SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2025: Men’s #80-71

After an unprecedented year of racing that included the Olympics sandwiched between the Long Course and Short Course World Championships, it’s time to start releasing our fifth annual Top 100 list—check out last year’s rankings here.

As in previous years, we’ve taken a statistically driven approach reliant primarily upon world rankings and medals won at the Olympics, and to a lesser extent, Short Course Worlds and the 2024 Worlds in Doha. We’ve also taken into account things such as potential, future medal opportunities, injuries, and versatility. Long course is weighted more than short course, though performance potential in both formats is factored in.

After a large contingent of Russian and Belarusian swimmers raced at Short Course Worlds in December, those swimmers have started to move back up the rankings after they were low on the lists last year due to lack of competition.

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.

Thank you to Daniel Takata for his help with the data and compiling the rankings. 

Men’s Rankings:

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

#80: Isaac Cooper, Australia (2024 Rank: 63) — Isaac Cooper announced last year that he’s taking an extended break from swimming this year before a “massive reset.” Cooper certainly isn’t the only swimmer taking a break in the post-Olympic year, but the vagueness of his timeline makes him difficult to place on these rankings. At his best, he’s a medal contender in the sprint 50s—particularly the 50 backstroke, where he won gold at the Doha Worlds. His event profile makes him someone who can shine in a World Championships setting, though he’s certainly more of a SCM specialist than an LCM one. We can’t leave him off these rankings on the off chance that the two-time Olympian appears at the Australian World Trials, so we’ve put him in this segment of ten swimmers, so this is where we’ve landed.

#79: Oliver Klemet, Germany (2024 Rank: 96) — Just as talented American female backstrokers get locked out of international teams due to the sheer depth in the discipline, so too do German male distance freestylers have an uphill battle to make the international roster. 22-year-old Oliver Klemet has built a strong resume in open water events and has recently been able to show his skill in the pool at the major international meet of the year. He swam lifetime bests in 400 and 800 freestyle (3:42.81/7:46.03) in April 2024 and qualified for the Paris Olympics in the pool (400 free) and open water disciplines. In a deep 400 freestyle field, Klemet qualified for the Olympic final and finished 7th. Later, he earned his first Olympic medal by taking silver in the 10k. Even with Germany’s depth in mid-distance/distance freestyle, Klemet is consistently finding a way to make the international roster and put himself in spots to achieve strong results.

#78: Diogo Ribeiro, Portugal (2024 Rank: 44) — In 2023, Diogo Ribeiro won Portugal’s first swimming World Championship medal. He added to his career Worlds haul in Doha, upgrading to gold in the 50 butterfly, then taking advantage of a shallow field and winning gold in the 100 fly with a lifetime best 51.17. That was the highlight of Ribeiro’s year; in Paris, he raced the 50 free and 100 fly, making the semifinals in the former. With World Championships on the schedule this year, Ribeiro’s stock in these rankings rises. It would go even further if he can make improvements in an Olympic event this year in addition to looking for a third-straight 50 butterfly podium finish.

#77: Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, France (2024 Rank: 69) — Yohann Ndoye-Brouard is a classic 100/200 backstroker, though over the last two years, it’s his 100 backstroke that’s emerged as his primary event. Buoyed by a home crowd in Paris, Ndoye-Brouard made the Olympic 100 backstroke final and took 7th. He added a 16th place finish in the 200 backstroke, but arguably his best race was the men’s 4×100 medley relay, where he blasted a 52.48 lifetime best as the quartet earned bronze in a national record time. Ndoye-Brouard has become a consistent threat to make the backstroke finals at the senior international meet of the year, though he’ll need a breakthrough to get involved in the medal fight.

#76: Keaton Jones, USA (2024 Rank: NR) — Keaton Jones made himself the ‘next up’ in the long history of Cal backstroke this summer by earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic team in the 200 backstroke behind Ryan Murphy with a lifetime best 1:54.61. Jones moved smoothly through the Olympic rounds of the 200 backstroke, which had surprising results; ultimately, none of the eight finalists had been in the Tokyo final. Jones swam a 1:55 and missed the podium, but his lifetime best would’ve earned silver. That’s a strong sign for Jones heading into this year. He’s a versatile swimmer in yards so it will be worth keeping an eye on whether he can follow up his breakout in a backstroke event with improvements in another event (like the 200 freestyle, the other event he raced at U.S. Trials).

