2022 was an action-packed year.
In the aftermath of the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, this year featured an unprecedented number of major international competitions: the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships took place within a two-month timeframe in the summer, and we also saw the world’s best juniors put their talents on display with World Juniors, Euro Juniors and Junior Pan Pacs on the calendar.
In a year that saw numerous exceptional performances, things closed off with a bang last week at the Short Course World Championships, with 14 world records going down.
2022 had a bit of everything, and now that it’s coming to a close, it’s time for our annual Swammy Awards to be handed out. We’ll keep track of all of our winners below.
See the full 2021 Swammy Awards winners list here.
Too many categories in my opinion.
Then don’t read the links…
Yes it will be interesting. Many on here rate Sjoestroem ahead of McKeon as a sprinter because of better times despite Mckeon owning the titles.
I wonder, only 2 WR broken, 1 indivdually by Titmus & the 2nd 4 X 200 by Australia with Titmus swimming the fastest leg of all time. I wonder if that better then the titles won her main 2 competitors.
Female swimmer of the year is going to Ledecky no question. It already was before she broke two SCM WRs. So the Emma/Sarah comparison isn’t needed. And Titmus only swam 1/3 major competitions this year so she was never even in with a chance despite the very impressive times she swam.
The real question is who will get Oceanian female of the year. MOC and Madi Wilson both broke 5 relay WRs this year, plus MOC has a gold and silver individual from LCW and silver and bronze individual from SCW. Emma arguably was the best performer at CGs and SCW, but she didn’t go to Budapest, where MOC had an amazing performance. Kaylee didn’t break any WRs but she… Read more »
How many major championship did Ledecky swim in?
She swam 1 of the 2 she was eligible for, and it was the most important one. Titmus swam 1 of 3, excluding the most important one.
I love Titmus. If she went to Budapest then I think she very likely is swimmer of the year. But SS will find any excuse to give it to Ledecky anyway, and this year they don’t even need one.
There was 2 outstanding swims this year in the women’s side, both World records & both swum by Titmus, that is all I’m saying.
I brought up the Emma/Sarah comparison, I also will now bring up the Lani Pallister comparison, she won 3 WC Short course Gold medals & many said on here said that only because Ledecky didn’t swim it.
Didn’t Ledecky win in Budapest in the 400 because Titmus didn’t swim in it.
Well it depends and based what you’re saying , you prefer Titmus when she broke the wr but for me Ledecky broke SC distance wr for two weeks in a row is pretty impressive and one of them is by ten second so yeah right now it’s all about preference and for me it would be Ledecky
But Titmus broke a Ledecky WR, which everyone says (on here ) is the hardest by far.
Like I said it’s all about preference and if anybody prefer Titmus that’s fine with me but Ledecky broke a nine year old wr and won 800 free for a fifth time this year and overall it’s amazing swimming from both of them.
I’ll restate what I said, only TWO world records were broken this year & Titmus was heavily involved in both.
SC, world champs & SC world records, great, but they are not LC.
But it’s still wr even in SC and Titmus is great cause she’s the only woman to broke wr but she’s not the only one who broke LC and there are also other like Milak and Ceccon and like I said it’s all about preference and obviously you preferred Titmus and I’m going for Ledecky
Titmus wasn’t even the best Oceanic swimmer or Comms’ meet swimmer this year, making her a tough SOY choice. It’s clear, from her own words and actions, why she skipped Worlds LCM this year and what her priorities were (with maybe a bit of envy of l’affaire McKeon-Simpson thrown in?). The kind of approach that leads to a rather lethargic recent 4:06-8:29-16:21 combo at QLD age grouper meet.
Titmus undecided on another Ledecky showdown | Reuters
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-11317625/Australian-Olympian-Ariane-Titmus-reportedly-dating-Melbourne-Storm-NRL-star-Ryan-Papenhuyzen.html
So the Qld meet was a non tapered meet obviously. The Reuters article is from June, and talks about Titmus not doing Duel in the Pool ( which Ledecky didn’t do either).
The daily mail article talks about a possible new boyfriend. So what?
Why would she be jealous of McKeon and Simpson?
You are just making stuff up.
No one is “making stuff up.” There were multiple articles discussing Titmus’ “mental fatigue” and “stress” from competing and why she was skipping Worlds, and multiple articles in which Titmus discussed negatively the impact of McKeon-Simpson on Team AUS.
Mental health is a big issue and there’s no right or wrong with her decision to bypass the worlds.
I believe what she said was about the negative impact of media focusing too much on the so-called Emma-Cody-Kyle triangle story when they competed in CGs…or did I miss anything else?
Her individual world record and 4 golds in CGs definitely won a spot for her when discussing the Oceanian female swimmer of the year even though she didn’t compete at worlds. MOC and Kaylee have very good performances in Budapest, CGs and Melbourne, so I would say it’s all about perspectives/preferences.
Right, sure, SCM world records are only important when swum by an Australian, not by Canadians, Europeans, Americans. That’s why AUS media had an apoplectic fit when Bingjie Li smashed Titmus’ short-lived SCM record.
They didn’t have a fit. I think that record lasted 4 years by the way.
Everyone says SC isn’t important. Not just Australians.
