SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2025: Men’s #90-81

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 the Short Course Worlds in December, those swimmers have started to move back up the rankings. They were low on the lists last year due to a 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

#90: Simone Cerasuolo, Italy (2024 Rank: NR)

Cerasuolo has been an elite sprint breaststroker since 2021, particularly in short course meters and in the 50-meter event. Given that’s where his strength lies, he’s been hard-pressed to gain much traction at major long course championship meets, though he did claim silver in the 50 at the 2022 Euros in the big pool. After missing the Italian Olympic team, with eventual gold medalist Nicolo Martinenghi and Ludovico Viberti ahead of him in the 100 breast, Cerasuolo closed the year strong, placing 4th in the 50 breast at SC Worlds in a PB of 25.62 The 21-year-old also set a best time of 56.28 in the 100 breast one month earlier, and will have medal opportunities in both sprint events at SC Euros.

#89: Nandor Nemeth, Hungary (2024 Rank: 79)

More than one second away from the Olympic gold medalist Pan Zhanle of China, Nemeth finished 4th at the Olympic Games in the 100 free. He was just .02 seconds away from the silver medalist Kyle Chalmers, though. Nemeth, 25, was just 18th in the 100 free at a home World Short Course Championships in December, but has always been better in the long course pool and has a penchant for delivering big swims when it counts. In early 2024, he snagged the first individual World Championship medal of his career, earning bronze in the 100 free in Doha.

#88: Michael Andrew, USA (2024 Rank: 53)

We know that Michael Andrew had probably the worst year of his career in 2024. He wasn’t particularly close to making the Olympic Team, had to leave the World Cup early with illness, and made only one individual final at Short Course Worlds, 4th in the 100 IM. Still, there are big changes on the horizon for Andrew, who is 25. He’s training with Herbie Behm at Arizona State University, the first time in his life where he’s had a primary coach who wasn’t his dad – and Behm has a hot hand right now with sprinters (see: Ilya Kharun). I’m high on that change, and while this plan is going to take a long adaption process, and we might not see the full rewards until 2026 or beyond, expect Andrew to start turning things around in 2025.

#87: Dare Rose, USA (2024 Rank: 38)

After a breakthrough 2023 that saw him win an individual long course medal in the 100 fly at the World Championships, Rose regressed in 2024, finishing 3rd at the U.S. Olympic Trials and missing the team. Still, his 50.84 wasn’t a bad time – though it was four-tenths slower than his best. His time from Trials would have been 5th at the Olympics. Rose is only 22, so there’s no reason to call either 2023 or 2024 an anomaly rather than just a blip. 2025 will be a more determinant season, and also his last season of collegiate eligibility.

#86: Evgenii Somov, Russia (2024 Rank: NR)

Somov, one of 15 Russian neutrals at the Paris Olympic Games across all sports, turned a lot of heads in May when he swam 58.72 in the 100 breaststroke at the Speedo Atlanta Classic. The American-trained swimmer had never been under 1 minute in the 100 breast before in long course. He broke a minute again at the Olympics, but couldn’t qualify for the final, finishing 13th in the semis. He’s only 25, so there’s no reason he can’t get back to that 58.72. He ranked 5th in the world in the event, though it only took 59.0 to win gold. There are lots of questions about the four swimmers ahead of him in the World Rankings (Qin, Peaty, Fink, and Kamminga) and their respective futures in the sport. This ranking was a really difficult one – Somov could have been out of the top 100 altogether, or he could win the World Championship in the 100 breaststroke and deserve a spot in the top 25.

#85: Gui Caribe, Brazil (2024 Rank: NR)

Caribe’s training partner at the University of Tennessee Jordan Crooks (in the top 50 on this list) seems to be turning a corner in long course. If Caribe can do the same, he’ll be the next big thing in Brazilian sprinting. His college season is already off to a great start and he’s way ahead of where he normally is at this point in the season. He came away from the 2024 Short Course World Championships with two silver medals in the sprint freestyle events.

#84: Genki Terakado, Japan (2024 Rank: NR)

You might have missed Terakado’s season because he placed only 15th in his best event, the 200 fly, at the Olympic Games, but he has been slowly creeping up the world rankings. After clocking 1:54.80 in a domestic meet in 2023, he went 1:54.0 at Japan’s Olympic Trials. He struggled at the Olympic Games, his first big senior international meet, but he’s on track for a big future in Japan – both in the 200 fly, and with potential in the 100 as well.

#83: Daiya Seto, Japan (2024 Rank: 35)

Seto’s longevity as one of the world’s best IMers has been impressive, but while he’s still elite, the 30-year-old’s best days appear to be behind him. He won six straight SC world titles in the 400 IM from 2012 until 2022, and saw that streak snapped in December, placing 9th while competing with a cracked rib. While it’s not hard to see Seto returning to World Championship medal territory in short course, he’s been teetering as a podium threat in long course the last few years, and without SC Worlds in 2025, his medal chances will be limited. The Japanese star ranked 9th in the world in 2024 in both the 200 and 400 IM, placing 7th in both races at the Paris Olympics.

#82: Carles Coll Marti, Spain (2024 Rank: NR)

With no Short Course World Championship in 2025, Coll Marti’s deficiency in long course hurts him in these rankings. The 200 breaststroke short course world champion only had one swim, the men’s 400 medley relay prelims, at the Olympics, and Spain was DQed. He has plenty of time to drop to be in the hunt for any long course medals. Still, he showed improvement in 2024, going 1:00.63 in the 100 breast and 2:10.58 in the 200 breast, representing drops of six-tenths and one-tenth, respectively. He’s only 23, and will have medal opportunities at the European Short Course Championships at the end of the year.

#81: Mewen Tomac, France (2024 Rank: 80)

Tomac wasn’t able to mount a podium in front of a home crowd at the Paris Olympic Games, but a best time in the 200 back gave him a French Record and 4th-place finish. The 23-year-old is now training as part of what has been probably the world’s best men’s backstroke group, and certainly the United States’ best men’s backstroke group, over the last decade. That can only be a positive for him.