SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2024: Women’s #20-11

After the record-setting year that was 2023, we’re gearing up for another exciting year over here at SwimSwam, and part of that is releasing our fourth annual Top 100 list—check out last year’s rankings here.

Similar to 2023, we’ve taken a statistically driven approach reliant primarily upon world rankings and World Championship medals. We’ve also taken into account things such as potential, Olympic medal opportunities, injuries, and versatility. Long course is weighted more than short course, though performance potential in both formats is factored in.

We’ve also moved Russian and Belarusian swimmers way down this list because of their likely absence from the Olympics or either World Championship meet. While that doesn’t preclude them from swimming fast at domestic meets (including whatever Russia comes up with to replace the Olympics), those swims just won’t mean quite as much without the international spotlight.

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.

Braden Keith, Sophie Kaufman, Anya Pelshaw and Mark Wild 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

#20: Yu Yiting, China – Yu, who turned 19 in September, has been on an upward trajectory since breaking out in 2021 with a few World Junior Records and a silver medal in the women’s 200 IM at the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi. After she was absent from the competitive stage in 2022, Yu re-emerged last year with a career-best performance in the long course pool, claiming bronze at the World Championships in 2:08.74. That PB was short-lived, however, as she upped her game in a big way a few months later at the Asian Games, storming to a medley sweep with times of 2:07.75 in the 200 IM and 4:35.44 in the 400 IM that ranked 4th and 7th, respectively, in the world last year. She also won silver in the 50 fly (25.71) and was 57.51 in the 100 fly last year, so there’s an outside chance she could be in an Olympic final there if she continues to improve. But her bread and butter is the IM events, and having only turned 18 in September, the sky’s the limit in terms of her potential. Yu will race the 50 fly and 200 IM later this month in Doha before turning her focus to Paris.

#19: Erika Fairweather, New Zealand –  Fairweather was SwimSwam’s Breakout Swimmer Of The Year in 2023 after taking a big step forward that was highlighted by breaking 4:00 in the 400 freestyle en route to a bronze medal at the World Championships. Coming in it looked like the three swimmers who would be on the podium was a sure thing, but Fairweather threw a wrench in things by clocking 3:59.59 to become just the fifth swimmer sub-4:00 in history at the age of 19. The New Zealander also set a new Kiwi Record in the 200 free in 1:55.44, ranking #8 in the world for the year, and went 8:18.00 in the 800 free which ranked 7th, both coming in April. After placing 11th in the 200 and 8th in the 800 in Fukuoka, Fairweather finished out the year by earning a World Cup triple crown in the 400 free in the fall. Now 20, Fairweather will be in the field in Doha, where she’s the top seed in the 400 free and in bronze medal position in the 200 and 800. Come Paris, the path to a medal remains incredibly daunting, but she proved last year she can get it done.

#18: Katharine Berkoff, USA – Berkoff broke through on the international stage in 2022 in the 50 back, setting an American Record and ultimately winning silver at Worlds, but she really elevated her game in the 100 back in 2023. The NC State fifth-year, who turned 23 in January, dropped a time of 58.01 at U.S. Nationals in June, a swim that ranks her 5th all-time in the event. She followed up by winning bronze at the World Championships in 58.25, and added two more medals as a prelim swimmer on the U.S. medleys. This year, while Berkoff may need to do something miraculous to improve on her bronze medal performance in Paris, she’s distanced herself from the rest of the field. In Fukuoka, she was more than eight-tenths clear of the fourth-place finisher, and as long as she can get through the gauntlet at U.S. Trials, an individual Olympic medal is in her sights. Once her collegiate career concludes next month, we could also end up seeing her at Short Course Worlds at the end of the year, a format she’s proven to be elite in.

#17: Alex Walsh, USA – Already one of the best 200 IMers in the world in recent years, winning the world title in 2022, Walsh extended her range last year on the international stage, qualifying for the U.S. team in the 400 IM and finishing 4th at the World Championships in a PB of 4:34.46. In the 200 IM, after claiming gold in Budapest in a lifetime best of 2:07.13, Walsh was the runner-up to training partner Kate Douglass in Fukuoka in 2:07.97, just shy of her year-best 2:07.89 from Nationals. Walsh, 22, will be in the mix for medals in both medley events in Paris, though her best chance comes in the 200 IM, where she, Douglass, Summer McIntosh and Kaylee McKeown could all realistically win.

