SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2024: Men’s #20-11

After the record-setting year that was 2023, we’re gearing up for another exciting year over here at SwimSwam, and part of that is releasing our fourth annual Top 100 list—check out last year’s rankings here.

Similar to 2023, we’ve taken a statistically driven approach reliant primarily upon world rankings and World Championship medals. We’ve also taken into account things such as potential, Olympic medal opportunities, injuries, and versatility. Long course is weighted more than short course, though performance potential in both formats is factored in.

We’ve also moved Russian and Belarusian swimmers way down this list because of their likely absence from the Olympics or either World Championship meet. While that doesn’t preclude them from swimming fast at domestic meets (including whatever Russia comes up with to replace the Olympics), those swims just won’t mean quite as much without the international spotlight.

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.

Braden Keith, Sophie Kaufman, Anya Pelshaw and Mark Wild contributed to this report.

Men’s Rankings:

• #100 – 91
• #90 – 81
• #80 – 71
• #70 – 61
• #60 – 51
• #50 –41
• #40 – 31
• #30 – 21
• #20 – 11
• #10 – 1

#20: Tomoru Honda, Japan – Honda has been a consistent force in the men’s 200 fly during this quad, and not only with podium appearances in Tokyo (silver), Budapest and Fukuoka (bronze), also in terms of his times. Honda’s three podium performances are all 1:53-mids, separated by just 12 one-hundredths. His personal best stands at 1:52.70 from 2022 and he may need to be closer to that form to hold off the influx of young stars in the event. In addition to world champion Leon Marchand, Worlds silver medalist Krzysztof Chmielewski and the rising duo of Ilya Kharun and Thomas Heilman who tied for fourth in Fukuoka, Kristof Milak could also be back at full strength. Honda is also the world record holder in short course meters in the 200 fly (1:46.85) and should be the favorite at SC Worlds in December if he’s in the field. Honda’s also capable of a solid 400 IM; he won gold at the Asian Games and set a personal best of 4:09.98 at the Japan Open. That time could earn him a second Olympic final.

#19: Nic Fink, USA – What sets Fink apart from his fellow 2023 Worlds 100 breast silver medalists Nicolo Martinenghi and Arno Kamminga is that he’s a threat across the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke. He was the only one of the three to make the podium in multiple events in Fukuoka, earning silver in the 50 and 100 breast. His versatility will be on full display in Doha in February, where he’ll be a medal favorite in all three disciplines. At the 2023 U.S. Nationals, he swam a personal best of 58.36 in the 100 breast, ranking #2 in the world for the year and putting him firmly in the medal picture in Paris. His path to qualification in the 200 breast is more difficult—he missed the 2023 Worlds team—but if he does make the team, he’s got a PB (2:07.55) that also makes him a contender in the event he made his first Olympic team in.

#18: Jack Alexy, USA – The U.S. men needed a sprinter to step up in 2023. Enter Jack Alexy. After a successful yards campaign at Cal, the 21-year-old burst onto the radar at U.S. Nationals, qualifying for his first senior Worlds team in the 50 and 100 freestyle. He continued to excel at Worlds, surprising for silver medals in both events in new personal bests of 21.57 and 47.31. In addition to his podiums, his relay performances got better as the week went on, culminating in a 47.00 split on the winning U.S. 400 medley relay. Over the course of the meet, he showed that he’s more than someone who is filling a need until Caeleb Dressel returns–he’s a gold medal threat in his own right and the next face of American male sprinting.

#17: David Popovici, Romania – 2024 is a critical juncture for Popovici. After swimming historic times in 2022 including a new world record in the 100 free (46.86) and the first sub-1:43 200 free in a textile suit in the 200 free (1:42.97), the teenager had a difficult outing at the 2023 World Championships. He led with 50 meters to go in the 200 free final but faded hard and finished off the podium in 4th (1:44.90). It was a similar story in the 100 free, where he was 3rd at the turn then crashed to 6th (47.83). But it’s important to remember that Popovici is young; he’ll still be a teenager when the Olympics roll around, having turned 19 this past September. If the Romanian has learned from his disappointing outing in Fukuoka then that meet will just be a growing pain at the start of what could be a long, successful career. The kind of dominance Popovici displayed in 2022 is nearly impossible to maintain for years on end and 2023 showed us he’s far from unbeatable. But when he’s at his best, Popovici is one of the top talents in the sport and is capable of walking away from Paris with a pair of individual medals.

#16: Hubert Kos, Hungary – Kos is a prime example of the “Bowman Effect.” The 21-year-old Hungarian has exploded since joining the Sun Devil training group in January. Kos was primarily known as an IMer before moving to the U.S (he’s the world junior record holder in the 200 IM and was the 2022 European champion) but over the past year has unlocked his backstroke capability. He ended up scratching the 200 IM at Worlds in favor of the 200 back, a move which ended up paying off as he won his first world title in a new Hungarian Record of 1:54.14. The men’s 200 backstroke field is overflowing with 1:55-mids, but Kos has separated himself from that pack and made it a real possibility that his first individual Olympic medal could be gold. He’s seen his backstroke developments pay off in the 100 as well; he made the event final and set a Hungarian Record of 53.11. In Paris, the 200 IM semis will take place shortly after the 200 back final on Day 6, so Kos may take on both races—he was 1:57.88 last year to rank 18th in the world. He also ranked t-34th in the world last year in the 100 fly (51.59).

#15: Duncan Scott, Great Britain – Scott was locked out of what has historically been his best event, the 200 free, at the 2023 World Championships after placing 4th at the British Trials in a time of 1:45.90. He did qualify individually in the 100 free and 200 IM, but dropped the former and only raced the latter in Fukuoka, claiming silver in a time of 1:55.95. That event has become increasingly loaded with defending Olympic champion Wang Shun joining Leon Marchand sub-1:55 late last year, meaning provided both men are on form in Paris, Scott will be battling with the rest of the field for one medal. In the 200 free, he could realistically medal or miss the team individually.

#14: Matt Richards, Great Britain – 2023 was the year that Richards arrived. In his first-ever World Championship final, Richards struck gold, winning the 200 free in a personal best of 1:44.30. This marked the first time that Richards earned an individual 200 free spot outright (in 2022, he swam because Duncan Scott withdrew from the meet with COVID-19) and he made the most of it. Following up, Richards continued to make an impact on an elite field in the 100 free, resetting the British Record in all three rounds en route to placing 5th in the final (47.45). Those swims (plus his 46-point 100 free splits) should give Richards a lot of confidence heading into the Olympic year. Yes, it’s a battle in itself to earn an individual 200 free spot on Great Britain’s roster but Richards is seeing his work pay off at the right moment. We also can’t forget that he picked up a unique piece of history last year, becoming the first swimmer ever to be sub-22, sub-48 and sub-1:45 in the 50, 100 and 200 free.

#13: Cameron McEvoy, Australia – It’s often a challenge to gauge the value of a swimmer like McEvoy in this type of ranking because of his dominance in a single event. But the 29-year-old was on another level in 2023, bursting back onto the international scene after he was one of the world’s best sprinters in 2016. In May, he broke 22 seconds in the 50 free for the first time since 2019, and then at the Aussie Trials in June, he logged his first best time in the event since 2016 with a blistering 21.27. At the World Championships, he was flawless through three rounds in the 50, ultimately winning the final by more than half a second in 21.06, the second-fastest textile swim ever. He’s the runaway favorite for gold in Paris come August and could be the next person under the 21-second barrier.

#12: Thomas Ceccon, Italy – Ceccon had a quiet 2023 relative to his stunning 2022, when he smashed the 100 back world record en route to the world title. The Italian did win gold in the 50 butterfly with a personal best and Italian record of 22.68 and picked up a silver in the 100 back (52.27). While Ceccon wasn’t on sub-52 form in the 100 back this year, the most impressive part of his 2023 was the versatility he showed–especially on the World Cup circuit. He took on a myriad of different events from his classic 100 free/100 back to the 200 back and 200 IM. His wrist injury puts his Olympic form into question which keeps him from rising higher in these rankings. Meanwhile, his versatility and his high ceiling make him a huge asset to the Italian team and a consistent medal threat.

#11: Kyle Chalmers, Australia – In 2023, Chalmers checked off one of the major career accomplishments he hadn’t yet achieved by winning the long course world title in the 100 free. He’s been a force in the event for years now, and with questions remaining about both Caeleb Dressel and David Popovici‘s form, he’ll be the “proven” favorite contender in Paris as he looks to earn another Olympic gold. Chalmers consistently delivers massive relay performances; he was a driving force behind the Australian men earning a medal in all three relays at the 2023 Worlds. With the form he showed in 2023, expect another year of thrilling performances from Chalmers. Even though he lost a pair of close races to Dressel in 2019 and 2021, Chalmers just seems to have that clutch gene that gives him an edge over the rest in Paris.