See all of our 2023 Swammy Awards here.
U.S. FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: KATE DOUGLASS
After a phenomenal year that included a six-medal haul at the World Championships, Kate Douglass earns the 2023 Swammy Award for U.S. Female Swimmer of the Year.
In 2022, many felt as though Douglass left something on the table when she opted not to contest the 200 IM at the U.S. International Team Trials, instead taking on the 50 free. That came after she won Olympic bronze in the medley event in Tokyo, and as a result, her only individual race at the 2022 World Championships was the 200 breast, where she claimed bronze.
In 2023, Douglass fully embraced the 200 IM again and it paid off in spades.
In her final appearance at the NCAA Championships, Douglass had perhaps the best single-meet performance we’ve ever seen in college swimming (at least among women), sweeping the 200 breast (2:01.29), 100 fly (48.46) and 200 IM (1:48.37) in record-breaking fashion.
The senior also contributed key legs on four of Virginia’s winning relays as the Cavaliers won a third straight national title.
That earned her the Swammy Award for NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year, and while international competition is weighted more heavily, Douglass’ collegiate season certainly didn’t hurt her case for U.S. Female Swimmer of the Year.
The now 22-year-old put her incredible versatility on full display at the U.S. National Championships in June, winning the women’s 100 free (52.57), 200 IM (2:07.09) and placing second in the 200 breast (2:21.22) to qualify for three individual events at the World Championships.
All three of those swims marked new lifetime bests for Douglass, with the 100 free and 200 IM performances ranking her #2 all-time among Americans and the 200 breast ranking #4. The 200 IM also marked a new U.S. Open Record.
She also went 56.43 in the 100 fly, placing third in a swim that ranks sixth all-time in the U.S., and she added another third-place showing in the 50 free (24.48).
At the World Championships in Fukuoka, Douglass completed her 200 IM journey by winning the gold medal in a time of 2:07.17, going 1-2 with Virginia teammate (and defending champion) Alex Walsh with an incredible closing 50 (29.83) that was the only one in the field sub-30.
Douglass also won silver in the 200 breast, finishing .01 off of her lifetime best in 2:21.23, and she added a fourth-place finish in the 100 free (52.81).
The thing that really set Douglass apart in winning this award was what she did in the relays in Fukuoka, as she anchored the U.S. home to four medals, including gold on the women’s 400 medley. She also brought the Americans home to silver in both the women’s and mixed 400 free relay, and in the mixed 400 medley, she dropped a 51.79 closing split en route to the bronze medal.
At the U.S. Open Championships which wrapped up earlier this month, Douglass set a new lifetime best of 24.38 in the 50 free, giving her PBs across all of her primary events on the year.
In 2023, she incredibly ranked in the world’s top 10 across four events, sitting sixth or better in all of them, and she also ranks 11th in the 50 free and 34th in the 100 breast.
| Event | 2023 World Rank | Time |
| 200 IM | #2 | 2:07.09 |
| 200 breast | #4 | 2:21.22 |
| 100 fly | #4 | 56.43 |
| 100 free | #6 | 52.57 |
| 50 free | #11 | 24.38 |
| 100 breast | #34 | 1:07.07 |
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Katie Ledecky – It was a close call between Douglass and Ledecky for this award, with Douglass inching it out largely due to her relay prowess. Ledecky, who has won U.S. Female Swimmer of the Year eight times, had another banner year that was highlighted by successful title defenses in the women’s 800 and 1500 free. Prior to that, at U.S. Nationals, Ledecky showed her best form in seven years in the 800 free, clocking 8:07.07 for the #3 swim in history, only trailing two of her performances from 2016. She also had a strong swim in the 1500 free, putting up the #6 swim of all-time (15:29.64) while also winning the 400 free (4:00.45) and placing second in the 200 free (1:55.28). At the World Championships, Ledecky defended her world titles in the 800 and 1500 in dominant fashion, first clocking 15:26.27 in the 1500 free for the third-fastest swim ever (and the fastest since 2018) while winning by 17 seconds. She followed up by winning her record sixth straight title in the 800 free in a time of 8:08.87, also overtaking Michael Phelps‘ record for individual gold medals at Worlds (16). Ledecky also won a pair of silvers in Fukuoka in the 400 free and on the American 800 free relay, bringing her tally to 26 medals at the World Aquatics Championships across six appearances.
