Our Top 100 For 2022 series concludes on the women’s side with the top 10 swimmers to watch in the coming year.
Rather than a ranking based on the performances that we saw in 2021, the series is geared towards who we expect to be the top performers in 2022.
The rankings are weighted heavily towards the 2022 Long Course World Championships, factoring in individual medal and world record potential, but we’ve also accounted for other major international events that will take place during the year. Note that long course gets a priority, but short course ability and ISL scoring potential are baked into the ranks as well.
We’ll be breaking down the top 100 into multiple installments, so keep an eye out as they’re released.
These lists are, by nature, subjective. If you disagree, leave your thoughts/ranks in the comments.
See also:
#10: Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden – Sjostrom’s career has gone through many twists and turns over the last three years. After a very impressive three-medal haul at the 2016 Olympic Games, including gold in the 100 butterfly, the Swede was simply dominant at the 2017 World Championships, claiming three individual golds in the 50 freestyle, 50 fly and 100 fly while also obliterating the world record in the 100 free. In 2019, her reign of 100 fly dominance came to an end when Canadian Maggie MacNeil upset her to win gold at the World Championships—Sjostrom’s first major championship loss in the event in five years. She still won an impressive five medals in Gwangju, including a third straight title in the 50 fly, but was no longer the clear favorite to repeat as Olympic champion in the 100 fly in 2020.
After the Games were postponed one year, Sjostrom slipped on some ice in Sweden in February 2021 and broke her elbow, which required surgery and kept her out of the pool for months. On the road back, she questioned whether or not she would even swim the 100 fly due to the strength required to train for it properly (freestyle was much easier to get back into), but she ended up swimming it. Sjostrom, who turned 28 shortly after the Olympics, had an impressive 100 fly prelim in Tokyo (56.18) but ended up finishing seventh in the final (56.91). In the 100 free, she finished fifth in 52.68, .16 shy of a medal, but in her last chance, made her way onto the podium with a runner-up finish in the 50 free in a blazing 24.07. She followed up her up-and-down Olympics with an incredible short course season, especially given where she was at the start of the year, claiming seven medals at SC Worlds, including individual gold in the 50 free. She also threw down a mind-blowing 23.96 50 fly split as Sweden tied the world record in the 200 medley relay, and Sjostrom was her usual self in the ISL, leading Energy Standard to the championship title after winning Season MVP honors with 511.5 points.
So while Sjostrom may not be a shoo-in for 100 fly gold at Worlds anymore, we can’t deny that she’s still the favorite in the 50 fly, and has medal chances in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly as well.
#9: Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong – Haughey’s been steadily improving year after year, moving up in the women’s freestyle ranks, but things have really taken off since she graduated from the University of Michigan in 2019. After placing 13th in the women’s 200 freestyle in Rio and fifth at the 2017 World Championships, Haughey climbed to fourth at the 2019 Worlds, two tenths outside of a medal in a new personal best time of 1:54.98. After a pair of standout seasons in the ISL, along with breaking the 200 free Asian Record in a time trial in mid-2020 (1:54.44), the Hong Kong native really broke out on the international stage at the Tokyo Olympic Games, earning a pair of silvers in the 100 and 200 free. Haughey broke the Asian Record in all three rounds of the 100 free, bringing her best time all the way down from 52.92 entering the meet to 52.27 in the final, while in the 200 free, she led through the 150 before taking second to Ariarne Titmus (1:53.50) in a time of 1:53.92. That made Haughey just the fifth woman in history under the 1:54 barrier, with the four others all having won Olympic gold in the event.
In addition to those long course performances, Haughey has solidified herself as one of the best short course swimmers out there and a top-three performer in the ISL. Haughey won an incredible 22 races for Energy Standard in Season 3, finishing the campaign ranked second overall with 468 points, and she capped off the SC season by breaking the world record in the 200 free at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi (1:50.31). The 24-year-old also won the world title in the 100 free, and added a bronze in the 400 free. Haughey enters 2022 as a gold medal challenger at LC Worlds in both the 100 and 200 free, and even though the 200 has always her better event on paper, she may have a better shot at gold in the 100 given the event is generally more wide open, whereas Ariarne Titmus is currently the de facto number one in the 200.
#8: Maggie MacNeil, Canada – MacNeil has taken over as the undisputed best women’s 100 butterfly swimmer in the world over the last three years, having won the last Olympic, Long Course World Championship and Short Course World Championship gold medals in the event, plus the NCAA title (becoming just the second swimmer to hold all four crowns in the same event simultaneously). MacNeil burst onto the international scene at the 2019 World Championships, pulling off a stunning upset over Sarah Sjostrom to win the 100 fly gold medal in a time of 55.83. Two years later, competing in a stacked Olympic final that featured the five fastest swimmers in history, MacNeil came through under pressure once again to win gold in 55.59, edging out China’s Zhang Yufei by five one-hundredths. The main detractor for the 21-year-old MacNeil in these types of rankings is that she hasn’t established any other individual events in which she can challenge for a major international podium in LCM.
She has, however, evolved into a dominant short course swimmer in a variety of disciplines. MacNeil has reeled off some all-time performances across free, back and fly in short course yards in the NCAA, and then put those skills on display at SC Worlds in December, obliterating the world record in the 50 back (25.27) while winning the gold medal. MacNeil also won the 100 fly title, and threw in some blistering relay splits as she added gold medals in the women’s 400 free and mixed 200 free relays, plus a silver in the 400 medley. The London, Ontario native is locked in as a favorite for 100 fly gold at LC Worlds in 2022, but it remains to be seen if she can challenge in another event. If she can translate some of that short course success in freestyle and backstroke over to the big pool, she will.
#7: Yui Ohashi, Japan – Coming into the Tokyo Olympic Games, no one really knew what to expect in the women’s individual medley events. Hungarian Katinka Hosszu had been so dominant in both the 200 and 400 IM for eight years, essentially going undefeated in major finals since the 2012 London Olympics, but she showed a chink in the armor earlier in 2021 when she fell in the 200 IM at the European Championships. That swim proved to be a sign of things to come, as Hosszu was well off her best at the Olympics, and it was Ohashi who took full advantage.
Ohashi had been consistently near the top of the world rankings in the women’s medley events in the years since Rio, sitting in the top three of both the 200 and 400 IM each year since 2017 (other than the 200 in the competition-sparse 2020). In Tokyo, the now-26-year-old Japanese swimmer pulled away on the breaststroke leg en route to winning gold in the 400 IM, clocking 4:32.08 to earn the host nation’s first gold of the Games. She then completed the medley sweep later in the meet in the 200 IM, winning a razor-thin race with American Alex Walsh in a time of 2:08.52. Ohashi closed out the year with five wins for the Tokyo Frog Kings in the ISL, and comes into 2022 as the odds-on favorite to win both IM events at LC Worlds. Despite winning double Olympic gold in 2021, she was still shy of hitting her lifetime bests in both races (2:07.91, 4:30.82), indicating her edge over the rest of the world might be even larger than we think it is.
#6: Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa – Schoenmaker has quickly become the best all-around female breaststroker in the world, highlighted by her world record-breaking gold medal swim in the 200 breast at the Tokyo Olympic Games. The South African did sweep the women’s 100 and 200 breast events at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2019 World Univeristy Games, and had a big breakthrough in winning silver in the 200 at the 2019 World Championships, but she was never seriously considered to be a gold medal threat at the Olympic Games until she dropped a world-leading 2:20.17 200 breast time in April 2021. The 24-year-old also hit a PB of 1:05.74 in the 100 breast at those South African Nationals, and then showed up in Tokyo in unbelievable form.
Schoenmaker set an Olympic Record in the 100 breast prelims in 1:04.82, and went on to win silver in the final, though her swim from the heats was faster than what American Lydia Jacoby won gold with (1:04.95). In the 200 breast, Schoenmaker was five one-hundredths shy of the 2013 world record in the prelims (2:19.16), put up another top-ranked swim in the semis (2:19.33), and then broke the first individual world record of the Games in the final, winning gold while becoming the first woman sub-2:19 in 2:18.95. That earned her the gold medal by almost a full second, and sends her into 2022 Worlds as the clear favorite for gold. She’s also one of three women capable of going sub-1:05 in the 100 breast, making her a shoo-in to medal, and she could maybe even make a charge for the podium in the 50 breast. Ultimately, there aren’t many swimmers we would peg as a near-lock to win one event at Worlds and almost definitely medal in another, but Schoenmaker fits that bill.
#5: Zhang Yufei, China – Just like Schoenmaker, Zhang has asserted herself as a massive favorite moving into 2022 Worlds in one event, a likely medalist in another, and she’s capable of pushing for even more hardware as well. Zhang blew everyone out of the water in the women’s 200 butterfly final in Tokyo, establishing the fastest time we’d seen since 2009 in 2:03.86 to win gold by almost a second and a half. The 23-year-old has also been brilliant over the last two years in the 100 fly, becoming the second-fastest performer in history in 2020 in a time of 55.62—14 one-hundredths shy of Sarah Sjostrom‘s world record. Zhang fell one spot on the historical rankings after Tokyo, with Maggie MacNeil winning gold in 55.59 to Zhang’s 55.64.
In addition to finishing 2021 ranked first in the world in the 200 fly and second in the 100 fly, Zhang also sat ninth in the 100 free at 52.90, a time that tied her national record originally set in 2020, and ranked 10th in the 50 free in 24.21 (Zhang actually tied for eighth in the 50 free semis at the Olympics with countrymate Wu Qingfeng, but withdrew). Zhang added to her 2021 resume at SC Worlds in December, winning the 200 fly title while finishing fifth in the 50 fly. In 2022, she’s a huge favorite in the 200 fly, justifiably a co-favorite along with MacNeil in the 100 fly, and an outside podium hopeful in the 50 free, 100 free, and probably the 50 fly as well.
#4: Emma McKeon, Australia – McKeon had been racking up medals on the international scene since 2013 coming into the Olympic year, but the majority of that hardware came by way of the Australian relays. At the 2016 Olympic Games, the Australian native won four medals, one of which was individual (200 free bronze). At the LC World Championships, she had stood on the podium 17 different times, but in only three of those was she on her own. That all changed in 2021, however, as McKeon began to take her game to a new level in the lead-up to Tokyo, establishing herself as a contender to earn a massive haul of both individual and relay medals at the Games.
The 27-year-old was on fire at the Australian Olympic Trials in June, scoring lifetime bests in the 50 free (23.93), 100 free (52.19), 200 free (1:54.74) and 100 fly (55.93) to qualify for Tokyo in all four races. After dropping the 200 free from her lineup, McKeon won a historic seven medals at the Games, including individual gold in the 50 free (23.81) and 100 free (51.96), both new Olympic Records. She also earned bronze in the 100 fly (55.72), and added two relay golds in the women’s 400 free and 400 medley relays. So while she exited Tokyo as the most decorated athlete of the entire Games, and finished 2021 ranked in the world’s top six in four different events, McKeon gets stuck at #4 here due to how stacked her best events are on the world stage, giving her hardly any margin for error at LC Worlds (if she’s there).
#3: Ariarne Titmus, Australia – Titmus’ build-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games was almost textbook in a way. She got some international experience under her belt at the 2017 World Championships, won two individual golds at both the 2018 Commonwealth Games and SC World Championships, and then elevated her game another step at the 2019 Worlds, winning one medal of each color individually. That included an upset gold over defending champ Katie Ledecky in the women’s 400 free, though we later learned Ledecky was under the weather at the meet. Nonetheless, that gave Titmus a new level of confidence moving into the Tokyo Games, and her improvement continued at the 2021 Australian Olympic Trials.
Titmus neared Federica Pellegrini’s super-suited world record in the 200 free (1:53.09) and Ledecky’s all-time mark in the 400 free (3:56.90) at those Trials, and carried that momentum into the Games. Titmus won 400 free Olympic gold in an epic race over Ledecky in another PB of 3:56.69, the second-fastest swim ever, and then followed up with a second victory in the 200 free (1:53.50). The now-21-year-old also took silver in the 800 free, hitting another lifetime best of 8:13.83, and is locked in as a gold medal challenger in three different events moving forward. Titmus would have to be considered the favorite in the 200 and 400 free, though Ledecky might have something to say about the latter, and the Australian is currently on the American’s heels in the 800. It seems imminent that Titmus will continue to get faster as we move towards the 2024 Games in Paris. The question then becomes where Ledecky will be. Given that Ledecky appears rejuvenated after moving training bases to the University of Florida, the most likely scenario is that Titmus continues to win the 200 free, Ledecky takes the 800 free, and they meet in the middle and have more epic showdowns in the 400 that could go either way.
#2: Kaylee McKeown, Australia – McKeown established herself as a name to watch for dating back to the 2017 World Championships when she took fourth in the women’s 200 back and broke the World Junior Record in 2:06.76 just a few weeks after her 16th birthday. She was about a half-second faster at 2019 Worlds, winning silver, but was a distant 2.5 seconds back of gold medalist Regan Smith. Given Smith’s world record swims in the 100 and 200 back at that meet in Gwangju, it looked like McKeown and the rest of the women’s backstroke contingent would be racing for second place in Tokyo. But McKeown turned that idea on its head with an unbelievable two years of swimming.
In December 2020, McKeown joined Smith as the second woman ever under the 58-second barrier in the 100 back, clocking 57.93, and one month earlier in the 200 back, moved to #3 all-time behind Smith and the great Missy Franklin in a time of 2:04.49 (McKeown also broke the SCM 200 back world record that November in 1:58.94). At that same December meet, McKeown also produced world-leading times of 2:08.23 and 4:32.73 in the women’s 200 and 400 IM, respectively, giving her four events she could potentially challenge for gold in at the Olympic Games.
The Redcliffe, Queensland native then broke Smith’s world record in the 100 back at the Aussie Olympic Trials in June 2021, clocking 57.45, and also bettered her PB in the 200 back down to 2:04.28. In Tokyo, McKeown came through with the gold in the 100 back (57.47) and 200 back (2:04.68), and added a relay gold in the women’s 400 medley and a bronze in the mixed 400 medley. The 20-year-old also won the 200 IM at the Australian Olympic Trials in 2:08.19—a time that would’ve won the Olympic final—but withdrew from the race in Tokyo. She also opted not to race the 400 IM at the Trials, but could’ve been a player there as well. Add on her abilities in the 50 back, and McKeown has the skills to be a gold medal threat across five events at LC Worlds. And while we don’t expect her to race all of these events in Fukuoka (assuming she’s there), she has the ability to do so, and might just be the best all-around female talent in the sport.
#1: Katie Ledecky, USA – Katie Ledecky–perhaps no name in sport has been more synonymous with dominance for the better part of the last decade. Ledecky’s reign as the best swimmer on earth arguably began as far back as 2013, when she followed up her shocking 2012 Olympic gold medal in the 800 free by sweeping the World Championships in the 400, 800 and 1500 free, breaking world records in the two latter. Her unstoppable run continued through the 2016 Olympics, where she won triple individual gold in the 200, 400 and 800 free, with seemingly untouchable world records set in the 400 (3:56.46) and 800 (8:04.79). Outside of Rio, Ledecky was never a dominant force in the 200 free, but in the other three events, she remained untouchable leading into the 2019 Worlds.
That’s where Ariarne Titmus dethroned her in the 400 free, and we later found out Ledecky was sick, forcing her to drop out of the 200 and 1500 free at the meet. She gutted out a fourth straight world title in the 800 free, but heading into Tokyo, especially after what Titmus at the Australian Olympic Trials, Ledecky was no longer the favorite in the 200 and 400 free.
At the Games, that story held up, as Ledecky swam her fastest time since Rio in the 400 free final, 3:57.36, but took second behind Titmus’ 3:56.69. Ledecky was also well off her best in the 200 free, finishing fifth, but did prevail with a third straight Olympic gold in the 800 free (8:12.57) and she also became the inaugural Olympic champion in the women’s 1500 free (15:37.34). It was clear that Ledecky was not at her best, so she made a big change in the fall, moving on from coach Greg Meehan and Stanford University to join acclaimed distance coach Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida. Since the move, the early returns for Ledecky have been promising, including nearing her times from the Olympic finals in the 200 free and 800 free at the US Open in December.
Despite what was a relatively rocky Olympics for Ledecky, compared to the impossibly high standards she set in 2016, the move to Florida feels as though it will revitalize her in the coming years. Even well off her best, she still won two gold medals and one silver in Tokyo, and is probably the female swimmer with the best shot at four individual golds in Fukuoka.
Ledecky at #1?? Yes she’s amazing, but this just takes the cake. If this is truly a forward facing list, others in the top 10 should be above her.
Ok, my thoughts on the top 10. I am going to assume World Champs are happening and that everyone in the top 10 is attending for the purposes of my analysis.
Sjostrom: This seems like the right placement. She’s a threat in so many events, but unfortunately all of her events (maybe except for the 50 fly) are basically the four most competitive events in women’s swimming. Her Olympic success was only a single silver medal, but considering what she went through to get there, that was incredible. To my knowledge, Sjostrom, McKeon, Ledecky and Hosszu are the only four active swimmers to have individual Olympic medals in four different events. I suspect Sjostrom isn’t quite finished and has at… Read more »
This is quite a misinformed statement based on Ledecky choosing to not swim SCM rather than her actual ability in SCM.
Ok so if Kaylee and Titmus chose not to swim Worlds, like it looked like they might, then you would still give them credit for what they might have achieved?
Except that’s not what you said. You made a statement about Ledecky’s ability in short course (she’s extremely good in SCY so obviously would be good in SCM) and Ledecky already beat Titmus multiple times in ISL including being only 0.14s from Titmus’ WR.
Ok so we’re on the same page then: Ledecky clearly gets no credit for SCM because she chooses not to swim it. I’m glad you agree.
If you’d like I could reword what I said.
Ledecky is clearly ranked last in this criteria because she chooses not to swim SCM, and when she has swum it, she has never broken a world record while Kaylee and Titmus both have.
That’s 100% factually correct. Are you happy with that instead?
Also just so we’re on the same page, Ledecky won one event, one time in her ISL career.
Okay I agree then. Titmus and McKeown would outperform Ledecky easily in SCM. You’ve made a very convincing case.
I reworded what I said to be more to your taste and it’s still not good enough lol. Well actually you’ve just ignored everything I’ve said and continued to whine about a sentence that I changed because you didn’t like it.
It’s strange that you read the entirety of what I wrote had no comments except for a whinge about one sentence, and even when I’ve changed that, you have nothing else to say except to continue to whine about a sentence I changed because of you.
You didn’t actually critique or disagree with anything substantive that I said or any of my reasoning.
Tbh I think you can only use titmus and McKewon’s SCM accomplishments to bring them up, and not to bring Katie down for not doing them if you know what I mean
I get that. But when you’re doing a direct comparison it doesn’t really make a difference, does it? They both beat her in that criteria and it doesn’t matter if it’s because they’re great at it or she’s bad at it.
A little Aussie on Aussie violence! Maybe now y’all can start to feel what the rest of us have felt for the last 2 weeks reading your insufferable and condescending comments.
Maybe you can see what it feels like reading “all Aussies will choke at every event because of Cate Campbell in Rio” every day for 5 years.
Lol.
I think Chris Mooney said in September that McKeown broke the 50 back WR in training before the Olympics. So not official. He’s not one to say it if it didn’t happen.
Multiple times in the same session if I remember right.
I think you’re undermining Ledecky’s out of the blue WR potential (ex. 2018 pro swim series)
Nobody was expecting her to go 3:57 and 1:53 this year, why can’t she go 3:56 or 3:55 next year?
