With the Open Water World Cup wrapping up this weekend in Italy, the 2025 open water elite international competition season comes to an end. This means that the final set of open water rankings for the year are updated.
This marked the first year that World Aquatics kept a ranking of open water performers. The rankings derive from a complex mathematic formula of athletes’ performances at Olympics, World Championships, and World Cups across a rolling 24-month period, taking competition level into account. More information about the rankings can be found here.
Hungary’s David Betlehem and Australia’s Moesha Johnson close out 2025 as the #1 ranked open water swimmers in the world.
Johnson, 28, has burst on to the elite open water scene in a big way in the last two years. At her first Olympic Games in Paris, she fought her way to a silver medal in the women’s 10k. This summer in Singapore, she ascended even further to double gold in the 5k and the 10k, adding on a bronze in the inaugural 3k sprint for good measure.
Johnson also accumulated three World Cup stop 10k victories in the last two years: Riyadh 2024, Somabay 2025, and Setubal 2025. Her track record cushioned herself in the #1 position through Italy, despite an 11th place finish and now-#2 Ginevra Taddeucci claiming a big victory.
The men’s rankings, on the other hand, saw a position switch through the last World Cup stop. Betlehem won his first ever World Cup 10k, propelling him past previous #1 Florian Wellbrock. Prior to this win, Bethlehem’s consistency at top-tier meets like the Olympics and the World Championships placed the 22-year-old in striking position of Wellbrock. Bethlehem earned silver in the men’s 3k knockout sprint in Singapore as well as a 10k bronze at the Paris Olympics. He put up an additional four individual top ten finishes between the 2025 Singapore and 2024 Doha World Championships.
See the top ten list of men’s and women’s top ten through 2025, as well as their position movement compared to the start of the year, below.
Men’s Top Ten
| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Age | +/- From Start of 2025 |
| 1 | David Betlehem | Hungary | 22 | +2 |
| 2 | Florian Wellbrock | Germany | 28 | +7 |
| 3 | Kristof Rasovszky | Hungary | 28 | -2 |
| 4 | Oliver Klemet | Germany | 23 | = |
| 5 | Gregorio Paltrinieri | Italy | 31 | +3 |
| 6 | Marc-Antoine Olivier | France | 29 | +1 |
| 7 | Kyle Lee | Australia | 23 | NEW |
| 8 | Martin Straka | Czech Republic | 24 | NEW |
| 9 | Athonasios Kynigakis | Greece | 27 | NEW |
| 10 | Logan Fontaine | France | 26 | -5 |
Women’s Top Ten
| Rank | Swimmer | Nation | Age | +/- From Start of 2025 |
| 1 | Moesha Johnson | Australia | 28 | NEW |
| 2 | Ginevra Taddeucci | Italy | 28 | +6 |
| 3 | Ana Marcela Cunha | Brazil | 33 | = |
| 4 | Maria de Valdes | Spain | 26 | NEW |
| 5 | Lisa Pou | Monaco | 26 | NEW |
| 6 | Bettina Fabian | Hungary | 20 | = |
| 7 | Ichika Kajimoto | Japan | 21 | NEW |
| 8 | Caroline Laure Jouisse | France | 31 | +1 |
| 9 | Mariah Denigan | United States | 22 | -5 |
| 10 | Viviane Jungblut | Brazil | 29 | -3 |
These world rankings are an interesting concept, just hope sponsors and collaborators see the value in the athletes making up these rankings.