Following the men’s article, we now take a look at the updated rankings for the female swimmers with the fastest four-stroke add-up across the 100 fly, back, breast and free in long course meters.
We have a new swimmer in top spot here as well, by an almost identical margin to the one Thomas Ceccon holds over Michael Andrew for the men. Marrit Steenbergen, our European Swimmer of the Year, is our new #1 in 3:37.67, 0.09 seconds ahead of Kaylee Mckeown.
Steenbergen was ranked just 15th on this list two years ago, but her add-up is now over six seconds faster than the 4:03.81 she had previously. The majority of that drop came on breaststroke, where she has gone from 1:12.05 to 1:07.90, and she has also sliced off a second and a half on backstroke.
Kaylee McKeown shaved 0.17 seconds off her 100 back time, the only one of the four 100s she has set a best time since our previous rankings. That is enough to keep her ahead of Anastasia Gorbenko though, who dropped time on backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle to dip below 3:58.00, but still dropped one place.
Kate Douglass also drops time without moving up in the rankings. Her 1.8 second drop in the 100 breast saw her total add-up drop to 3:58.30, but her 1:04.04 in the 100 back is nearly five seconds slower than anyone above her. Her other three swims counteract that as they rank 3rd (fly), 2nd (free), and 1st (breast) in the top-20.
Roos Vanotterdijk has been on a tear this year, and soars into the top-20 after not being in the picture two years ago. She is the second-fastest in the top-20 across free, fly, and back behind Torri Huske, but like the American suffers from a slower breaststroke.
Mary-Sophie Harvey takes over as top Canadian from Summer McIntosh, dropping over four seconds to dip below 4:00. McIntosh dropped two seconds herself, but ended up two places lower than two years ago.
Alex Walsh was another swimmer to drop a significant amount of time, going from 4:03.01 to 3:58.87. A two-second drop from 59.58 to 57.59 in the 100 fly was paired with one-second drops on breaststroke and free.
Rebecca Meder is the sole African representative in the top-20, coming in 18th after setting best times in breaststroke and fly since we last looked at these rankings.
It is a much faster top-20 than previously, with ten swimmers under 4:00, up from four. Breaststroke is still the most polarising stroke, as only one swimmer in the top ten fails to crack 1:10.
If you find a swimmer who is fast enough to have made the top 20 but is missing, let us know in the comments below.
We previously had Katie Hoff (4:04.19) in 20th, but she has been replaced by Great Britain’s Abbie Wood (4:04.15) – thanks to lanerope in the comments for that one.
| Rank | Swimmer | Fly | Back | Breast | Free | Total |
| 1 | Marrit Steenbergen (NED) | 58.55 | 58.96 | 1:07.90 | 52.26 | 3:57.67 |
| 2 | Kaylee McKeown (AUS) | 59.45 | 57.16 | 1:06.86 | 54.29 | 3:57.76 |
| 3 | Anastasia Gorbenko (ISR) | 58.23 | 59.25 | 1:06.15 | 54.29 | 3:57.92 |
| 4 | Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL) | 55.84 | 58.97 | 1:09.58 | 53.62 | 3:58.01 |
| 5 | Kate Douglass (USA) | 56.43 | 1:04.04 | 1:05.27 | 52.56 | 3:58.30 |
| 6 | Alex Walsh (USA) | 57.59 | 1:00.23 | 1:06.50 | 54.55 | 3:58.87 |
| 7 | Katinka Hosszu (HUN) | 57.80 | 58.45 | 1:09.06 | 53.64 | 3:58.95 |
| 8 | Torri Huske (USA) | 55.52 | 1:00.19 | 1:11.28 | 52.29 | 3:59.28 |
| 9 | Mary-Sophie Harvey (CAN) | 57.31 | 1:0.16 | 1:08.37 | 53.71 | 3:59.55 |
| 10 | Siobhan Marie O’Connor (GBR) | 57.45 | 1:02.35 | 1:06.34 | 53.81 | 3:59.95 |
