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

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. Madeline Folsom contributed to this report. 

Women’s Rankings:

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

#90: Moesha Johnson, Australia (2024 Rank: 76) — Moesha Johnson ranked 8th in the world in the women’s 1500 freestyle last season and finished 6th in the event in Tokyo. However, where she truly shines is open water, where she won Olympic silver in Paris. She’s building quite a medal haul for herself in open water and won gold at the 2024 Worlds in the team open water event. This list focuses primarily on pool swimming, which pushes Johnson further down these rankings. But despite her success in open water, Johnson continues to showcase her skill in the pool. Not only did she final in the 1500 free at the Olympics, she returned to the pool for the 2024 SC Worlds, where she finished 6th in a lifetime best (15:45.07).

#89: Analia Pigree, France (2024 Rank: NR) — Analia Pigree is a 50 backstroke specialist, and, as that event doesn’t feature on the Olympic schedule, had an uphill journey to Olympic qualification. She was off the lifetime bests she set last summer in the 100 free/100 back and despite setting a PB in the 50 free at the French Championships, missed qualifying for the Olympics. In 2024, she ranked 44th in the world in the 100 back and 50th in the 50 free. She represented France to end the year at SC Worlds, placing fifth in the 50 backstroke, 18th in the 100 free, and 21st in the 50 free. With the 2025 World Championships on the horizon and the 50 backstroke back on the schedule, Pigree has made our top 100 and will have the chance to get back on the podium at a senior international meet. But, she’ll need to continue to develop her Olympic events to move higher in these rankings.

#88: Simone Manuel, USA (2024 Rank: NR) — After years of work, Simone Manuel completed her comeback to the top level of professional swimming in 2024 by making her third-straight Olympic team. Manuel first qualified as part of the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, then added an individual berth in the 50 freestyle. Her best swims of the year came in Indianapolis, but Manuel walked away with two silver medals from relays at the Paris Games. She helped set an Americas record in the 4×100 freestyle relay final (3:30.20) and swam on the 4×200 freestyle prelims relay. Manuel has been replaced as the go-to anchor for the American women’s relays, but with her comeback complete, it’s up to Manuel to decide what’s next for her in the sport. She’s shown she’s still capable of chasing it, which has facilitated her return to these rankings after being absent in 2024.

#87: Lydia Jacoby, USA (2024 Rank: 23) — Lydia Jacoby was the 100 breaststroke bronze medalist at the 2023 World Championships. Jacoby arrived at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a season-best of 1:05.74 but didn’t approach that time in Indianapolis and found herself on the wrong side of the touch in the 100 breaststroke final for the second time in three years. She took third, missing the chance to defend her Olympic gold from Tokyo, and withdrew from the rest of the meet. Her 1:05.74 would’ve earned her a spot in the Olympic final, but Jacoby’s struggles to make international rosters and being hyper-specialized in the 100 breaststroke keep her from being higher on the list despite her proven ability to make international podiums. Since Trials, Jacoby seems to have hit the reset button; she’s turned pro and will train in Spain while studying abroad for the semester. The change in scenery could prove to be what she needs to find her way back onto the U.S’s international roster, but the uncertainty is what’s pushed her further down the ranks than she was last year.

#86: Jamie Perkins, Australia (2024 Rank: NR) — The Australian women are so deep in the freestyle events that Jamie Perkins gets a bit overlooked, and it also pushes her further down rankings like these. But quietly, Perkins had a strong 2024; the 19-year-old qualified for her debut Games, earning an individual berth in the 400 free and a relay spot on the women’s 4×200 free relay, swimming a lifetime best 1:56.22 in the latter. She hit a lifetime best in the Paris 400 freestyle prelims, clocking 4:03.30 to qualify for the final, where she finished 8th. That swim ranks her 30th all-time in the event. Perkins earned an Olympic gold courtesy of her prelims effort on the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay. It’s hard to break into the top echelon of Australian women’s freestyle, but Perkins will try to use the momentum from her 2024 to keep rising this year.

#85: Melanie Henique, France (2024 Rank: NR) — Melanie Henique is the second French swimmer in this batch of ten athletes that specializes in a non-Olympic event, which makes it hard to rank her much higher. Where Pigree shines in the 50 backstroke, Henique’s area of expertise is the 50 butterfly. She did qualify for the Paris Olympics though, swimming what turned out to be a season-best 24.53 in the 50 freestyle at the French Championships, which ties her for 22nd in the world last season. In Paris, Henique added from the French Championships and finished 22nd overall. Like Pigree, she’ll get her chance to shine in her best event at the World Championships this season. At 32, she’s looking for her fourth Worlds medal after earning bronze in 2011 and silver in 2022 and 2024.

#84: Marie Wattel, France (2024 Rank: NR) — We’ve got Marie Wattel, 27, sandwiched between two of her teammates on the French national team. Unlike the two that we’ve already discussed, Wattel’s best events are on the Olympic schedule. She competed at her third Games in front of a home-nation crowd in Paris and came just shy of missing the 100 butterfly final with a 57.24 for 9th place, and 17th in the world for the year. The 100 fly is Wattel’s best event, but she is also a strong 100 freestyler, and she finished 10th in the event at the Olympics. Wattel’s best in the 100 free is from 2021 and her 100 fly best is from 2022, but even without improvements in the past couple years, she’s challenging for a lane in the finals of the biggest international meets. Wattel hasn’t raced since the Games, so we’ll have to wait to see what form she’s bringing into the new year.

#83: Emma Terebo, France (2024 Rank: NR) — Emma Terebo was a pleasant surprise last year, as she made unexpectedly large improvements in the 100/200 backstroke this season. In the lead up to the Games, the 26-year-old broke 59 seconds for the first time in the 100 backstroke (58.79) and swam a lifetime best 2:08.45 in the 200 backstroke. Terebo didn’t replicate those times at her debut Games, but she still landed a finals berth in the 100 back and took 7th, then finished 9th in the 200 backstroke. She also showed tenacity throughout the Games, continuing to improve on her 100 backstroke time until she almost got back under the 59-second barrier with a 59.00 leading off France’s 4×100 medley relay during the Games’ final session.

#82: Maria Fernanda de Oliviera da Silva Costa, Brazil (2024 Rank: NR) — Brazil has been forging a strong mid-distance freestyle corps for years, and now, Maria Costa is firmly leading that charge on the women’s side. After setting South American records in the 200/400 freestyle and 4×200 freestyle relay, Costa became the first Brazilian woman in 76 years to qualify for the 400 freestyle Olympic final, where she took 7th. She lowered her continental record in the 200 freestyle at the Games as well, swimming a 1:56.06, which tied her for 14th in the world last season. Her highest ranking comes in the 400 freestyle, where her 4:02.86 from Doha checks in 9th. Costa’s sweet spot is from the 200 to 800 and is showing no signs of slowing down heading into 2025.

#81: Ellen Walshe, Ireland (2024 Rank: NR) — Ellen Walshe, 23, has been swimming international fly and IM events since 2021, and she holds eight Irish National Records in the events, and she made her first Olympic and Worlds finals this year. At the Games, Walshe finished 8th in the 400 IM, swimming 4:40.70. She also made the semi-final si n the 200 IM, coming in 13th at 2:11.35. Walshe also swam at the SC World Champs, where she finished top eight in three events, the 100 fly (6th, 55.68), 200 IM (5th, 2:05.52), 400 IM (5th, 4:29.86), all of which were new National Records. She also broke the 50 fly (14th, 25.65) and 100 IM (9th, 58.85) records in the semifinals.