By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
After the action-packed yr that was 2023, we’re gearing up for an additional thrilling yr over right here at SwimSwam, and a part of that’s releasing our fourth annual High 100 listing—try final yr’s rankings right here.
Much like 2023, we’ve taken a statistically pushed method reliant primarily upon world rankings and World Championship medals. We’ve additionally taken under consideration issues resembling potential, Olympic medal alternatives, accidents, and flexibility. Lengthy course is weighted greater than quick course, although efficiency potential in each codecs is factored in.
We’ll be breaking down the highest 100 into a number of installments, so hold an eye fixed out as they’re launched.
These lists are, by nature, subjective. If you happen to disagree, go away your ideas/ranks within the feedback.
Ladies’s Rankings:
#100 – #91
#90 – #81
#80 – 71
#70 – 61
#60 – 51
#50 – #41
#40 – #31
#30 – #21
#20 – #11
#10 – #1
The tip of this listing is a mixture of veterans nonetheless going sturdy and youth with a possible arrow pointing straight north. Australian Abbey Harkin is the entrance finish of a run of breaststrokers in that 1:06 vary – which is an space that’s turning into increasingly-crowded headed into the Olympic yr. Extra on that within the subsequent installment. Few of those swimmers are prone to closing in multiple occasion on the Olympic Video games.
#100-91
#100: Wan Letian, China – Wan was the 2023 Asian Video games Champion within the 100 again, however in context, Asia shouldn’t be significantly sturdy in ladies’s backstrokes proper now – she was 59.38 for that gold medal.
#99: Michelle Coleman, Sweden – The seemingly ageless Coleman, now 30, made her first World Championship closing with a 53.41 exhibiting within the 100 free in 2013. She was solely thirteenth on the planet rankings final yr in that occasion, however repeatedly it’s been confirmed that that is an occasion that belongs to the swimmers who present up for the massive meet, and he or she does that constantly. Hitting a brand new private finest within the 50 in SCM on the European Quick Course Championships to win gold is a superb launching-off level into the Olympic yr.
#98: Ma Yonghui, China – A recurring theme right here – a younger Chinese language swimmer who was nice final yr – at Chinese language Nationals and the Asian Video games. She swam 4:05 for silver at that meet, which might have missed the ultimate at Worlds anyway, however total she had large drops in 2023 in a bunch of races. It looks like she’s on the verge of one thing – together with a potential 800 free relay gold medal.
#97: Arina Surkova, Russia – Surkova’s Russian File within the 50 fly final yr would have earned her a bronze medal in that occasion on the World Championships. With the Olympics trying unlikely, Surkova is at present within the prime of her swimming profession.
#96: Lee Eunji, South Korea – The 17-year-old South Korean received higher as 2023 wore on, peaking with 5 medals (together with three individually) on the 2023 Asian Video games. Her time from that meet would have been ninth at Worlds within the 200 again (because it was, she made the semis and positioned sixteenth), and her trajectory is on a fast ascent.
#95: Amelie Blocksidge, Nice Britain – Blocksidge’s 2023 was a runaway freight practice. In lengthy course, she dropped 53 seconds within the 1500 free, and briefly course, she very almost broke a British File.
#94: Liu Yaxin, China – Liu is one other Chinese language swimmer who was higher on the Asian Video games than the World Championships – however she took that to an excessive diploma. At Worlds, she was twenty first in prelims of the 200 again in 2:13.42, however on the Asian Video games she was nearly 5 seconds higher, taking a silver medal in 2:08.90. She additionally made the ultimate at Worlds within the 200 free. She may win a few relay medals and make a few particular person finals in Paris, if she is “Asian Video games” Liu. With sufficient scratches, a person 200 free medal isn’t out of the query.
#93: Isabelle Stadden, USA – tadden’s finest occasion is the 200 backstroke by most measures, apart from one large one: she’s the #5 ranked American within the 100 again within the Olympic Trials qualifying interval, and solely sixth within the 200 again. This has been over a decade of American ladies’s backstroking, the place they appear to at all times reload with new, younger expertise. From every other nation, she’s an Olympic medal contender – her time from U.S. Nationals would have been solely .95 shy of the rostrum at Worlds. Within the U.S., she’s going to should combat to make the workforce. The upside is that she’s coaching beneath a newly mixed group led by arguably essentially the most profitable males’s backstroke coach on the planet during the last 10 years or so, Dave Durden.
#92: Wang Yichun, China – In 2018, at solely 13, Wang gained silver on the Asian Video games within the 50 fly. She didn’t do a lot within the following years, however in 2023, she started selecting up steam once more, successful two medals on the Asian Video games and swimming a finest time of 57.05 within the 100 fly on the Chinese language Spring Championships. She’s had a profession already at 18. Wang swam properly at a number of meets final yr, like many on the Chinese language workforce, however now she’ll be relying on one large taper in 2024 to elevate her up the desk – she’s not a part of the roster for the 2024 World Championships.
#91: Abbey Harkin, Australia – Harkin, 25, turned a nook in 2023 – and simply in time for the Australians. With Chelsea Hodges out of the World Championships with an harm that required surgical procedure, Harkin was the one Australian girl breaststroker on the World Championships, and that earned her a silver medal within the 400 medley relay. She additionally made a person closing, putting seventh within the 200 breast. Whether or not Hodges will get again to the place she was stays to be seen, however both approach, Harkin is in place for a relay medal, no less than, in Paris.
Learn the total story on SwimSwam: SwimSwam’s High 100 For 2024: Ladies’s #100-91
