2025 Swammy Awards: African Male Swimmer of the Year – Ahmed Jaouadi

For the second straight year, Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi walks away as our African Male Swimmer of the Year after another impressive showing in 2025.

Jaouadi wasn’t an unknown coming into the year for hardcore swimming fans, but he was flying under the radar in a men’s distance freestyle scene largely dominated by American Bobby Finke, his countryman Ahmed Hafnaoui, and Europeans over the last four years.

At the Paris Olympics last July, Jaouadi had his first true breakout meet. He dropped three seconds off his PB in the prelims of the 800 free (7:42.83), a result that moved him up from 10th seed to 2nd seed and qualified him for his first Olympic final. While a little slower in the finals, 7:42.83, and missing out on the podium by just one spot, the result marked his second swim under 7:45 and cemented that his first swim was not a fluke.

The 1500 was similar to the 800, as the Tunisian swam a new personal best in the prelims (14:44.20) and was the third-fastest qualifier into the finals. Like in the 800, he ultimately slipped out of the medal hunt, finishing 6th, but unlike the 800, he dropped additional time, recording a new PB of 14:43.35.

By the end of the Olympics, Jaouadi had earned himself not only two Olympic final appearances but also vaulted his way up the all-time rankings, with his results in the 800 and 1500 ranking 23rd and 21st all time, respectively.

With these results in hand, Jaouadi entered 2024 SC Worlds as a strong contender for the medals in the distance frees, and he certainly didn’t disappoint. In the 1500, he dropped eight seconds to win in 14:16.40, earning his first-ever major international medal. He went on to earn bronze in the 800 free with a new personal best of 7:31.93, surpassing the African Record by over a second and ranking as the 13th-fastest performer ever.

Building on that momentum, Jaouadi entered 2025 as a legitimate threat in distance freestyle. At the 2025 World Championships, he proved he was the world’s best, sweeping the men’s 800 and 1500 titles in dominant fashion.

The 20-year-old first ran away with the 800 free (7:36.88), dropping over five seconds off his personal best to win by three seconds, a new textile world record and the third-fastest swim ever.

Despite being more than four and a half seconds shy of the world record, Jaouadi’s swim was still the fastest time ever produced in a textile suit, overtaking Tunisian countryman Ahmed Hafnaoui‘s mark of 7:37.00 from 2023. The only two swims in history faster than Jaouadi’s were produced in the same heat at the 2009 World Championships, where Zhang Lin clocked a mind-bending 7:32.12 and another Tunisian, Oussama Mellouli, won silver in 7:35.27.

Top 5 Men’s LCM Performers All-Time:

1. Zhang Lin (CHN) – 7:32.12, 2009
2. Ous Mellouli (TUN) – 7:35.27, 2009
3. Ahmed Jaouadi (TUN) – 7:36.88, 2025*
4. Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) – 7:37.00, 2023
5. Sam Short (AUS) – 7:37.76, 2023

Jaouadi closed out the competition by prevailing in a close race with Germany’s Sven Schwarz and Finke in the 1500 free.

Finke led through the first 500 meters, with Schwarz taking over at 750m. Jaouadi made his move at 900m and engaged in a three-way battle with Schwarz and Finke over the final 500 meters. In the closing stages, Finke—who had dealt with illness during the week—faded, while Jaouadi split 28.66/28.35 over the final 100 meters to pull away from Schwarz and claim gold in 14:34.41, winning by 1.28 seconds.

Jaouadi’s time sliced almost ten seconds off his personal best and moved him to sixth on the all-time performers list.

Top 5 Men’s LCM Performers All-Time:

1. Bobby Finke (USA) – 14:30.65, 2024
2. Sun Yang (CHN) – 14:31.02, 2012
3. Ahmed Hafnaoui (TUN) – 14:31.54, 2023
4. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) – 14:32.80, 2022
5. Daniel Wiffen (IRL) – 14:34.07, 2024
6. Ahmed Jaouadi (TUN) – 14:34.41, 2025*

Jaouadi skipped the World Cup this fall, but had a strong start to yards swimming in his first semester at Florida. He threw down swims of 1:33/4:10/14:39 in the 200/500/1650 freestyles, times that project him as a title threat in the distance events.

With the Gators traditionally not fully tapering until SECs and NCAAs, he’s likely still deep in training, leaving plenty of room for improvement and potentially putting Finke’s 1650 NCAA Record of 14:12.08 in jeopardy.

Jaouadi heads into 2026 without a major championship meet, which could be ideal timing. He’ll have the year to adjust to his new training at Florida after transitioning away from coach Philippe Lucas, who guided him from 2023 through his historic World Championships performances.

HONORABLE MENTION

• Pieter Coetze: A year ago, Coetze reached the Olympic finals in both backstroke events but wasn’t considered a serious medal threat; his only hardware in 2024 came from a 200 back bronze at the lightly attended Short Course World Championships in Budapest. His 2025 breakout began at the World University Games in Berlin, where he posted 51.99 to win 100 back gold, also claimed the 50 back title, and finished second in the 100 free with 47.88. Just over a week later, he elevated his performance even further at Worlds in Singapore, establishing himself as one of the world’s premier backstrokers and rivaling Hungary’s Hubert Kos as the best across all three distances. He improved to 51.85 in the 100 back to win gold and set an African Record in the third-fastest swim in history (at the time). His 200 back saw an even more dramatic improvement from 1:55.60 to 1:53.36 as he pushed Kos for 190 meters, and he capped his meet with a 24.17 silver in the 50 back for yet another African Record.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

• 2024 Swammy — Ahmed Jaouadi, Tunisia
• 2023 Swammy — Ahmed Hafnaoui, Tunisia
• 2022 Swammy – Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2021 Swammy – Ahmed Hafnaoui, Tunisia
• 2020 Swammy – Mohamed Samy, Egypt
• 2019 Swammy – Zane Waddell, South Africa
• 2018 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2017 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2016 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2015 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2014 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa
• 2013 Swammy — Chad le Clos, South Africa