#75: Thomas Heilman, USA (2024 Rank: 43) — Coming off a breakout 2023 season, teenager Thomas Heilman took the next steps in his swimming career in 2024. He qualified for his debut Olympic Games in both the 100 and 200 butterfly, swimming a lifetime best of 50.80 in the former and breaking Michael Phelps’ NAG. Heilman didn’t final in either event at the Games, taking 10th in the 200 fly and 18th in the 100 fly. That’s surely not the outcome Heilman was hoping for, but he’s continued to make waves in the yards pool this fall, which only adds to what he’ll bring to the University of Virginia next fall. Who will follow behind Caeleb Dressel as the U.S.’s go-to sprint butterflier is still an open question, but Heilman is making a strong case for himself at only 17. He’s the youngest American male swimmer to qualify for the Olympics since Phelps.

#74: Dong Zhihao, China (2024 Rank: 71) — 200 breaststroke world junior record-holder Dong Zhihao is a junior no more, but he started his senior years on the international stage with a bang by winning 200 breaststroke gold at the Doha World Championships. He broke 2:08 for the first time to earn the win, swimming 2:07.94. He couldn’t match that performance in Paris, taking fourth in 2:08.46. He also finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships and is still looking to breakthrough on the podium at a senior international meet. The 200 breaststroke is his primary event on the world stage, so that mission just got more challenging, as the Worlds schedule has been updated that would make the 200 IM/200 breast double less challenging for Olympic champion Leon Marchand.

#73: Vladyslav Bukhov, Ukraine (2024 Rank: NR) — Vladyslav Bukhov was the surprise of the 2024 World Championships in Doha. The 22-year-old swam a Ukrainian record of 21.38 in the 50 freestyle semifinals, then stunned Cameron McEvoy for gold the next night, beating the Australian star by a hundredth with a 21.44. Bukhov then earned bronze at the 2024 European Championships but couldn’t quite match his early season speed in Paris. He finished 11th in the 50 freestyle at his second Olympic Games, exactly where he finished in Tokyo. The 50 freestyle is Bukhov’s main event, and having only one event often keeps a swimmer from climbing very high in these rankings, but if he can get back down into the 21.3 range this year he could elbow his way into the final of an increasingly tight 50 freestyle field.

#72: Sven Schwarz, Germany (2024 Rank: 56) — Sven Schwarz is the second swimmer in this set of 10 that has to face a loaded German male distance freestyle group to qualify for a spot on an international roster. After winning the 800 freestyle at the 2023 European U23 Championships, Schwarz swam two events at the Paris Olympics, the 800/1500 freestyle. He earned a fifth-place finish in the former, though his bests remain the 7:41.77/14:43.53 he swam at the European U23 Championships last summer. He did swim lifetime bests in the short-course meters pool, clocking 7:33.24/14:22.29 as he finished fourth in the 800 free and fifth in the 1500 at the 2024 Short Course Worlds. Schwarz also owns a 3:45 best in the 400 freestyle.

#71: Matt Temple, Australia (2024 Rank: 34) — Matthew Temple has become Australia’s go-to male sprint butterflyer. The 25-year-old holds the Oceanian record in the 100 butterfly at 50.25 from December 2023, which he approached in January with a 50.60 that launched him into the Olympic medal conversation along with a slew of fast early season swims. Temple didn’t match his early season speed, though he did survive a tough semifinals round to make the Paris final, where he finished seventh. Temple did climb on the podium at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, claiming bronze in the 100 fly (48.71). Temple’s focus is almost solely on the 100 butterfly on the senior international stage. It’s become an increasingly competitive event in the last two years, which has pushed Temple down these rankings. But, the combination of his speed and the fact that its an event that makes him a key piece of Australia’s medley relays buoys him above some of the 50 or distance specialists.