To see all of the 2014 Swammy Award winners, presented by TYR, click here.
To be eligible for this award:
- The athlete must be 18 or under as of December 31, 2014
- The athlete could not have won an individual medal at a major international meet (Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, European Championships, Asian Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, etc…) in years prior
2014 HONOREE: Daria K Ustinova, Russia
This was not an easy one to pick as Shen Duo, Daria K Ustinova and Chen Xinyi all had incredible years. In the end we went with Ustinova because of where she finished in the world rankings in her two main events.
Ustinova started her summer off by breaking the junior world records in both the 100 and 200 backstroke at the Russian National Championships.
She then went on to sweep the backstroke events at the European Junior Championships. Ustinova also picked up three more gold as part of the Russian relay teams that won the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, the 4 x 100 medley relay and the 4 x 100 mixed medley relay.
She finished her summer by winning the bronze in the 200 backstroke at the European Championships.
In the long course world rankings Ustinova finished third in the 200 backstroke and seventh in the 100 backstroke. In the short course world rankings she finished 11th in the 200 backstroke and 19th in the 100 backstroke.
HONORABLE MENTIONS (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER)
- Shen Duo took home five golds from the Youth Olympic Games winning the 100 and 200 freestyle as well as being part of the Chinese teams that won the women’s 4 x 100 freestyle, medley and mixed freestyle relays. In Nanjing she broke the junior world record in the 100 freestyle while the Chinese mixed 4 x 100 freestyle team did the same. She then went on to win the 100 and 200 freestyle at the Asian Games. Shen was also part of the women’s 4 x 100 and 200 freestyle relay teams that took gold at the competition. Shen finished ninth in the world rankings in the 200 freestyle and 13th in the 100 freestyle.
- Chen Xinyi showed her prowess at the Asian Games winning gold in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly as well as collecting gold as part of the Chinese 4 x 100 freestyle relay. At the games Chen set new junior world records in both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. She finished third in the world rankings in the 100 butterfly and 24th in the 50 freestyle.