Courtesy of SwimOutlet, a SwimSwam partner.
- Katie Ledecky is the most popular American swimmer ahead of the Paris Olympics- with an average 99,625 monthly searches across the US
- Caeleb Dressel is the second most hyped swimmer- with an Instagram following of 627,000
- Newly qualified swimmers Bella Sims and Katie Grimes rank in the top 20- beating several other established competitors
A new index study released by SwimOutlet reveals the most popular American swimmers ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The swimming experts have analyzed 91 American swimmers’ and ranked them against two determining factors to receive a score out of 100.
Rankings are based on each swimmer’s Instagram followers and average US monthly search volumes to reveal which athlete is receiving the most hype ahead of the big event.
The most popular American swimmers
| Rank | Name | USA Swimming Club | Number of Instagram Followers | Search Volume ( Average Monthly in US) | Index – Overall |
| 1 | Katie Ledecky | Gator Swim Club | 603,000 | 99,625 | 99.90 |
| 2 | Caeleb Dressel | Cali Condors | 627,000 | 27,992 | 95.67 |
| 3 | Ryan Murphy | California Aquatics | 195,000 | 60,908 | 94.88 |
| 4 | Cody Miller | Sandpipers Of Nevada | 143,000 | 8,489 | 85.95 |
| 5 | Emma Weyant | Gator Swim Club | 47,900 | 16,441 | 83.74 |
| 6 | Michael Andrew | MA Swim Academy | 220,000 | 3,558 | 83.21 |
| 7 | Regan Smith | Sun Devil Swimming | 90,800 | 6,075 | 82.43 |
| 8 | Lydia Jacoby | Seward Tsunami Swim Club | 112,000 | 3,553 | 80.61 |
| 9 | Lilly King | Indiana Swim Club | 135,000 | 3,057 | 80.57 |
| 10 | Kate Douglass | New York Athletic Club | 46,200 | 7,216 | 79.88 |
| 11 | Alex Walsh | Nashville Aquatic Club | 50,400 | 3,558 | 76.79 |
| 12 | Katie Grimes | Sandpipers of Nevada | 30,500 | 4,058 | 74.57 |
| 13 | Claire Curzan | Alto Swim Club | 38,300 | 2,691 | 73.72 |
| 14 | Bobby Finke | St. Petersburg Aquatics | 47,800 | 2,058 | 73.44 |
| 15 | Gretchen Walsh | Nashville Aquatic Club | 27,300 | 3,396 | 72.92 |
| 16 | Bella Sims | Sandpipers of Nevada | 29,500 | 2,933 | 72.61 |
| 17 | Carson Foster | Mason Manta Rays | 29,500 | 2,333 | 71.32 |
| 18 | Erica Sullivan | Longhorn Aquatics | 31,400 | 2,022 | 70.88 |
| 19 | Leah Smith | Longhorn Aquatics | 39,200 | 1,545 | 70.60 |
| 20 | Torri Huske | Arlington Aquatic Club | 29,000 | 1,939 | 70.14 |
The Gator Swim Club’s Katie Ledecky is the most popular American swimmer, scoring 99.90 out of 100 in the index.
With seven gold medals and three silver, she has 603,000 Instagram followers and an average of 99,625 searches per month across the US.
Ledecky swims several different races, including the 200, 400, 800, and 1500-metre freestyle and the 400-metre individual medley.
The second most popular swimmer is Caeleb Dressel, who achieved a score of 95.67 out of 100. Dressel specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events and represents the Cali Condors in the International Swimming League.
He has an Instagram following of 627,000 and is searched by Americans an average of 27,992 times per month.
Ryan Murphy, who scores 94.88 out of 100 in the index, ranks third. He swims for California Aquatics.
Receiving an average of 60,908 monthly searches across the US, Murphy has 195,000 Instagram followers and four gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
In fourth place is Cody Miller, scoring 85.95 out of 100. Competing for Sandpipers Of Nevada, Miller has an Instagram following of 103,000 and an average monthly search volume of 8,489 across the US.
Miller currently has one gold medal and one bronze. Since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Miller ranks fourth in the 100 breaststroke. He’s only a few hundredths behind Nic Fink (59.95) and Michael Andrew (59.98) so far this season.
Emma Weyant placed fifth, another Gator Swim Club participant. Scoring 83.74 out of 100, Weyant currently has an average of 16,441 monthly US searches and 47,900 Instagram followers.
At the 2020 Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in the 400 IM with a time of 4:32.76.
Michael Andrew, Regan Smith, Lydia Jacoby, Lilly King and Kate Douglass round out the top 10 most popular swimmers.
Alexander Sienkiewicz, CMO of SwimOutlet, has commented on the study findings:
“The US Olympic swimming team has historically performed exceptionally well in the Olympic Games, winning numerous medals. The team’s success has attracted attention and support from fans.
“Major sporting events like the Olympics receive extensive media coverage, which helps elevate the profiles of athletes and teams. As the US swimmers benefit from this exposure, supporters build more hype leading up to the 2024 games.
“Swimmers like Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Katie Ledecky, and Missy Franklin have become household names and role models for aspiring athletes.
“Now with new, upcoming swimmers such as Alex Walsh, Emma Weyant, Gretchen Walsh, Bella Sims and Katie Grimes, fans are interested in watching their journey and boosting their profiles ahead of July.”
About SwimOutlet
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Campbell, CA, SwimOutlet.com is the premier online destination for aquatics apparel and the web’s most popular swim shop. Since its inception, SwimOutlet.com has expanded into virtually every activity that takes place in and around water, becoming the largest online specialty store for aquatics in North America. Featuring the broadest selection of performance swimwear and apparel at the best prices, SwimOutlet.com has also been recognized in the industry for its superior customer service and team sales offering, as well as best-in-class shipping.
More information at www.swimoutlet.com and @swimoutlet on Instagram and @swimoutlet on TikTok.
Katie Ledecky could be in the same level as Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson
Emma Weyant seems higher than one would expect. Assuming this is due to her 2nd place finish in 2022 NCAA 500 free
She has a swimsuit line
Lmao can’t wait to see Ryan Murphy shoot up in an updated article because of all of the thirst trap TikTok’s I keep seeing of him since trials
This feels like AI generated content
Big congrats to Bella for qualifying!
Maybe this is looking into the future when Bella makes 9 individual events (1 final each night) in her glorious ascent for the LA 2028 games ^_^
This was clearly done before trials as Gretchen has roughly double the followers now
This is searches, not followers of an account.
Is there any info on how they calculated the search volume? The really high search volume for ryan Murphy might be driven by the other ryan Murphy who is a big time writer and director
It depends on the search. If there is ambiguity in search intent, then the volume will be inaccurate. However if these scores are calculated with identifiers, like “Ryan Murphy Swimming,” the results should be more accurate.
That makes a lot of sense. I was wondering why Murphy would be so highly searched (no shade to him, he is very successful but also been on the scene since 2016…)
Why is he highly searched? Look at him!
And they say D-Lane gets no love. Ledecky reigns supreme!