So, Australia just spent big money hosting the World Short Course Championships, why is SC not important? And the AUS media DID have a fit over Bingjie Li, over-the-top articles about “absolute obliteration” of Titmus’ record, casting doubts on Bingjie Li’s negative split, etc etc
Titmus swam the 400 0.06s faster than any other female swimmer ever has. But at the Worlds, Ledecky swam the 800 5.55s faster than any other female swimmer ever has, and the 1500 8.73s faster than any other female swimmer ever has. Ledecky won in Budapest because she swam faster than any other female swimmer in the meet. If Titmus thought she could win, she should have competed.
MOC should get oceanian female swimmer imo no questions asked between her performances at trials, lc worlds, comm games and sc worlds, she won like 20 international medals this year and only one of them is bronze plus the 5 relay world records but my gut is telling me it’ll be either titmus or mckeon and all of them obviously are great but emma skipped trials and lc worlds and then was beaten by mollie in an event she’s the olympic champion of at comm games, and ariarne skipped both lc and sc worlds and only just beat mollie in an event she’s the olympic champion of at comm games, I think kaylee is probably out of contention just because… Read more »
Yeah the choice of Oceanian female of the year is very tricky. With Titmus the only long course world record on women’s side this year but she only competed in CGs, while Kaylee and MOC went to all the big meets and winning gold but their times were not as impressive as Titmus. Emma is outstanding in short course worlds but she didn’t go to Budapest either and also lost to MOC and Jack in 100m free in CGs.
McKeon missing LC worlds eliminates her, especially since she and MOC were basically tied at Commies when you consider the last relay could’ve been given to either. SC Worlds is lowest prestige, and Emma there is far stronger right now. Relay splits only count for so much, and the LCM ones were weaker than Tokyo.
McKeown vs MOC is interesting, MOC is automatically favoured being primarily a freestyler, as that means relay berths in a top team. Kaylee sacrificed some medals this year to learn more about her B event in the 200 IM. MOC beat her in 50 back and almost did so in SCM 100 back. Kaylee’s 200 remains indomitable right now, though Bacon almost got her.… Read more »
Fully agree. Titmus WR gets her an HM in Female Swimmer but cannot go past Ledecky. Granted each only fronted for one big meet but Worlds is more significant in the context of the sport/level of competition plus she did venture into the SC pool and rewrote some WRs at World Cups.
Men’s Oceania awards is a coin-toss
- ZSC broke the 200BRS WR but seemingly left his top form in AUS. Granted, he won both at Worlds & CG but both swims were significantly off his best. It may’ve been the case that he has been working to improve his 100 (only marginally to date) but perhaps at the expense of his core event.
- Winnington won 400FR impressively
… Read more »Tell that to SW:
World: David Popovici (Male European) & Ariarne Titmus (Female Pacific Rim)
Male Pacific Rim: Zac Stubblety-Cook
Female European: Sarah Sjostrom
American: Bobby Finke & Katie Ledecky
African: Pieter Coetze & Lara van Niekerk
Seems like they really value LCM WR’s over everything else, though Popovici certainly deserves it.
Titmus didn’t swim enough, end of story. If she got the 200 WR then sure.
Outside of that I don’t have many complaints, but the voting in some awards were rather odd.
Also doing Pac Rim instead of Oceania/Asia/South America is just lazy.
TOP 5 PACIFIC RIM (Men)
1. ZAC STUBBLETY-COOK, Australia (11) 55
2. Elijah Winnington,… Read more »
SW’s a valid viewpoint and certainly one to which they, or anyone else is entitled. Their rationale would seem to be, as you suggest, LC WR stands alone. Personally; whilst I “weigh” these LC WR’s heavily, the other factors that I alluded to should also be significant factors to the equation. It would appear I’m no orphan in that regard.
As for their calls; agree with Popovici and both the Americas/African awards.
No, many on here rate Sjoestrom ahead of McKeon because Sjoestrom has been a fantastic swimmer for 13 years, winning ten individual gold medals in World Championship LCM swimming–while newly formed sprinter McKeon (at age 27-plus) has won exactly zero in her LCM Worlds career.
I look forward to SwimSwam’s 2023 top 100 swimmer rankings.
Lol. I think sometimes they do those things in order to increase comments. MOC ignored basically in the list last year. MA getting best relay performer at LC Worlds this year. KC not getting an honourable mention in male swimmer of the meet last week.
and the comment section increases the engagement rate
When do they usually come out? Last year’s were… interesting (to use a diplomatic word).
First article was Jan 5.
Last year’s men’s top 10 turned out to be a disaster tbh.
Women Top 10:
So the women’s top 10 was pretty accurate overall.
Men Top 10:
- Dressel: I’m not even going to touch this but… no.
- Peaty: Oof…
- Rylov: Ummmm…
- Finke: Better than the top 3 but definitely overvalued.
- Milak: Actually this is about right.
- Seto: A tiny bit overvalued maybe but pretty good.
- Duncan Scott: Barely
… Read more »Steenbergen wasn’t even in the top 100 for this year, absolutely wild.
Which is funny, because as a hot take, I actually rate her as the best European female this year over Sjostrom. The hopes that she could succeed Heemskerk/Kromowidjojo are being realised and she has only gotten way stronger through the year, not sure what clicked but it did. While she had huge potential shown years ago, I’d consider this her breakout year, and I’d only put her behind MOC as the breakout female swimmer for the year, depending on the criteria.
I would rank Summer above both obviously unless her being an honorable mention for it last year eliminates her from contention
In my mind I had Summer invalid for that, the hype she had going into this year suggests she had already broken out. Wouldn’t complain about it though.