#16: Katie Grimes, USA – These rankings are solely looking at what happens inside the lane lines, but we can’t ignore what Grimes did last year in open water, winning bronze at the World Championships in the women’s 10km to become the first American athlete to qualify for Paris. In the pool, Grimes wasn’t firing on all cylinders in the freestyle events in 2023, but continued to establish herself as the world’s second-best 400 IMer, winning a second consecutive silver in Fukuoka in 4:31.41 to come within earshot of Katie Hoff‘s American Record from 2008 (4:31.12). The now 18-year-old missed qualifying for the U.S. team in the 400 and 800 free, and in the 1500, after winning silver at the 2022 Worlds, she made the team but was 20 seconds off her PB in the final in Fukuoka and finished 8th. Given her pedigree, we’re expecting to see Grimes back at the top of her game in the distance freestyle events at the Olympic Trials (8:17.0/15:44.8 best times), favoring her for three individual events (800/1500 free, 400 IM) in Paris along with the open water event. Favored for a medal in the 400 IM, a spot on the podium is well within reach in the 800 and 1500 as well.

#15: Shayna Jack, Australia – In her second year of competition after returning from a doping suspension, Jack continued to show the depth and dominance of the Australian sprint freestyle events. Individually, Jack won silver at Worlds in the 50 free, having ripped a lifetime best of 24.01 in the semi-finals to rank #14 all-time. She also blasted a personal best time of 52.28 in the 100 free leading off Australia’s prelim 400 free relay, which was fast enough for silver in the individual final—which she wasn’t a part of after taking 3rd at Aussie Trials. Jack, now 25, was clutch for Australia on the relays in Fukuoka, including a scintillating 51.53 split on the mixed 400 medley that ranks #8 all-time. She walked away from the meet with five medals, and could bring in a similar haul in both Doha—where she’s entered in the 50, 100 and 200—and Paris. The 200 is an event she hasn’t explored as much but still ranked 7th in the world last year at 1:55.37, putting her in position for a relay spot. Like all of the other Aussies, she’ll have to be on peak form at the Olympic Trials.

#14: Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania – After returning in 2022 from a swimming hiatus, storming to the world title in the 50 breast and claiming bronze in the 100, Meilutyte continued her sprint breaststroke dominance last year. She broke the world record in the 50 breast (29.16) en route to a repeat world title, and earlier in the competition, obliterated the field in the 100 breast, winning gold by well over a second in 1:04.62. Meilutyte is the favorite to repeat in both events in Doha, but she’ll have her title chances cut in half at the Olympics. If the Lithuanian star manages to win gold in the 100 breast in Paris at the age of 27 after doing so at 15 in London (2012), it would be quite the story, and that’s where things are trending. As a gold medal favorite, Meilutyte’s ranking is hurt by her only having one event where she’ll be contending.

#13: Lilly King, United States – As a whole, King has arguably been the best female breaststroker in the world dating back to 2016, and she kept that going in 2023. Despite missing the podium in the 100 breast at the World Championships for the second straight year, King ripped a time of 1:04.75 at U.S. Nationals in June, the fourth-fastest of her career and fastest since 2021, which was just over a tenth outside of Ruta Meilutyte‘s world-leading time of 1:04.62. King also went 2:20.95 in the 200 breast at Nationals, again just shy of what was required to win gold in Fukuoka (2:20.80), but she missed the podium in 4th. She did walk away with a few medals in Fukuoka, splitting 1:04.93 on the U.S. women’s medley relay that won gold and adding an individual silver in the 50 breast. Soon to be 27, King has shown she can be clutch in the big moments, and while she needs to essentially be at her peak at the Olympic Trials to get to Paris, her success this year will hinge on being at full force at the Games.

#12: Li Bingjie, China – Li is coming off the best year of her career, setting new personal bests in the 800 free (8:13.31) and 1500 free (15:45.71) at the World Championships en route to a pair of medals. She also tied her 400 free PB of 4:01.08 in May before placing 5th in Fukuoka in 4:01.65. She also led off China’s bronze medal-winning 800 free relay in 1:55.83, and wasn’t done there, reeling off a five-gold, six-medal performance at the Asian Games that included a new PB of 1:55.62 in the 200 free. After ranking #2 in the world in the 800 free, #3 in the 1500, #5 in the 400 and #12 in the 200 last year, Li clearly has numerous medal opportunities in Paris. Of course, she’s facing an unstoppable force in Katie Ledecky atop the distance events, and the field in the 400 features four of the five fastest women ever. Li, who will turn 22 in March, is probably the frontrunner for silver behind Ledecky in the 800 and 1500 in Paris, especially after she edged out Ariarne Titmus for the runner-up spot in the former at Worlds. She’ll also likely win a medal on China’s 800 free relay, and will be a medal contender in her three entries, the 200, 400 and 1500 free, later this month in Doha.

#11: Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa – Despite seeing her world record shattered in 2023, Schoenmaker remains the big favorite to repeat as Olympic champion in the 200 breast this year with Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova unlikely to be in the field. Schoenmaker, 26, won the world title in 2:20.80 and had her best swim of the year come in December, clocking 2:20.30 which indicates she’s trending towards the 2:18.9 form she was on in Tokyo. In the 100 breast, she’s also in the medal hunt after taking silver in Fukuoka, the same position she finished in Tokyo, though she only ranked 5th in the world in 2023 (1:05.53) and will likely need to get back sub-1:05 to get on the podium again.