| 11 | Yiting Yu (CHN) | 56.82 | 59.89 | 1:09.27 | 54.04 | 4:00.02 |
| 12 | Alicia Coutts (AUS) | 56.85 | 1:01.03 | 1:08.95 | 53.78 | 4:00.61 |
| 13 | Summer McIntosh (CAN) | 57.01 | 59.64 | 1:10.39 | 53.90 | 4:00.94 |
| 14 | Kathleen Baker (USA) | 59.69 | 58.00 | 1:07.90 | 55.58 | 4:01.17 |
| 15 | Emily Seebohm (AUS) | 58.52 | 58.23 | 1:11.32 | 53.92 | 4:01.99 |
| 16 | Natalie Coughlin (USA) | 57.34 | 58.94 | 1:12.56 | 53.39 | 4:02.23 |
| 17 | Charlotte Bonnet (FRA) | 58.63 | 1:04.02 | 1:07.30 | 52.74 | 4:02.69 |
| 18 | Rebecca Meder (RSA) | 58.95 | 1:01.39 | 1:07.50 | 54.88 | 4:02.72 |
| 19 | Femke Heemskerk (NED) | 58.99 | 1:00.03 | 1:11.70 | 52.69 | 4:03.41 |
| 20 | Abbie Wood (GBR) | 59.25 | 1:01.99 | 1:08.24 | 54.67 | 4:04.15 |
Swimmers Who Narrowly Missed Out:
- Based on our findings, Katie Hoff and Rika Omoto were the unlucky women in 21st and 22nd. They missed out by just 0.04 and 0.08 seconds respectively.
- Phoebe Bacon (4:05.31), Maggie MacNeil (4:05.85), Kayla Sanchez (4:06.16) and Teagan O’Dell (4:06.59) the active swimmers behind Omoto
- Gretchen Walsh and Beryl Gastaldello notched almost identical times in 4:06.82 and 4:06.86 respectively. That came despite breaststroke times of 1:19.64 and 1:16.70. Walsh dropped two seconds from two years ago despite not improving on breaststroke.
- Siobhan Haughey and Qianting Tang are one swim away from cracking the top-20. Both are missing a backstroke time, with Haughey at 2:56.06 and Tang at 3:01.46 currently. Haughey would need to be 1:01.60 or better to take top spot.
I reckon Abbie Wood (GBR) with 59.25, 1.01.99, 1.08.24, 54.67 has 4.04.15 putting her in 20th?
Abbie Wood should be 20th –
54.67 fr
1:08.24 br
59.25 fly
1:01.99 back
4:04.15
Oops. Didn’t spot your comment.
Right you are – updated now
bruh Kate’s 1:04.04 😭
She set PBs in all 5 events she swam at that meet: 25.23 in the 50 free, 1:09.63 in the 100 breast, 59.33 in the 100 fly, and 2:13.55 in the 200 IM, in addition to the 100 back
as Gretchen Walsh swam a 56.8 yard Breaststroke during her last NCAA season
I think even a 1:10 meter time would put her at the top of this list?
She ain’t swimming 1:10 in lcm
yes she is
a sub 57 scy is easily a sub 1:10 lcm !!!
Marrit!! top 5 women swimmer today
Kaylee, Grechen, Douglass, Katie, MOC, Regan, Summer. Who are you putting her above?
maybe Regan. Not the others at the moment.
Yup. Those are the current top 7 female swimmers (in no particular order).
Marritt is outside those 7.
You can even make the argument that Lani Pallister is above Marritt.
Marrit is a world champion Lani is not
Lani’s an Olympic champion and individual world record holder and Marrit is neither.
I wouldn’t necessarily rank Lani higher but this is a ridiculous response to someone saying there is a potential argument.
You say a lot of awful stuff all the time
Above Regan and walsh
Regan
I remember a few years ago swimswam did a 800 IM add-up like this, I wonder how that one has changed, I assume Summer has probably taken over the top spot from Katinka..
She has. She was 3 and a half seconds behind and has since dropped over 3 in fly, 1 second in free, half a second in back and 3 seconds in breast.
I always forget just how good SMOC was. Such a shame that her health ended her swimming career.
Wild to think she was still only 20 when she swam 2.06, that cursed illness deprived of a potential all-timer, but she made the most of the two healthy seasons she got.
Vanotterdijk is a 65/2:18 SCM swimmer, the moment she swims it she will post a 1:07 and will be a couple seconds ahead of the rest.