2024 Swammy Awards: Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year – Sharon van Rouwendaal

See all of our 2024 Swammy Awards here.

Although 2024 marks Sharon van Rouwendaal‘s fourth time being named SwimSwam’s Open Water Female Swimmer of the Year, it’s her first time earning the distinction in six years.

The 31-year-old Dutch native has had a long, storied career both in the pool and in open water competition, and her return to the top of the heap this year shows off what best characterizes her career: longevity.

van Rouwnedaal owns two individual medals from the World Championships in pool swimming, claiming bronze in the 200 back in 2011 and then silver in the 400 free in 2015, but she’s gradually shifted her focus towards open water over the last eight years after excelling in both in the early 2010s.

She won gold in the women’s 10km at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, earned silver in Tokyo, and seemingly only got better from there.

van Rouwnedaal won her first open water world title in the women’s 10km in Budapest in 2022, and narrowly missed out on the medals last year in Fukuoka, finishing fourth, one-tenth of a second back of American Katie Grimes for the bronze medal.

van Rouwendaal did earn silver in the 5km in Fukuoka, however, and came out of that meet with arguably the best year of her career in 2024.

At the 2024 Worlds in Doha, she swept the women’s 5km and 10km open water events, matching the feat done by last year’s Swammy Award Winner, Leonie Beck, in Fukuoka.

van Rouwnedaal first won the 10km in a time of 1:57:26.8, edging out Spain’s Maria de Valdes by one-tenth of a second, and then four days later, claimed gold in the 5km (57:33.9) by 1.1 seconds over Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka.

The defining performance of van Rouwendaal’s year, however, came six months later.

Racing in the Olympic 10km in Paris, van Rouwendaal leaned on her experience to execute a perfect race plan, making her move on the final buoy to pull away from the other two members of the lead pack, Australian Moesha Johnson and Italian Ginevra Taddeucci, and win gold in a time of 2:03:34.2.

That time put her 5.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Johnson, marking the second-biggest margin of victory in Olympic history—only trailing the 17.4-second gap van Rouwendaal won by in 2016.

Immediately after winning gold in Paris, van Rouwendaal dedicated her victory to her dog, Rio (named after her Olympic win in 2016), who died in May.

Although van Rouwendaal only raced in one of the five Open Water World Cup events this year, winning the three biggest races of 2024 lands her the Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year honors going away.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) – Cunha, who has won this award five times, earns an Honorable Mention after she topped the World Aquatics Open Water World Cup series standings, scoring 2750 points to top runner-up Lea Boy of Germany. Cunha’s consistency won her the title, having placed 1st at the second leg of the series in Italy, 2nd at the third stop in Portugal, and 5th, 7th and 8th at the other three stops. In major competition, the now 32-year-old won bronze in the women’s 5km at the Worlds in Doha, and she tied for 4th in the 10km there and then finished 4th in the event at the Olympics after winning gold in Tokyo. Cunha recently hinted that she’s considering retiring in 2025.
• Moesha Johnson (AUS) – Despite remaining competitive in the pool, including making the Olympic final and placing 6th in the women’s 1500 free, Johnson was among the best open water swimmers in the world this year. She led off the Australian’s gold medal-winning open water relay at the 2024 Worlds in Doha, and narrowly missed a medal in the 10km, placing 4th. Then, after her success in the pool in Paris, she won silver in the 10km in her first Olympic open water race. The 27-year-old also only raced in three Open Water World Cup events, but won two, topping the field in both Hong Kong (October) and Saudi Arabia (November).

Past Winners:

• 2023 – Leonie Beck (GER)
• 2022 – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
• 2021 – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
• 2020 – Anastasiia Kirpichnikova (RUS at time of award)
• 2019 – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
• 2018 – Sharon Van Rouwendaal (NED)
• 2017 – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
• 2016 – Sharon Van Rouwendaal (NED)
• 2015 – Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)
• 2014 – Sharon Van Rouwendaal (NED)
• 2013 – Poliana Okimoto (BRA)