SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2026: Women’s #40-31

Note: we’ve excluded swimmers who have no sign of being in the pool in 2026, and hedged on others like Sarah Sjostrom that we expect to be back but don’t really know how they’ll be. These ranks always wind up a bit wonky because there’s so much opacity to the situations.

Women’s Rankings

• #100 – #91
• #90 – #81
• #80 — #71
• #70 — #61
• #60 — #51
• #50 — #41

#40 Kylie Masse, Canada (2025 Rank: 33) – Canadian Kylie Masse recently turned 30, and she was in the unique position in 2025 where her world rankings and her 2025 World Championships finishes were exactly the same. She swam the 50 and 100 backstroke events in Singapore, finishing 4th in both. In the 100, she swam 58.42 in the final, just missing her 4th ranking time of 58.18 from the Canadian Trials, and in the 50 back, she was 27.33 in the final, two tenths off the 27.13 she swam to rank 4th in the world at the Pro Swim Series in Ft. Lauderdale. After the top two backstrokers in history, Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith, come Katharine Berkoff and Masse, who were separated by just five hundredths last season in the 100. Masse is one of the strongest backstrokers in the world, and she is already confirmed for Canada’s Commonwealth team, where she will be a clear favorite for a medal, and if McKeown foregoes the meet, she will be the undisputed favorite for the gold medal in both backstroke events. Masse has also been under the elusive 58-second barrier, and if she can find her way back into that range, she could walk away with a medal from Pan Pacs as well, even with McKeown and Smith in attendance.

#39 Wan Letian, China (2025 Rank: NR) – Another backstroker on this portion of the list, Letian won a bronze medal in the 50 back at the 2025 World Championships, swimming 27.30 to miss her personal and season best of 27.09 from the Chinese Spring Nationals in March. She also swam the 100 backstroke, tying for 8th place in the semifinal before losing the swim-off to miss the final. Her time of 59.06 from the same Spring Nationals finished the season ranked 14th in the world. Wan’s 50 backstroke from Nationals was a new personal best time and is the 5th fastest performance in history, and she was just off her best of 59.02 in the 100. At just 21, Wan is still getting stronger, and her improvement in the 50 backstroke points to the potential for a sub-59 swim in the 100 this year while she fights for another medal in the 50 backstroke at Pan Pacs, which will be the fastest women’s backstroke meet in the world.

#38 Liu Yaxin, China (2025 Rank: 98) – Range is the name of the game for 25-year-old Liu Yaxin, who jumped up 60 spots from her 98th ranking in 2025. Liu held top-20 rankings in the world in five different events and two different strokes by the end of the year. Her highest ranking came in the 200 freestyle, where her 1:54.96 from the Chinese Spring Nationals finished the year ranked 6th in the world, only four tenths out of Li Bingjie’s 2nd place time of 1:54.52. Liu missed the final in the event in Singapore, swimming 1:56.37 to finish 9th overall, but this was her first major meet semifinal, so with more experience under her belt in 2026, and a 1:54 best time, she will likely make the final at Pan Pacs in August. Her highest finish at Worlds came in the 200 backstroke, where she was 6th in 2:09.71, three seconds off the 2:06.71 she swam at the Chinese Nationals to rank 7th in the world. She also ranked 7th in the 400 free (4:02.57), 13th in the 800 free (8:25.99), and 16th in the 1500 free (16:08.44).

#37 Cheng Yujie, China (2025 Rank: NR) – The bronze medalist in the 50 freestyle at Worlds, 20-year-old Cheng Yujie picked up two top-20 rankings in 2025. In the 50, she was 24.23 at the Chinese National Games in November to tie for 7th in the world, which was five hundredths faster than the 24.28 she swam to finish 3rd at Worlds. This was her first best time in the event since the 24.41 mark she set at 15 in September of 2021. In the 100 free, she finished the year ranked 15th in 53.34, which she swam in the Worlds semifinal. She ended up finishing 7th in the event, exactly tying that time. This was off her lifetime best of 53.26 from May of 2023. In 2026, Cheng’s goal will be to drop under her 100 free best time as she looks for finals positions at Pan Pacs.

#36 Rylee Erisman, United States (2025 Rank: NR) – Very few swimmers had a bigger breakthrough in 2025 than 16-year-old Rylee Erisman. She came into the long course season with a lifetime best in the 100 free of 53.75 from the Junior Pan Pacs in August of 2024. At the 2025 World Junior Championships in Romania, she dropped half-a-second to swim 53.17 in the prelims, shattering the Championship record of 53.63 from 2017. In the semifinals, she dropped another tenth to swim 53.09, and in the final, she swam a massive 52.79, which would have won the bronze medal in the 100 free at the 2025 World Championships. Since then, Erisman has exploded, swimming huge SCY times, including a 1:40.93 in the 200 free and a 4:34.60 in the 500 free at the 2025 Winter Junior Nationals. Erisman’s World Juniors 100 free also earned her a spot on the Pan Pacs team this summer, which will be her first senior international experience. She will also likely participate on American relays, and her 2026 performance will hinge on her ability to handle the pressure of a senior meet and potential World Record relays, but a domestic Pan Pacs meet will be a great place to start for the teenager as she sets her sights on the WJR in the 100 free.