- Regan Smith – Smith walked away with four individual medals at the World Championships, and although she was denied that elusive individual title, she did lead the Americans to gold in the meet finale, the women’s 400 medley relay. Smith had a number of standout performances in 2023, but perhaps the one that stands above the rest is her 200 fly from early June, when she broke the super-suited American Record in a time of 2:03.87 at the Sun Devil Open in Tempe. That swim ranks #4 all-time and is the second-fastest we’ve seen since 2009, sitting just .01 shy of Zhang Yufei‘s Olympic-winning effort in 2021. Smith then qualified for four events at the World Championships by virtue of three wins at U.S. Nationals, including a 2:03.80 swim in the 200 back that was the fourth-fastest ever and her fastest since breaking the world record in 2019. At the World Championships, Smith was the runner-up to Australian rival Kaylee McKeown in all three women’s backstroke events, collecting a trio of silver medals while breaking the American Record in the 50 back (27.10). Under a busy schedule, Smith was well off her American Record in the 200 fly but still claimed bronze (2:06.58), and then closed things off with her fastest 100 back swim of the year on the medley relay, leading off in 57.68 to beat McKeown head-to-head as the U.S. rolled to the victory. In 2023, Smith ranked in the world’s top six in six events: 200 fly (#1), 50, 100 and 200 back (#2), and 100 fly and 200 IM (#6).
PREVIOUS WINNERS
- 2022 – Katie Ledecky
- 2021 – Katie Ledecky
- 2020 – Lilly King
- 2019 – Simone Manuel
- 2018 – Katie Ledecky
- 2017 – Katie Ledecky
- 2016 – Katie Ledecky
- 2015 – Katie Ledecky
- 2014 – Katie Ledecky
- 2013 – Katie Ledecky
I am waiting if relay prowess consideration -which adds a lot of points to Douglas over Ledecky- will get MOC higher ranking in Swimswam most promising swimmer of 2024 list.
Because MOC didn’t get any relay points when she was ranked lower than Maggie MacNeil and Regan Smith on 2023 list.
I’ll put Ledecky over Douglas.
400 free silver
800 free gold
1500 free gold
Swimswam is not consistent with their own criteria.
To be honest I do not understand this decision. I think it should have been awarded to Katie Ledecky.
1) Yard swims should not be taken into consideration unless you are tossing up between two swimmers who are both in college (‘apple’s to apple’s comparison). Douglas’ yards swims were amazing but they are not a yardstick for the ‘Best US Female Swimmer of the Year’ as this format is largely restricted to performances by collegiate swimmers.
2) Ledecky has the better 2023 rankings and is ranked in the top 10 in five events (compared to Douglas’ four). Katie Ledecky’s 2023 rankings in her events: 200m freestyle (6th), 400m freestyle (3rd), 800m freestyle (1st…by 6 seconds), 1500m freestyle (1st… by 17… Read more »
How do you feel about the fact that Ledecky only swims distance freestyle? Or that Douglass continues to improve and excel at a world level in multiple strokes?
Ledecky certainly continues to dominate US distance freestyle and be one of, if not the, greatest swimmers of all time. There is no doubt about that.
I don’t think yards swimming should be discounted – it’s a big part of US Swimming. Ledecky used to swim yards for Stanford, too.
“Ledecky used to swim yards” – I imagine the majority of her yards swims, and the yards swims of all other swimmers, took place when they were in high school or at college. This is not the ‘U.S. Collegiate Female Swimmer of the Year’.
It is not the case that Ledecky chose to avoid swimming yards this year, it’s just that pros rarely swim yards.
Also, just because Ledecky has medalled in the three middle-to-long-distance events at five of the six last world championships doesn’t reduce the significance of achieving it. Only one other female since 2011 has medalled in the 400-800-1500 at the same World Championships (Lauren Boyle, 2013, bronze in all three). Although Ledecky’s medal swims are all freestyle, it is a wide range to excel at (and is not a regular occurence).
I think that Kate Douglas is an amazing swimmer and you’re right that she is improving and excelling in three swimming formats (sprint freestyle, distance breastroke and medley), but that doesn’t mean that she was the better U.S. female swimmer this year. Ledecky had a better individual medal count… Read more »
Ledecky used to swim yards for Stanford, too.
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Why would pro swimmers get dinged for not swimming yards?
Doesn’t make any sense.
When’s Grimes turn to be Katie/Kate of the year?
When she wins Olympics gold
now here’s a question to think about – will there ever be a time when Grimes beats out Ledecky at trials and makes the team in the 800/1500? Historically female distance swimmers tend to peak in their early 20s.
Grimes/Ledecky will be 18/27 in Paris, 22/31 in LA, and and 26/35 in Brisbane. I think we can count out next year since Ledecky will almost certianly not be beaten out then. Ledecky has said she’s open to swimming until LA 2028 and Grimes may be around her peak years then, so I think that will be a pretty good fight if it pans out. 2032 might be tough for the both of them – I can’t imagine Ledecky still competing… Read more »
Kate’s 1:48.37 200 yd individual medley at NCAA Championships – slashing 1.71 seconds off the previous American record – was an amazing achievement.
Katie Ledecky is insane could’ve won this year as well. Phelps is prob everyone’s GOAT but Ledecky gotta be the most dominant swimmer of all time
I think in a vacuum, Ledecky winning it definitely makes sense but they probably would just prefer to change it up whenever possible, which I guess makes sense. But if it were anyone else swimming these times, they would’ve easily won.
I think it depends on how you put Ledecky’s times in context. Do her non-WR swims count for more, less, or the same as someone else’s because she’s the owner of the records? If you just say that she did two separate 3rd fastest ever swims, that’s quite good but doesn’t seem like it automatically gives her the edge.
Douglass certainly showed more versatility and with relays included was probably a little more helpful to team USA. And those NCAA times (even though they’re in yards) do represent times that no one else has ever been able to do.
In the 800 free where the #2 and #3 performers of all time swam their personal best times, she beat them both by 4.5 seconds. In the 1500 free, she beat out the #4 performer of all time by 14 seconds and that time wasn’t even a season best. And in the 400 free, she swam the #3 performance of the year, where the only two swims that were faster than her were both world records.
So in the 800, she was fastest this year by over 0.75 seconds per 100m and by 0.5 seconds per 100 in the Worlds final swim, while in the 1500, she was the fastest this year by about 1.1 seconds per 100m and… Read more »
Douglass had a great year but IMO Ledecky has the stronger case.
Ledecky individually GGS in times that would make her 1st, 1st and 3rd performer all time vs Douglass GS in times that would make her 6th and 13th all time. Douglass obviously had stronger relay success but not enough to make up for the individual difference IMO.
Not that it really matters, they both had very successful years.
Australian commenters are always going to twist everything away from Douglass. That’s been a known quantity for years. They’ve been forced to tone it down a bit over the past 6 months but everyone here realizes they are desperately rooting against her every time she races
You think I’m trying to discredit Douglass to prop up Ledecky? That makes zero sense. What benefit is there to “Australian commenters” to promote one American over another? What a strange take. Do you think there’s some kind of conspiracy specifically against Douglass but in favour of Ledecky?
Indeed. Also, laughingly it’s as if online opinions about past performances have any bearing on the results in question. Those races have been swum… what conspiracy are they cooking up now?
Did you even read the reasons above? We all admire Douglas a lot as seen in a recent post. But Ledecky had a better World Champs.
It boils down to KL fans being much less obnoxious than KD fans. Why do you think Australians like Regan so much?
I would advise though, when you want to argue with someone, try to react to their actual arguments.
Doug is $$
Pointless question but I’ll ask it anyways: Why didn’t this award go to Regan in 2019? I know Swimone upset Sjostrom and C1 but Regan was a part of three world records, including two in one swim.
regan was the 2019 world swimmer of year.
in 2015, peaty was named world swimmer of the year while paltrinieri was european swimmer of the year. the justification was that peaty broke a wr at worlds, while paltrinieri broke a wr at euros. so peaty was deemed better at a global level, while paltrinieri was better at a european level.
if we apply that argument here, regan was better at a world level with her 3 WRs. manuel was better at an american level with her 2 american records
Curious that Kaylee McKeown and Kate Douglas are the best swimmers in their countries and they are both from 2001. Good generation!!
I know it’s complicated, but I would love to see a talk between the two, it would be interesting!!
I don’t understand the dislikes, it’s just a comment of support and admiration towards two incredible swimmers. Not everyone who comments here is Australian or American
I feel like it’s more about being 21-22 years old.
Question for the Swimswam Stats team–did any of Douglass’ times this year in LCM make or approach Top 25 status all-time internationally? Doesn’t look like it from USA Swimming site’s listings, but I don’t necessarily trust those. What were the rankings achieved? Thanks.
Performers or performances?
In either case her 200 IM was the #11 performance of all time.
Basically inferior to Ledecky’s 800 and 1500 in Fukuoka.