SwimSwam’s Official 2024 Swammy Awards Index
For the past couple of decades, Brazil has been cranking out top-tier sprint talent. In freestyle, Cesar Cielo’s 50 world record has survived several generations to be one of the oldest in the books. The same could be said about his 100 until recently. Cielo’s long-time teammate Bruno Fratus has also been a staple in sprint freestyle, picking up a bronze medal in the 50 freestyle at the 2020 Olympic Games and several World Championship medals.
In the sprint butterfly, Nicholas Santos has become the oldest world champion twice. Meanwhile, Felipe Lima and João Gomes Jr. remained leading names in the sprint breaststrokes throughout the 2010s, picking up seven World Championship medals between the two.
For all of Brazil’s sprint prowess, they’ve never been quite as good in the middle distances. 22-year-old Guilherme Costa is changing that.
Nicknamed “Cachorrão” (big dog), the Rio de Janeiro native lived up to his name this year. At the 400 freestyle final in the Paris Olympics, Costa blasted a 3:42.76 to establish a new Americas record. The old record, held by Larsen Jensen (3:42.78), stood for over 16 years. Costa is the fastest textile performer from the western hemisphere by nearly a second.
Place-wise, Costa finished 5th, but only .23 outside of the podium. It marked the highest place for a South American in any pool event at the games. This adds on to his bronze medal in the event from the 2022 World Championships and 4th place finish from 2023 Worlds.
Despite going up in place year-after-year, Costa has dropped two full seconds from 2022. He’s the only swimmer from the Americas keeping up with the pack as the event rapidly improves after a period of stagnation. And he’s certainly a medal contender for every 400 medal final in the next quad.
Honorable mentions
- Gui Caribe Santos – After winning the 100 free at the Pan-American games in 2023, Caribe continued to climb the ranks in the sprint freestyle events in 2024. His big international breakout came at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, where he picked up silver in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. His 100 time, 45.47, earned him his first South America record. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, he earned a pair of runner-ups in the sprint freestyles representing the University of Tennessee. The Bahia native also narrowly missed the 100 free Olympic final, placing 10th in 48.03.
- Caio Pumputis – Apart from Caribe Santos, Pumputis was the only South American to earn an international medal this year. The 25 year-old Paulista raced to bronze in the 100 IM, touching in a South American record of 51.35.
Previous Winners
- 2023 Swammy: Guilherme Costa, Brazil
- 2022 Swammy: Nicholas Santos, Brazil
- 2021 Swammy: Bruno Fratus, Brazil
- 2020 Swammy: Nicholas Santos, Brazil
- 2019 Swammy: Bruno Fratus, Brazil
- 2018 Swammy: Nicholas Santos, Brazil
- 2017 Swammy: Bruno Fratus, Brazil
- 2016 Swammy: Felipe Franca Silva, Brazil
- 2015 Swammy: Thiago Pereira, Brazil
- 2014 Swammy: Felipe Franca Silva, Brazil
- 2013 Swammy: Cesar Cielo, Brazil
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Fernando scheffer also was good in mid distance free. He swam 1:45s and a 1:44 to bronze in 2021 olympics, when there wasnt many swimmer going sub 1:45.
Looking at the list of previous winners, you might as well call it the Brazilian swimmer of the year award.
and only 3 honourable mentions have been non-brazilian, with bovell being noted when it was a latin american award. really does strengthen the case to combine the categories, as a comment in the crooks article suggested. plus I found this in the 2015 women’s latin american article: