SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2025: Men’s #40-31

After an unprecedented year of racing that included the Olympics sandwiched between the Long Course and Short Course World Championships, it’s time to start releasing our fifth annual Top 100 list—check out last year’s rankings here.

As in previous years, we’ve taken a statistically driven approach primarily reliant upon world rankings and medals won at the Olympics and, to a lesser extent, Short Course Worlds and the 2024 Worlds in Doha. We’ve also accounted for factors like potential, future medal opportunities, injuries, and versatility. Long course is weighted more heavily than short course, though performance potential in both formats is factored in.

After a large contingent of Russian and Belarusian swimmers raced at Short Course Worlds in December, those swimmers have started to move back up the rankings after they were low on the lists last year due to lack of competition.

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.

Thank you to Daniel Takata for his help with the data and compiling the rankings. 

Men’s Rankings:

• #100 – #91
• #90 – #81
• #80 – #71
• #70 – #61
• #60 – #51
• #50 – #41
• #40 – #31
• #30 – #21
• #20 – #11
• #10 – #1

#40: Ilya Borodin, Neutral Athletes (2024 Rank: 74) — In the long-course pool, the 21-year-old Ilya Borodin hit a 200 IM lifetime best in July, swimming a 1:56.75 that ranks 10th overall on the season. Earlier in the year, Borodin clocked 4:09.59 in the 400 IM, which held up for 8th fastest in the world last year. These swims didn’t garner as much attention on the global scale, but Borodin was back in the spotlight at the 2024 Short Course World Championships once he was approved for Neutral Athlete status. Borodin won 400 IM gold in Budapest (3:56.83). Now that he’s once again eligible to race on the international scene, Borodin should inject some life into a 400 IM field that—outside of antics from Leon Marchand—has been a bit wacky the last couple years.

#39: Florian Wellbrock, Germany (2024 Rank: 25) — Once one of the most consistent forces in men’s distance swimming, Florian Wellbrock has had some challenges for the past couple of years. The 27-year-old looked to have turned the page on a disappointing 2023 in April, when he clocked 14:42.28 in the 1500 freestyle at the German Nationals. However, back on the global stage at the Olympic Games, Wellbrock missed out on the 1500 freestyle final, placing 14th in 15:01.88. He missed the 800 freestyle final as well, swimming a season-best 7:47.91 for 12th. He did better in the 10K, placing 8th. Wellbrock got back onto the podium in Budapest, winning SC Worlds silver in the 1500 freestyle. But in the long-course pool and at the big meet, Wellbrock has had trouble keeping pace with an increasingly competitive men’s distance freestyle field. And it isn’t going to get easier, as swimmers like the next person in these rankings continue to improve.

#38: Kuzey Tunçelli, Turkey (2024 Rank: NR) — Kuzey Tuncelli announced himself in 2023 as he became the youngest swimmer to break 15 minutes in the 1500 freestyle. He took the next steps in his career in 2024, as he began to make a name for himself on the senior international stage. Tunçelli won his first senior European Championship title in June, touching first in the 1500 freestyle, then claimed double distance gold at the European Junior Championships a few weeks later. Tunçelli broke the long-course 1500 freestyle world junior record twice this summer, clocking 14:41.89 at European Juniors then swimming 14:41.22 to take 5th at the Olympics. Though he missed the Olympic 800 freestyle final, his 7:47.29 earned 11th place and marked a new Turkish record. Tunçelli took over the short-course meters 1500 freestyle world junior record at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, swimming 14:20.64 and earning bronze. The men’s international distance field is crowded, but as a teenager, Tunçelli has asserted himself as the next distance star to watch.

#37: Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan (2024 Rank: NR) — There were many surprising swims at the Olympic Games. But Tomoyuki Matsushita might have been the most unexpected. He was the youngest athlete in the 400 IM but shocked the field by clawing his way from 5th at the 300-meter mark to the silver medal when he hit the wall in 4:08.62, three-hundredths ahead of silver-medal favorite Carson Foster. With the swim, Matsushita, then 18, became the youngest 400 IM medalist since 1972. The time was a lifetime best for Matsushita and in one swim, he made himself someone to watch going forward in this event. Borodin’s return to the international stage deepens the field, but it doesn’t seem that Matsushita has hit his ceiling. The 400 IM was his one event at the Games, but in September, he lowered his lifetime best in the 200 IM as well, clocking 1:57.60.

