H/T to Twitter user @tsv3y3 for first pointing this out on X.
With his 21.38 on Sunday at the Japan Open, Australian swimmer Cam McEvoy now has the most sub-21.5 swims in history.
According to data compiled by nuoto mondiale, the most complete all-time rankings in the sport, that is McEvoy’s 19th swim that is faster than 21.50. That breaks a tie with Great Britain’s Ben Proud, who recently committed to join the Enhanced Games.
In total, there have been 152 swims in history faster than 21.50, done by 31 different men.
Swimmers Who Have Been Under 21.50 in the 50 Free (Long Course)
| Rank | Name | Country | Sub-21.50 Swims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cameron McEvoy | Australia | 19 |
| 2 | Benjamin Proud | Great Britain | 18 |
| 3 | Cesar Cielo Filho | Brazil | 13 |
| 4 | Caeleb Dressel | United States | 12 |
| 4 | Bruno Fratus | Brazil | 12 |
| 6 | Fred Bousquet | France | 9 |
| 6 | Vladimir Morozov | Russia | 9 |
| 7 | Florent Manaudou | France | 8 |
| 8 | Nathan Adrian | United States | 6 |
| 9 | Amaury Leveaux | France | 5 |
| 9 | Michael Andrew | United States | 5 |
| 11 | Jack Alexy | United States | 3 |
| 11 | Cullen Jones | United States | 3 |
| 11 | Anthony Ervin | United States | 3 |
| 14 | Ashley Callus | Australia | 2 |
| 14 | Alain Bernard | France | 2 |
| 14 | Eamon Sullivan | Australia | 2 |
| 14 | Duje Draganja | Croatia | 2 |
| 14 | Vladyslav Bukhov | Ukraine | 2 |
| 14 | Kristian Gkolomeev | Greece | 2 |
| 14 | Andrej Barna | Serbia | 2 |
| 14 | Pawel Juraszek | Poland | 2 |
| 14 | Andrii Govorov | Ukraine | 2 |
| 23 | George Bovell III | Trinidad & Tobago | 1 |
| 23 | Andrea Vergani | Italy | 1 |
| 23 | Krisztian Takacs | Hungary | 1 |
| 23 | Egor Kornev | Russia | 1 |
| 23 | Jamie Jack | Australia | 1 |
| 23 | Stefan Nystrand | Sweden | 1 |
| 23 | Guilherme Costa Santos | Brazil | 1 |
| 23 | Garrett Weber-Gale | United States | 1 |
| 23 | Josh Liendo | Canada | 1 |
While the 21.50 barrier is as arbitrary as any other in swimming, it shows a level of deep excellence across an extended career. While McEvoy’s career has been a long one at the international stage, what makes his spot at the head of this list most interesting is his late shift from more of a 100-200 meter swimmer to a pure, drop-dead 50 freestyle sprinter. He had a single 21.45 (the 17th best of his 19 sub-21.5 swims) when he was 21. Every other sub-21.50 swim on his list came at age 29-or-later, as he returned from a break from the sport with a new training paradigm that has reframed how sprinters are training around the world.
Brazilian Bruno Fratus has been under 22.00 seconds 100 times, another significant standard.
