SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2025: Women’s #100-91

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. 

Women’s Rankings:

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

#100: Alina Gaifutdinova, Russia (2024 Rank: NR) – A relative unknown, Gaifutdinova had a breakout year in 2024 racing in Russia, most notably clocking 27.54 in the 50 back (LC), coming within three-tenths of the Russian Record and ranking 7th in the world for the year. The 19-year-old also logged LC PBs of 24.91 in the 50 free and 59.87 in the 100 back and has the potential to make some noise moving forward as she continues to improve. Gaifutdinova made her international debut at SC Worlds in December, swimming on a pair of prelim relays.

#99: Roos Vanotterdijk, Belgium (2024 Rank: NR) –  Another up-and-coming sprinter, Vanotterdijk had an impressive Olympic debut in Paris, placing 10th in both the 100 back (59.86) and 100 fly (57.25), setting a new Belgian Record in the latter. The 20-year-old, who was 19 during her swims last year, ranked in the top 31 in the world in three events, led by the 100 fly where she was 18th. She also won three individual medals at the European Championships in June, including gold in the 100 fly.  Although she wasn’t in action at Short Course Worlds in December, she did set four Belgian SCM records competing in Denmark, doing so in the women’s 100 free (52.61), 50 back (26.51), 50 fly (25.32) and 100 IM (57.92).

#98: Liu Yaxin, China (2024 Rank: 94) – A versatile freestyler, Liu anchored China’s 4×200 free relay to Olympic bronze in Paris, splitting 1:55.32, and placed 10th in the 400 free at the Games in 4:04.39. That ranked her 13th in the world for 2024, and she was also 17th in the 200 back, 23rd in the 200 free, and 67th in the 100 free. The 25-year-old also won the 400 free at the Shanghai leg of the World Cup in SCM.

#97: Bella Sims, USA (2024 Rank: 44) – Sims was not at her best at the U.S. Olympic Trials last June, and as a result, missed qualifying for Paris after she won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on the 4×200 free relay (prelims) at the age of 16. Now 19, turning 20 later this year, Sims’ ability far exceeds what she showed last year, especially in long course where she rarely raced. She was a finalist in the 200 free (6th) and 400 free (8th) at the 2023 World Championships, and now having started to find her footing at the University of Florida, she’s one to watch for a rebound year in 2025.

#96: Ageha Tanigawa, Japan (2024 Rank: 62) – Tanega has had disappointing swims in the prelims of the 400 IM at back-to-back major championships, placing 9th at the 2023 World Championships and then 13th at the Olympic Games. However, the 21-year-old did set a big best time of 4:35.60 in the event at the Japanese Trials, which would put her in the medal hunt if delivered at the right time (4:34.93 won bronze in Paris).

#95: Rikako Ikee, Japan (2024 Rank: NR) – Ikee has been one of the sport’s feel-good stories of the last five years, going from being one of the top female swimmers in the world in 2018 to being diagnosed with leukemia in early 2019. Although she hasn’t quite gotten back to her best times from 2017 and 2018, Ikee has steadily been getting quicker. She was a finalist in the 50 fly at the 2023 Worlds (7th) and then placed 12th last summer in the 100 fly at the Olympics. The 24-year-old ranked 4th in the world in the 50 fly last year (25.33), indicating she’s in the hunt for a medal at the 2025 Worlds in Singapore. In the 100 fly, she ranked 14th in the world (57.03), her fastest time since 2018.

#94: Rhyan White, USA (2024 Rank: 47) – White fell victim to the stacked women’s backstroke group in the United States, missing out on the Olympic team in 2024 with a pair of 5th-place finishes in the 100 and 200 back. That came after she was 4th in the 200 back at the Tokyo Olympics, and then won bronze at the 2022 World Championships and was 6th in 2023. The 24-year-old ranked 7th in the world last year in the 200 back (2:07.38) and 14th in the 100 back (59.07), and although it’s a tall order, doing enough to get on the U.S. World Championship team puts her in a medal position.

#93: Kotryna Teterevkova, Lithuania (2024 Rank: 77) – Teterevkova has established herself as one of the top breaststrokers in the world over the last couple of years, notably coming off a 5th-place finish in the 200 breast at the Olympics in Paris. The soon-to-be 23-year-old was also a semi-finalist in the 100 breast and placed 4th in that event at Worlds in Doha and then was 8th in the 100 at SC Worlds. She finished the year ranked 16th in the world in the 100 breast (1:06.02) and 14th in the 200 breast (2:23.35) in LC.

#92: Eve Thomas, New Zealand (2024 Rank: NR) — Eve Thomas, 23, is often on the verge of breaking into the final at the major senior international meet of the year in the women’s distance events and has often racked up 10th-12th place finishes at events like the World Championships. She took advantage of the absences in Doha and featured in the 400/800/1500 freestyle finals, finishing 4th in the latter two events. Thomas swam bests in all her primary events this year (4:05.87/8:22.27/16:07.46) in the lead-up to the Olympics. She couldn’t replicate those times in Paris and earned two 12th-place finishes in the 800/1500 freestyle. If Thomas can be at her best at the right moment, she could earn a finals lane at the big international meet of the year, but otherwise, it will be hard to break into the final when all the stars are in attendance.

#91: Helena Rosendahl Bach, Denmark (2024 Rank: NR) — 2024 was an odd year, with two World Championships, an Olympics, and a European Championships. Each swimmer chose to tackle this year differently, while the crowdedness of the year led to some meets, particularly the 2024 long-course World Championships, missing some big stars. Helena Rosendahl Bach, a 200 butterfly specialist, took full advantage of this year’s opportunities. She began her year winning silver in Doha. Then, she upgraded from silver at the 2022 European Championships to gold in Belgrade. After hitting a lifetime best 2:06.65 in the Olympic semifinals, Bach tied for fourth with Elizabeth Dekkers in the Paris final. Bach’s strength is the 200 butterfly, which is an event that’s quite crowded at the top with two swimmers so clearly ahead of the rest of the pack, but at 24, she’s shown she can consistently make the final at the senior international meet and can take advantages of opportunities when they appear.