Why not indeed. Lot of discussion on KL getting old, but keep in mind, all these other women will also be older at the 2024 Olympics,,, Also in the mix, biological vs chronological age.I believe Titmus will be close to Ledecky’s age at Tokyo at Paris… What if las year was her peak…quelle horreur!!!
You could argue that about anyone. Why couldn’t Katie drop 2 seconds off all of her best times? Why couldn’t Kaylee or Titmus do that either?
“Why not” with nothing to back it up isn’t really a convincing argument.
That is 10 extremely good swimmers.
The top 4 speaks for itself multiple gold medal winners in Tokyo & still very competitive.
Schoemaker, those 3 swims in the 200 Breast at Olympics, just amazing & Zhang Yufei 200 fly is Milak like.
Sjostrom after the injury to be so competitive.
nah milak 200fly is zhang-like
Disagree. Milak has already beaten the unbeatable by smashing The Goat’s 2009 record and he won by 2.5 seconds ahead of the second. Zhang is quite far from any of them.
Kate Douglass just went 2:05 in the 200 breast at a dual meet so actually she should be #1 sry
Kate douglass > phelps
That’s the dumbest comment of the year.
I think they were joking,,,
Healthy Quadarella prediction (15:36)
Ledecky in the future with 200 FR and 1500 Double (15:36), it’s gonna be really fun to watch if they both go at it in the near future. Also Grimes, we could potentially see 3 women sub 15:40 at the next huge championship meet:)
I wonder if Katie will drop the 200 at some point in her career. It’s her least competitive event and she might want to avoid that tough double and just take the sure thing in the 1500 as she gets older.
I think when people get upset about these rankings they fail to consider how great ledecky is and how that makes her seem more human. Any day of the week she could throw on a racing suit and go a time that literally no one else has gone before in the 800 or 1500. McKweon is absolutely insane but she’s just a small step ahead of the rest of the world. I see titmus as the only one on her level because of how far ahead of the anyone not named ledecky in the 400
Or maybe you’re just not appreciating the level of some other swimmers?
McKeon 100 free in 2021: Top 3 times, 7 out of top 10, beat the second best performer by 0.3
Ledecky 800 free: Top 3 times, 8 out of top 10, beat the second best performer by 1.3.
If you extrapolate out the performance difference to match the distance, McKeon’s winning margin in the 100 free is better than Ledecky’s in the 800 (0.3 x 8 = 2.4 seconds).
And I’m not even suggesting McKeon should be #1. But when you talk about how amazing Ledecky is you need to take into account she swims the least competitive events with the least participants, and it’s easier to… Read more »
i think their point is that any 3 of those times would’ve been a world record, discounting her own previous times
Three things. KL has won the 800 at 3 different Olympics, she still has the 400 record, Titmus won, but didn’t get the record in a very close race, and KL really likes to swim the relay, so she will still work on the 200.
Impossible to know what Katie is really thinking when she is interviewed but can’t imagine she isn’t burning inside after the 400, and my personal hunch is she’d like to get the 800 under 8 minutes. The 200 is a crapshoot but she did have the fastest split of all the women in the 200×4 finals including the Chinese.
Ugh one can dream about the 8 minute barrier
I am not trying to disrespect Ledecky at all. If you’re talking about overall track record, Ledecky is the GOAT in my mind and it’s not really even close. But if we’re talking about last year’s results and this year’s rankings I think you need to take into account all of the relevant factors.
Understand, but she really didn’t have the competiton she needed in the states last year at the trials, especially in the 200 and it showed in the relay. Not that one should be making excuses for Ledecky as she didn’t make any herself.
Let’s see where McKeon is in 2022. I’m thinking not as good as 2021
I feel like Claire Tuggle should be included in top 10. 55.8/1:58.2/4:07.8/8:37/16:39 in LC Free. She also went to World Cup this year and is one of the best 200 Freestylers in the world ever.
Where is Claire Tuggle?
I assume at home in California.
I know this is a joke/troll, but honestly if Erika Brown is ranked in the 70s with literally zero individual achievements (20th in the 100 free is her best time) then why not Claire Tuggle too?
This isn’t a troll, my granddaughter is friends with her and she is an amazing athlete