Top-20 Men’s Swimmers within the World: Veteran/Rookie Champions

Ranking the Top-20 Men’s Swimmers within the World, Part III (6-10): Veteran and Rookie World Champions Make Their Marks

At the latest World Championships, swimmers competed for medals in 42 pool occasions, and the outcomes clearly present the very best swimmer on the earth 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 are going to once more attempt to stack up the varied rivals from one by 20.

These rankings can be primarily based largely on performances on the World Championships however outcomes from different meets can be thought-about. Swimmers who sat out this yr’s main competitions is not going to be included on this record.

10. Thomas Ceccon, Italy

The most spectacular end result for this 24-year-old Italian at this summer time’s World Championships was not his silver-medal end within the 100 backstroke. Ceccon overcame the quickest area within the occasion’s historical past to safe a world medal for the fourth consecutive summer time, nevertheless it was not his solely podium end in Singapore. A day earlier, Ceccon raced within the 50 butterfly ultimate simply 20 minutes after competing within the 100 again semis, and he beat out previous world champions Diogo Ribeiro and Ben Proud to earn bronze. Ceccon additionally equipped a 47.10 cut up to assist Italy to silver within the males’s 400 free relay.

Ceccon continued a run of exceptional consistency in his major occasions. He positioned fourth within the 100 again in his main ultimate debut on the Tokyo Olympics and broke the world report on the way in which to a world title one yr later. With your entire Worlds podium this yr beneath 52 seconds, Ceccon put forth a time of 51.90 that was solely 5 hundredths off the successful mark. Later within the meet, he led off the Italian males’s medley relay in 51.80, simply two tenths off his world report and formally the highest time on the earth this yr, though the workforce would find yourself a tenth exterior of podium place.

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9. Cameron McEvoy, Australia

In a earlier profession, McEvoy was a standout throughout freestyle races of quite a few distances. He was as soon as thought-about the world’s finest 100 freestyler, with a lifetime better of 47.04 that continues to be the Australian report, faster than the all-time finest efficiency of Kyle Chalmers. McEvoy has received global-level medals in all three males’s relays. But now, the 31-year-old is a pure sprinter, solely racing the 50 freestyle and never regarding himself with the 100, 200 or any relays. That resolution has been utterly validated with years of splash-and-dash dominance.

He took a one-year break from worldwide racing after the Tokyo Games, and since then, McEvoy has been unstoppable. He received a world title within the 50 free in 2023 earlier than claiming Olympic gold final summer time, and he secured one other victory this yr in Singapore. In this yr’s ultimate, McEvoy surged to the end in 21.14, simply six hundredths wanting his private finest and a tenth behind the quickest time ever in a textile go well with. McEvoy received by greater than a tenth, and his margins might get larger after Proud, the silver medalist in that race, defected to the Enhanced Games.

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8. Lukas Martens, Germany

Martens is the undisputed international king of the 400 freestyle due to a pair of victories in essentially the most vital competitions the previous two summers plus a surprising world report in April. In the Olympic ultimate, Martens defeated Australia’s Elijah Winnington within the ultimate size, and it was an identical story at this yr’s Worlds as he edged Aussie Sam Short by two hundredths on the end. In between, he took down the legendary, suit-aided international mark of fellow German Paul Biedermann by turning into the primary man ever beneath 3:40.

In complete, Martens has reached the rostrum within the 400 free at each main meet since 2022, and he has vary as effectively. He received World Championships bronze within the 800 free this yr after swimming a time of seven:39.10 earlier within the yr to change into the Eleventh-quickest man in historical past. Martens held the world’s quickest time within the 200 free for a number of months, with a 1:44.25 that also sits third globally for 2025 behind David Popovici and Luke Hobson. Martens can be a strong backstroker, having made the Olympic ultimate within the 200 final yr.

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7. Pieter Coetze, South Africa

Coetze was a Commonwealth Games gold medalist at age 18, a world junior champion at 19 and an African-record-setting Olympic finalist at 20. Now, Coetze is obvious selection as world’s finest backstroker following a streak of success this summer time which spanned the World University Games and World Championships. First, he received the 100 again and 50 again in Berlin plus a silver within the 100 free, and it was his Games-record time of 51.99 within the 100 that prompt an enormous Worlds may very well be coming.

Coetze made the journey to the opposite facet of the world and improved additional. The males’s 100 again ultimate was the quickest in historical past, with a sub-52 efficiency required to make the top-three, and Coetze delivered the proper race to win. He stayed shut sufficient to the race’s early leaders, flipping in third place on the midway level, and held off the likes of Ceccon, the world-record holder, down the stretch to complete in 51.85. Coetze would additionally take silver within the 200 again in 1:53.36 and tie for runnerup within the 50 again in 24.17. He completed the yr with African data in all three distances, and within the all-time standings, he’s tied for fourth within the 100, seventh within the 200 and tenth within the 50.

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6. Qin Haiyang, China

This 26-year-old from China has waffled between utter dominance and crushing disappointment. At the 2023 World Championships, he swept the breaststroke occasions, turning into the world-record holder within the 200 and the second-fastest swimmer ever within the 50 and 100. But on the Paris Olympics, Qin faltered badly, ending up seventh within the 100 and lacking the ultimate of the 200 solely, though he did ship the performances Team China wanted in relay motion.

In Singapore, Qin was a lot nearer to his 2023 kind as he returned to the highest of the rostrum within the 100 and 200 whereas claiming silver within the 50. Qin overtook Nicolo Martineghi, the Olympic champion, to recapture the title within the 100 breast, and though he needed to sneak into the 200-meter ultimate in eighth place, the remainder of the sector was no match for his ending pace. The solely knock on Qin is that he didn’t come near replicating his instances from two years earlier; he completed the summer time with the world’s high time within the 100 breast (58.23) however solely fourth-best within the 200 and fifth-best within the 50. Qin did assist China to silver within the blended 400 medley relay, however the Olympic-gold-medal-winning males’s workforce didn’t advance to the ultimate.