Qin down the stretch, he nonetheless clocked 58.58 for a silver medal. Notably, his time was virtually a half-second forward of the mark which he swam to win Olympic gold. Martinenghi virtually gained a second medal due to his robust breaststroke leg on Italy’s 400 medley relay, just for the American workforce to complete a tenth forward.

---

19. Simone Cerasuolo, Italy

Yes, two consecutive Italian breaststrokers, albeit from very totally different background. The 23-year-old Cerasuolo has by no means raced on the Olympics, together with his specialty 50-meter race by no means beforehand included in this system (that may change in 2028). Prior to this 12 months, his prime profession accomplishments had are available 2022, when he gained silver on the European Championships within the 50 breast and bronze in the identical occasion on the Short Course World Championships.

Cerasuolo was not even a lock to signify Italy within the 50 breast at Worlds, with Martinenghi all the time a contender within the occasion and Ludovico Viberti swimming the world’s quickest time within the occasion in June. But Cerasuolo had a lane in Singapore and took full benefit, securing a shock gold medal. His successful time within the remaining was not the quickest on this planet this 12 months, not his quickest time of the meet and slower than the top-qualifying mark out of each prelims and semifinals, however it was ok for gold, and coming by within the massive moments counts right here.

---

18. Sam Short, Australia

He was top-of-the-line distance swimmers on this planet in 2023, capturing the world title within the 400 free plus international medals within the 800 and 1500, however Short had a disappointing Olympic debut in Paris. In his first Olympic remaining, he missed the 400 free podium by 0.14, and he was locked out of the top-eight in each longer races. But his return to international competitors this 12 months would convey vital enchancment as Short put a scare into the person who has established himself because the world’s superior 400 freestyler over the previous two years.

In the opening remaining in Singapore, it was virtually unimaginable to separate Short and Lukas Martens within the males’s 400 free. Short led for almost all of the race’s again half, just for Martens to shut a pair ticks faster to complete two hundredths forward. Short ended up with silver, together with his prelims time of three:42.07 the quickest of the meet. After the 400, Short would win no additional medals, with a gastrointestinal sickness forcing him out of the 800 free remaining earlier than he rebounded to position fourth within the 1500.

---

17. Luke Hobson, United States

The U.S. males’s workforce has struggled in worldwide waters lately, with simply six particular person medals on the Paris Olympics and once more at this 12 months’s World Championships. But Hobson is doing his half, shortly constructing a observe report as America’s most profitable 200 freestyler of the twenty first century apart from Michael Phelps. Hobson first reached the worldwide podium final 12 months, with a bronze on the Doha World Championships and one other on the Paris Olympics, and he added a brief course world title and world report within the 200 free in December. This 12 months, he took a major step ahead.

Hobson placed on a present in his signature occasion at U.S. Nationals, clocking 1:43.73 to turn into the fifth-fastest performer ever within the occasion. In late July, he set out in pursuit of a world title and almost obtained it, solely to seek out himself on the receiving finish of David Popovici’s patented ending surge. Still, Hobson obtained underneath 1:44 once more on the way in which to silver. Later within the meet, the American males missed the rostrum within the 800 free relay, however Hobson did his half, splitting 1:43.45 to maneuver the Americans from sixth place right into a short-lived lead.

---

16. Noè Ponti, Switzerland

If this checklist had been based mostly solely on quick course outcomes, Ponti would undoubtedly rank a lot greater after his sensational quick course performances final fall. In lower than two months, Ponti blasted the 50 butterfly world report 4 instances, knocking greater than 4 tenths off the world report in complete. His final report in that occasion got here on the Short Course World Championships in Budapest, the place he additionally knocked off a Caeleb Dressel world report within the 100 fly and secured a further gold within the 100 IM.

In lengthy course, Ponti returned to the global-level podium in lengthy course for the primary time in 4 years. He was a digital unknown again on the Tokyo Olympics when he joined legends Caeleb Dressel and Kristof Milak as medalists within the 100 fly. This time, he was surpassed solely by Maxime Grousset within the dash fly occasions in Singapore. In the one-lap race, Ponti got here in solely three hundredths away from gold whereas turning into the fifth-fastest man in historical past, and his time of 49.83 within the 100 was additionally good for No. 5 on the all-time checklist.