2025 Swammy Awards: South American Male Swimmer Of The Year – Gui Caribe

See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here.

Many professional swimmers enter a golden age of their career when they reach their early to mid 20s. They find their stride at an established training base, rise in seniority and speed within their institutions, and their name recognition in the sport burgeons. Few swimmers have stepped into this phase in the past 12 months more profoundly than Gui Caribe. The now-established Brazilian star leaves 2025 a more mature, faster, well-known swimmer than he entered the year.

Caribe, 22, teased what was to come this year at the 2024 Short Course World Championships. He put up a double silver performance in the 50 (20.57) and 100 free (45.47), setting a new national record in the latter.

Caribe carried that momentum into the start of the new year, putting down the hammer at the Maria Lenk Trophy/Brazilian National Championships in April. 

The Bahia native dropped several percentage points in all of his best events: the 100 free, 50 free, and 50 fly. He became a serious LC Worlds medal threat and climbed near the top of Brazil’s all-time rankings in three of its most historically deep events. See Caribe’s career-changing improvements below.

Gui Caribe, Before and After 2025 Maria Lenk

At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, Caribe demonstrated his consistency despite leaving without a medal. In the fastest men’s 100 freestyle final in history, Caribe posted a 47.34 to place 4th. He also made it to the 50 fly final with a new best time of 22.91 and swam two rounds of 50 frees. Singapore showed that Caribe is a master of getting quicker through the rounds and that his April swims were not flukes.

Championship season culminated for Caribe at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay. There, he busted out 21.72/47.54 50/100 free golds individually. He also aided his home nation in two relay wins.

Though we only focused on meters performances for this award, it’s worth noting that Caribe’s career ascension was also evident in yards. Representing the University of Tennessee, Caribe joined the esteemed 17-second split club en route to a 200 free relay 2025 NCAA title. Individually, he got 3rd in the 50 (18.26) and 100 (40.15) freestyles while scoring 9th in the 100 fly (44.31).

For the past several years, Brazilian men’s swimming has been in a regenerative stage following the retirement of the country’s biggest titans. Of note, last year’s South American Male Swammy winner, Guilherme Costa, was a key international player in middle-difference events throughout the last quad. On the relay plane, however, South America’s largest country has moved to the back benches.

After Caribe’s 2025, fortunately, Brazil has a steadfast anchor to build its next generation of talent around for the 2028 quad.

Honorable Mentions

• Stephan Steverink (BRA) – Steverink was unquestionably the men’s swimmer of the meet at the Junior Pan American Games. In Asuncion, Steverink swept the 200/400/800 freestyles (1:47.23/3:46.71/7:54.49), and won the 400 IM (4:16.06). He raked in a silver in the 200 IM (2:01.83) and topped it all off with gold and the field’s fastest split in the 800 freestyle relay (1:47.12).
• Ulises Saravia (ARG) – Apart from Caribe, Saravia was the only South American to get multiple second swims in Singapore, placing 11th in the 50 back and 16th in the 100 back. He followed up his Worlds showing with an individual gold in the 100 back at the Junior Pan American Games. Time-wise, the 20-year-old made the most fireworks at the Spanish Championships. There, he shattered national records in both the 50 (24.66) and 100 (53.26) long course backstrokes. Saravia and Swammy winner Caribe are now teammates at UTK.

Previous Winners

• 2024 Swammy: Guilherme Costa, Brazil
• 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