Earlier today, we revealed the most-read SwimSwam articles of 2025 – the stories that got you clicking.
Below is the list of the most-commented-on SwimSwam articles of the year – the stories that got you typing.
The articles that garnered the highest amount of clicks weren’t always the ones that prompted the most discussion, but as usual, the list was dominated by live recaps, most notably the World Championships.
Like the most-read articles, where Worlds took the top 10, the meet ranked among the top 14 most-commented-on articles of the year.
While Day 1 Finals of the World Championships topped the most-read list, Day 7 Finals, the night of the long-awaited 800 freestyle showdown between Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, sparked the most discussion with 1,690 comments.
For context, in 2024 the most-commented article was the Day 5 Finals Live Recap of the Paris Olympics, which brought in 2,615 comments, 736 more than any other article that year. This year’s most-commented article would have ranked sixth on last year’s list.
Finals recaps comprised the rest of the top 7, while Day 6 prelims slotted in at No. 8 with a mix of prelims and finals recaps from the meet rounding out the top 14.
From there, live recaps, whether from U.S. Nationals, World Cups, NCAAs, or Pro Swim Series, had a strong hold on the top 39.
The first non-recap article to crack the top 50 was at No. 39, where Olympic gold medalist Alex Shackell‘s decision to use a “hybrid schedule” while competing for Indiana University generated 426 comments.
Beyond Shackell, six other non-live recaps made the top 50. At No. 43, World Aquatics’ decision to add 50-meter stroke events to the Olympics drew 400 comments. Bella Sims’ entry into the transfer portal appeared at No. 46 with 381 comments, just ahead of No. 47, which covered U.S. swimmers being forced to stay behind at a training camp in Thailand due to illness before the World Championships, drawing 379 comments.
The final three spots in the top 50 were taken by articles surrounding the public feud between Michael Phelps and USA Swimming. These included Phelps’ open letter (359 comments), Phelps and Ryan Lochte sharing a meme criticizing Team USA’s performance at Worlds (354 comments), and Phelps releasing an official statement criticizing USA Swimming (344 comments).
Please create Swammy awards for ‘Best Comment’, ‘Worst Comment’, ‘Funniest Comment’, and ‘Most Annoying Comment’.
Retyping to get around Await Approval:
Who has the most upv*tes and downv*tes? That’s what I really need to know.
relay names guy would be the most downvoted, by far
Keep foreigners out of US sports probably gets it actually
Who has the most upvotes and downvotes? That’s what I really need to know.
Tragically, the upvotes and downvotes don’t database in any way so we don’t have any data on it.
I’m sure we could somehow scrape the front end of our own site to pull it but that seems like a lot of work.
for the people…
Relay names guy
The more interesting data would be which aspect of relay names guy gets the most down votes…..
1) The way he types meet names out in full, including the year.
2) His (apparent) lack of awareness that people dislike his comments.
3) His constant posting of the more cowbell meme.
4) The ability to generate an immediate downvote simply based on seeing his username attached.
Keep foreigners out of US sports for downvotes
He probably had a higher peak last season, but ultimately was a flash in the pan. Relay names guy, on the other hand, had more consistent performance over time.
What’s the all time record for number of comments on an article?
Day 5 of the Paris Olympics is well deserving of all the attention on its live cap. I still tell the story of that night to anyone who will listen 🤣
That Paris Olympics live recap was the most commented!
Day 5 of the Paris Olympics.