SwimSwam’s 50 Most-Watched YouTube Videos of 2019

The top 10 most-viewed videos on SwimSwam’s YouTube channel in 2019 reveal a lot about what stuck out to swim fans as the biggest stories in the news cycle. Caeleb Dressel was the world’s top swimmer in 2019, which he proved at both the long course World Championships and in the International Swimming League. Dressel videos occupy 3 of the 10 most-viewed videos of 2019 on our YouTube channel, and 10 of the 50-most viewed videos on our YouTube channel of 2019. He’s also part of another, a behind-the-scenes video from a Speedo photo shoot.

Also high on our readers’ minds was Abbey Weitzeil‘s 50 yard freestyle at the Minnesota Invite in early December, where she became the first woman ever under 21 seconds in that event. That was the 2nd-most viewed video on our channel, and our most-viewed race video (beating out a novelty University of Texas 100 free relay swim).

Also high on our readers’ mind were the podium protests by swimmers Mack Horton and Duncan Scott at the World Championships, where they posed their objections to the presence of Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. News segments about those protests ranked 9th and 11th among our most-viewed videos.

Among Coleman Hodges’ Practice & Pancakes series, our most-watched videos were, unsurprisingly, a breaststroke clinic with Indiana University, which is the most successful American breaststroking group at the moment by far, and a morning workout with, among others, Olympic and World Champions Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel.

Below, we count down the top 10 most-viewed videos on SwimSwam’s YouTube Channel in 2019.

Note: in our countdown, we’ve only included videos that were actually produced in 2019. Our most-viewed video of 2019 was actually first posted in 2017, a Day in the Life with Stanford Women’s Swimming, and the full list of the top 50 at the end includes all views in 2019, regardless of when the video was produced.

10) Duncan Scott Also Protests Yang; Yang Confronts Scott After Podium

The 2nd of 2 podium protests at this summer’s World Championships, Scottish swimmer Duncan Scott refused to shake hands with Sun Yang after Sun won gold in the men’s 200 free and Scott won bronze. Unlike Mack Horton’s earlier protest after the 400 free, though, Scott did get on the podium while the Chinese national anthem played.6Q

9) Caeleb Dressel 100 Free Atlanta Classic – 47.86 (LCM)

Almost as if to signify that his troublesome summer of 2018 was a thought of the past, in May Caeleb Dressel swam a 47.86 in the 100 free in long course. That was the first time he had been sub-48 in the 100 free in a regular season meet (he did so again a month later in Mission Viejo). Dressel would go on to a 4-for-4 individual performance at the World Championships that included a World Record in the 100 fly.

8) Mack Horton Abstains from 400 Free Podium Celebrations in Protest of Sun Yang

An old rivalry between Mack Horton and Sun Yang flared up again at the World Championships after the men’s 400 free. Sun won gold and Horton silver, but Horton refused to mount the podium next to his long-time Chinese rival in protest of Sun’s actions during an anti-doping control test in 2018, and the fact that Sun was still allowed to race while WADA was appealing his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Both athletes, along with Scott, were warned by FINA for their behavior.

7) Team Speedo 2019 Fastskin LZR Pure Valor/Pure Intent Photo Shoot (Behind the Scenes)

While Speedo is a SwimSwam advertising partner, they did not pay us to include their video on the list. The reality is that our audience loves new suits, they love photo shoots, and the video had a lot of huge-name athletes like Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy.

6) Watch Caeleb Dressel Swim 47.9 100 Free (Race Video)

More Dressel. This is the 2nd time he was under 48 seconds at an in-season meet, touching in 47.97 at the Fran Crippen Memorial Swim Meet of Champions in June. More foreshadowing of what was to come later in the summer.

5) Texas Men’s 100 Free Relay

People love watching sprinters, people love suited practice swims, and people love watching the University of Texas do unorthodox things in workouts. Enter the Texas men’s 4×25 free relay race from February. The winning team went 34.50, which is averaging 8.63s.

4) Katie Ledecky‘s Times in Practice Are Ridiculous: GMM presented by SwimOutlet.com

As incredible as Olympic gold medalist and World Record holder is in meets, her swims in practice are ridiculous. In this video, she describes a set where she does 20×100 freestyles on a 1:40 interval, and hitting better than 1 minute on half of them. Then she went a 4:10 in a 400 freestyle from a push at the end of a workout. Then talks about doing a 4:31 in the 500 yard freestyle from a push at the end of a set. Also popular: Katie Ledecky battling True Sweetser in a distance workout.

3) Dressel Will Go to Training Camp Right after World Champs: GMM presented by SwimOutlet.com

More Dressel. Before his Worlds outbreak, Dressel talks about what his plan was for the summer.

2) Kristof Milak Slaughters Phelps’ 200 Fly World Record in 1:50.73

One of Michael Phelps‘ most famous records, a 200 fly time of 1:51.51, stood for 10 years. But then, this summer, a Hungarian teenager took it down by almost eight tenths of a second. That day started the first time in 18 years that Phelps hadn’t held the World Record in the 200 fly.

1) Abbey Weitzeil Swims 20.90 in the 50 Yard Freestyle

A late entry, posted on December 6th, this video didn’t have nearly as much time as the other videos in the top 10 to simmer and rack up views. In fact, Weitzeil’s swim was the only video posted after July to crack the top 10. But, as we’ve said, people love sprinting, and people love records. Abbey Weitzeil‘s 20.90 at the Minnesota Invite made her the first woman ever under 21 seconds in the 50 free.

50 Most-Watched Videos on the SwimSwam YouTube Channel in 2019 (All Publish Dates)