Cam McEvoy’s all-time Sub-21.50 Swims in the 50 Free (LCM)
| Time | Name | Age | Race Date | Meet |
| 21.06 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Jul 29, 2023 | World Aquatics Championships |
| 21.13 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Feb 16, 2024 | World Aquatics Championships (prelims) |
| 21.14 | McEvoy, Cameron | 31 | Aug 2, 2025 | World Aquatics Championships |
| 21.23 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Feb 16, 2024 | World Aquatics Championships (semis) |
| 21.25 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Jul 28, 2023 | World Aquatics Championships (semis) |
| 21.25 | McEvoy, Cameron | 30 | Aug 2, 2024 | 2024 Olympic Games |
| 21.27 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Jun 13, 2023 | Australian World Championship Trials (prelims) |
| 21.30 | McEvoy, Cameron | 31 | Jun 9, 2025 | Australian Team Trials |
| 21.30 | McEvoy, Cameron | 31 | Aug 1, 2025 | World Aquatics Championships (semis) |
| 21.32 | McEvoy, Cameron | 30 | Aug 1, 2024 | 2024 Olympic Games (prelims) |
| 21.35 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Jul 28, 2023 | World Aquatics Championships (prelims) |
| 21.35 | McEvoy, Cameron | 30 | Jun 10, 2024 | Australian Olympic Trials |
| 21.38 | McEvoy, Cameron | 30 | Aug 1, 2024 | Olympic Games (semis) |
| 21.38 | McEvoy, Cameron | 31 | Nov 30, 2025 | 2025 Japan Open |
| 21.41 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Jun 13, 2023 | Australian World Championship Trials |
| 21.43 | McEvoy, Cameron | 30 | Jun 10, 2024 | Australian Olympic Trials (prelims) |
| 21.44 | McEvoy, Cameron | 21 | Apr 7, 2016 | 2016 AUS Olympic Trials Adelaide |
| 21.45 | McEvoy, Cameron | 29 | Feb 17, 2024 | World Aquatics Championships |
| 21.48 | McEvoy, Cameron | 31 | Apr 21, 2025 | Australian Open |
Weak event .
As someone coming from Track and Field, the amount of sprinter hate I see in the swimming community is hilariously baffling. It’s like you people feel that sprinters existing is an insult to you as a person. What in the world is wrong with someone wanting to do events that decide who has the most raw speed in the water? People specialize for what they want to do, what is your problem?
This is like people hating on Strongmen/women and saying that they’re weak for doing low reps high weight, and that they should focus more on cardio and high reps/low weight, when those thing do not benefit what they do at all.
I wrote a whole editorial on this once, maybe 12 years ago, how American swim culture doesn’t view sprinting as miserable enough, and the whole swimming culture is centered on ‘maximizing misery.’
It has changed a little, but still lots of this.
You should Definitely do an updated “version 2” of this
Always one of my favourite swimmers, after his awesome swim in 2016 100 free of 47.04 at the Aussie champs & lost it after that & recovered to be such a champion in the 50.
Fun fact: Anthony Ervin swam his fastest time at 35.
Would be curious to see an article comparing the best 50/100/200 freestylers of all time. Gotta think McEvoy is up there with 21.0, 47.0, 1:45+. Incredible range over his career
Just did a quick calculation and I think Popovici has the highest combined FINA points for those 3 events with 2,842. McEvoy appears to be second with 2,841 lol.
McEvoy absolutely clears DP in the 50 but DP is top 3 in history in both the 100 and 200
Fina points when the time was swum or today?
Suggestion for the next:
Most women under 52.5 100 free
MA in that top 10 is diabolical.
He wasn’t there for a long time, but damn he was there for a good time.
truly I think he can still get back
My optimism dwindles day by day, but goodness gracious the talent is there and he’s still in his mid 20s.
Peak MA from 2018-2022 is still one of the most talented and entertaining swimmers to watch. He was like action Jackson in the NFL, he would dazzle you all season and then disappoint you in the big dance but boy was he fun to watch
2021 Trials was no joke. Seeing someone win the 200 IM and then get 2nd behind Dressel peaking Nathan was wild. Then on top of that he’d go an American record in the 100 breast. I remember thinking we were so set with Dressel and Andrew at the helm
Ya that he had a “disappointing” Olympics doesn’t really take away from how wild it was he actually qualified in those events.
And given his age that should have absolutely been a stepping stone meet to doing something wild in Paris.
He’s going at this like a Sandpiper, this is all just one long taper for LA
I believe he can go sub 21 at the very least. I think he is reaching the limit of what he can do with technique + how old he is. It is now or never to throw down the fastest time in his career leading up to this next olympics.
I wonder if Dressel really focuses on it up until the 2028 Olympics, he could take over that number 2 spot. Really excited to see what form he is in at the U.S. Open
Based on his 21.96 in August (where he was trying to get a spot on the Pan Pac team for 2026), we know he’s got a small chance of breaking 22 seconds again.
Dressel has only been sub 21.50 ONCE since 2023: a 21.41 in the final of the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials.