SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2024: Women’s #70-61

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

This group features some U.S. Olympic hopefuls that could make an impact in Paris if they get through Trials, while there are also a few international veterans and up-and-comers in the mix.

#70: Dakota Luther, USA – The front-runner for the second slot on the U.S. Olympic Team in the 200 fly, Luther had the right swim last year (2:06.79) but at the wrong meet (the TYR Pro Championships). Her time, though, would have finished 4th at Worlds. With no college season to worry about this year, she should have full reign to time her taper for Trials, then try and hold on for the Games.

#69: Leah Smith, USA – Smith’s challenge is event selection. At U.S. Nationals/Worlds Trials last year, she swam 1:56.91 in the 200 free, 4:03.85 in the 400 free, and 8:21.88 in the 800 free. By every standard, including her own, those are great times. But at 28, she’s facing a tough group of young challenges (mostly from the Sandpipers of Nevada) in all of those events on top of the Katie Ledecky mountain. Smith could swim several times that would make Olympic finals in 2024, but it will be difficult for her to get more than an 800 free relay swim in Paris.

#68: Olivia Smoliga, USA – After missing the Worlds team in 2022, Smoliga lowkey had an amazing bounce-back year in 2023. She’ll be almost 30 by the time Paris rolls around, but in 2023 she swam best times in the 50 free (24.48) and 100 free (53.28), and as America’s 4th-best 100 backstroke is in position to snag a slot for the Olympics there if someone ahead of her stumbles. She also split 52.8 on the 400 free relay at Worlds. Her arc feels a little like David Plummer in 2016 but with more races.

#67: Jillian Cox, USA – Part of a very young core of American swimmers headed toward Paris, Cox had a huge breakthrough last year, dropping 11 seconds in the 800 free to land at 8:19 and in 6th place at the World Championships. Holding onto that spot, let alone adding another event, is a tall order in the U.S., and it took an 8:13 to medal in Fukuoka, so climbing that ladder to the podium will be tough. She is significantly younger than the rest of that final, though, and is the only swimmer of the top eight who is still a teenager.

#66: Yang Junxuan, China – The 2022 world champion in the 200 free, Yang had a bit of a down year in 2023. She was an important relay piece for China, splitting 53.53 on China’s Asian Record breaking 400 free relay at the World Championships for bronze. She also made the individual 100 free event final, finishing 8th in 54.09 (she was 53.67 in the semis). She was better at the Asian Games, where she took a silver medal in 53.11. She hasn’t really recaptured her form from the Tokyo Olympics (1:54.37 200 free) or the 2022 Worlds, but she hasn’t disappeared either—she was 1:55.67 in the 200 free in December.

#65: Alex Shackell, USA – Shackell, who turned 17 in November, is on the edge of doing something really special. Already a key contributor at Worlds last year, splitting 1:56.05 on the 800 free relay for Team USA en route to a silver medal, she’s got at least four rock-solid shots at the Olympic Team in individual events (100/200 free, 100/200 fly). She also showed no signs of the pressure of the big stage. It would have been great to see her on the Worlds roster in the spring as she could have probably won some medals, some money, and nailed down some events choices.

#64: Sara Franceschi, Italy – Franceschi, 24, made the final in the 400 IM at the World Championships, placing 6th, but was part of the DQ bloodbath in the 200 IM semi-finals that also got Australian Kaylee McKeown and Brit Katie Shanahan. Still, that doesn’t erase a huge year for her that saw her swim 2:09.30 and 4:35.98 before Worlds. She is one of the best breaststroking IMers in the world—last summer, her 36.95 in prelims in Fukuoka was the fastest of any swimmer in the field.

#63: Eneli Jefimova, Estonia – Jefimova, who only turned 17 in December, had a watershed year in 2023. She finished 8th in the 50 breaststroke at Worlds (30.22 in semis) and 6th in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.18 in semis), the latter a best time in her best event. But her whole development as a swimmer took a big leap forward as well. She swam personal bests in 20 different flat-start events across the calendar year (long course and short course), showing an eagerness to develop the whole swimmer. While many of those times weren’t turn heads (10:37 in the 800 free, for example), I like what that says about how her coaches are approaching her development. The result in her primary events was clear—she swam the four fastest 100 LCM breaststrokes of her career, the four fastest SCM breaststrokes of her career, and was the European SC Champion over 100 meters. An Olympic medal is possible, a World SC medal is likely.

#62: Ageha Tanigawa, Japan – While double Tokyo Olympic champion Yui Ohashi seems out of the medal picture for now, in the 400 IM for sure and probably in the 200 IM, Japan has a glut of young IMers. That includes Ageha Tanigawa, who missed the 400 IM final at the World Championships but took silver at the Asian Games in 4:35.65. At 20, she’s a few years older than her countrymate Mio Narita, but so far has been faster (both overall and in 2023). Narita is more versatile, though, and has more chances at Olympic finals.

#61: Sydney Pickrem, Canada – Pickrem is such a tough case in a ranking like this. She pulled out of last year’s World Championships for unspecified personal reasons, and has been uncommitted to some of her best events at the international level in recent years. At the same time, she went 2:08.61 in the 200 IM in 2023 to match her personal best. She’s also among Canada’s best medley relay options on the breaststroke leg, though the emergence of Alexanne Lepage dims her chances there. Still, if Pickrem is locked in for Paris, she’s a medal contender.