#36: Wang Shun, China (2024 Rank: 26) — Tokyo gold medallist Wang Shun was on a one man rollercoaster in the years between the Tokyo and Paris Games. But, he reached a peak this summer, focusing on the 200 IM, where he earned another trip to the podium by winning bronze (1:56.00). It’s his third straight 200 IM Olympic medal, as in addition to winning gold in Tokyo he took bronze in Rio. Wang’s season-best was a 1:55.35 from the Chinese Nationals in April and that time also ranks him 3rd in the world last year. But for Wang, the time at the Games was second to proving that he could get back on a senior international podium. Mission accomplished for Wang, who’ll look to maintain that success this year.

#35: Kirill Prigoda, Neutral Athletes (2024 Rank: 84) — Kirill Prigoda’s 2024 looks extremely similar to Ilya Borodin’s. The Russian breaststroker, 29, swam 2:07.48 in the long-course 200 breaststroke this year. While the swim ranks 7th in the world on the season, it would’ve won bronze at the Paris Olympics. He added a 59.37 season-best in the 100 breaststroke (20th). As a neutral athlete at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, he burst back onto the international scene even more dramatically than Borodin, winning six medals. He won silver in all three breaststroke distances and though he was racing as a neutral athlete, swam Russian records in the 50/100 breast (25.48/55.49). He picked up his three gold medals swimming breaststroke on the various medley relays, helping set a world record in the men’s 4×100 medley and a European record in the mixed 4×50 medley.

#34: Hwang Sun-Woo, South Korea (2024 Rank: 31) — Many of the swimmers in Hwang Sun-woo’s “class” of swimming stars based on age and skill have faced setbacks since their initial breakouts. For example, David Popovici’s 2023 World Championships. Hwang’s year couldn’t have started better; he won gold in the 200 freestyle at the 2024 World Championships, swimming a 1:44.75 that held up for 3rd best on the year. Then, he helped South Korea win silver in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay. The challenges came in Paris, at his second Olympic Games, where he missed finals in the 100 and 200 freestyle and the South Koreans finished 6th in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay. Hwang’s career bests of 47.56/1:44.40 in the 100/200 freestyle show that he’s an elite talent in his primary events. 2025 will be about taking the lessons from a disappointing Olympics and using them to have a better World Championships in Singapore.

#33: Ben Proud, Great Britain (2024 Rank: 32) — The hyper-specialized Ben Proud has achieved a lot over his long career, but until 2024, one thing eluded him—an Olympic medal. The British sprinter who focuses on the 50 butterfly and 50 freestyle, and only the latter in an Olympic year, finally checked off that missing accolade in Paris. The men’s 50 freestyle was incredibly tight, with third through eighth separated by .08 seconds, but Proud managed to separate himself from the chaos, earning silver in 21.30. Earlier in the year at British Nationals, Proud logged 21.25, the third-fastest swim of his career and best since 2018. Appearing on the SwimSwam podcast after the Games in September, Proud shared that while he was back in the water, January was when he planned to get more serious about training. The upcoming World Championships present the opportunity for Proud to not only race the 50 freestyle, but the 50 butterfly as well, where he placed 5th in 2023. Proud is one of the most specialized swimmers ranked this highly, but the fact that he’s still finding ways to produce some of the fastest swims of his career keeps him this high.

#32: Zac Stubblety-Cook, Australia (2024 Rank: 21) — Zac Stubblety-Cook is another highly specialized swimmer. Where he shines is the 200 breaststroke; he won Olympic gold in the event in Tokyo and is the former world record holder in the event. Stubblety-Cook, 26, had challenges as he defended his Olympic gold from three years ago as he revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 during the Games. Stubblety-Cook competed despite the positive test and earned his second straight trip to the Olympic podium, taking silver with a season-best 2:06.79. He hasn’t raced since the Games, though the news that he’s joining Mel Marshall’s training group on the Gold Coast is intriguing.

#31: Matt Richards, Great Britain (2024 Rank: 14) — Matt Richards broke out in 2023, further deepening Team GB’s bench in the 200 freestyle. Richards, now 22, continued his rise on the international scene last year, even though he didn’t hit any lifetime bests in his primary events. After qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics as a relay swimmer, Richards qualified in the individual 100/200 freestyle for the Paris Games. The men’s Olympic 200 freestyle came down to the touch and Richards managed to get his hand on the wall for silver (1:4474) and the first individual Olympic medal of his career. Later, he added gold as part of Great Britain’s 4×200 freestyle relay squad as the quartet became the first to win back-to-back Olympic relay gold with the same four swimmers. He placed 12th in the 100 freestyle, and it looks like it’s going to take a major lift for Richards to push for a global final, given how competitive the event is, but his speed remains an asset for the British relays. Richards got married after the Games, and didn’t partake in the short-course meters season. But as the attention shifts back to long-course, Richards brings plenty of momentum into 2025.