#35 Angharad Evans, Great Britain (2025 Rank 45) – Evans returned to competition in 2023, and after missing the 2023 Worlds team, she qualified for the Olympic team and set a new national record of 1:05.54. At the Olympics, she ended up finishing 6th in 1:05.85, just three tenths off her National Record time. In 2025, Evans had an explosive performance at the British Championships, swimming 1:05.37 to reset her own national record and take the top time in the world going into Singapore. At Worlds, she struggled in the 100 breast, finishing 18th in 1:07.04, missing the semifinal entirely. She bounced back a few days later for the 200 breast, swimming 2:24.21 in the final to finish 5th. This was more than two seconds off her season best 2:21.86 from the same British Nationals, which was ranked 3rd in the world last year. At SC Euros, she finished 6th in the 100 breast (1:04.40) and 2nd in the 200 breast (2:18.90). Evans’ big meets in 2026 will likely be the Commonwealth Games and the 2026 European Championships, and Euros are going to be a huge meet for the breaststroke events. If she can match her times from the British Trials, she could win multiple medals and even take the top spots.

#34 Jenna Forrester, Australia (2025 Rank: 66) – At the 2024 Olympic Games, Forrester missed the final in the 400 IM, touching 9th in 4:40.55, which was more than eight seconds off her lifetime best of 4:32.30 from her 2023 World Championships when she won the bronze medal. Forrester bounced back strong in 2025, swimming 4:36.19 at the Australian Trials, which was her fastest swim since 2023 in the event. She followed that up by tying for the silver medal in the 400 IM at Worlds in Singapore, swimming her 2nd fastest time ever of 4:33.26 to tie with Japan’s Mio Narita for silver. She also had her fastest 200 IM since 2023, touching in 2:11.27 at the 2025 Japan Open Championships to rank 31st in the world. The 400 IM is currently her only event where she is a serious medal contender based on 2025 performances, but if she can drop back to her lifetime best 2:08.98 in the 200 IM, she could see multiple finals at Pan Pacs. Regardless of her 200 IM, though, Forrester is a strong favorite to walk home with the silver medal in the 400 IM at Pan Pacs, and could win at the Commonwealth Games if she chooses to attend.

#33 Alex Walsh, United States (2025 Rank: 17) – We have talked a lot about versatility in these rankings, and one of the most versatile swimmers in the United States is Alex Walsh. She narrowed her international focus in 2025, swimming only IM and breaststroke events after the 2025 NCAA Championships saw her win the silver medal in the 200 butterfly. At Nationals, she won the 200 IM in 2:08.45, which was her fastest time of the season, and finished the year ranked 5th overall. She also picked up a 3rd place finish in the 100 breast, touching in a personal best 1:06.50, which was the 17th fastest time in the world last year, and a 2nd place in the 200 breaststroke at 2:22.45, which was the 4th fastest swim in the world. At Worlds, she won the silver medal in the 200 IM, touching in 2:08.49, and she finished 12th in the 200 breaststroke with her 2:25.16. Walsh will be a strong contender at the 2026 Pan Pacs in the 200 IM and 200 breaststrok,e and with many of the top 100 breaststrokers coming from Europe and Lilly King retiring, she could also earn a finals swim in the 100 breast.

#32 Mary-Sophie Harvey, Canada (2025 Rank: 25) – Harvey established herself as a major international medal contender in 2024 when she finished 4th at the Olympics in the 200 free while also holding top-20 rankings in the 400 IM, 200 IM, and 100 fly. This year, she swam three events at Worlds, while battling a shoulder injury, winning the bronze medal in the 200 IM, touching in 2:09.15, which was about four tenths off her season best 2:08.78 from the Canadian Team Trials. She also swam the 200 free (15th – 1:58.57) and 200 breast (17th – 2:26.95). She finished the season with top-20 rankings in the 400 free (12th – 4:05.42), 200 breast (8th – 2:23.40), 200 IM (2:08.78 – 7th), and 400 IM (10th – 4:35.49). Harvey set new lifetime best times in the 400 free, 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM during the season, signaling a strong improvement curve that she will be trying to maintain coming into 2026. Harvey will not race at the Commonwealth Games this year, which means her primary meet will be Pan Pacs in August, and, depending on her performance, she could be a multi-event medalis,t especially as her shoulder continues to heal.

#31 Wu Qingfeng, China (2025 Rank: NR) – Both the silver and bronze medalists in the 50 freestyle from Singapore ended up on this section of the list. China’s Wu Qingfeng finished 2nd in the 50 freestyle, touching in 24.26, which was about a tenth off the 24.18 mark she swam in May that ranked 5th in the world last year. This was her lifetime best in the event, taking four hundredths off the 24.22 she swam in April of 2024 at the Chinese Nationals. Wu came in about two-tenths behind Australia’s Meg Harris, who swam 24.02 for the gold. She also swam the 100 free and the 50 fly at Worlds, finishing 15th in the 100 free (54.32) and 20th in the 50 fly (26.18). Wu’s best 100 free time of 53.27 from May finished the year ranked 13th and her 50 fly of 25.72 was 23rd in the world. In 2026, Wu is looking at the Asian Games, where she seems to be the favorite in the 50 and 100 free, and she will have Pan Pacs, which is a harder meet with the sprint talent of the U.S. and Australia, but she has medals from both of the last two major international meets, and will likely be a major podium threat.