SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2026: Women’s #100-91

By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam

Welcome to the SwimSwam Prime 100 Swimmers of 2026: Girls’s Version. That is our outlook on the highest 100 swimmers to look at globally in 2026.

#100 Katie Grimes, United States (2025 Rank: 13) – Katie Grimes has the potential to take a seat close to the highest of this record, however her 2025 12 months was underwhelming at finest. After profitable the silver medal within the ladies’s 400 IM on the main meets in 2022, 2023, and 2024, she gave the impression to be the clear favourite for silver in 2025. She moved to Virginia in January of final 12 months and struggled on the NCAA Championships, lacking the highest three in all of her occasions. These struggles continued as she certified for only one occasion on the 2025 World Championships, the 400 IM, the place she in the end completed sixth, 5 seconds off her lifetime finest. Her time ended the 12 months fifteenth within the World which was her solely top-40 rating. She will probably be searching for a serious bounce again this 12 months, which is why she couldn’t be left off the record. She was a precedence 4 choice for america Pan Pacs staff with the third quickest time within the nation within the 400 IM, and with a view to swim finals, she is going to must be prime two amongst United States swimmers.

#99 Louise Hansson, Sweden (2025 Rank: 68) – Sweden’s Louise Hansson was one among their prime swimmers in 2025 after Sarah Sjostrom took the 12 months off to have a child. The 29-year-old was a finals menace in each of her occasions coming into the World Championships, however she missed incomes 2nd swims in each, ending 18th within the 50 fly and twenty second within the 100 fly. She had a powerful cut up on the ladies’s 400 medley relay, swimming 56.92 to assist the staff end eleventh, solely three tenths off the 56.62 she swam on the relay in Paris. Hansson bounced again for SC Euros, incomes a bronze medal within the 100 fly (55.69), a fifth place within the 50 fly (25.13) and a seventh place within the 50 again (26.51). She additionally has large relay duties for Sweden, and since this 12 months’s main meet would be the European Championships, she is going to doubtless make a huge impact.

#98 Barbora Seemanova, Czech Republic (2025 Rank: 61) – Barbora Seemanova had a giant bounce in 2025, rating 61st within the SwimSwam Prime-100. She carried out nicely on the 2024 European Championships, and certified for finals within the 200 freestyle in Paris. She noticed a shift in her occasions this 12 months, swimming the 100 and 200 freestyle and dropping the 100 fly and 200 IM from her lineup. At Worlds, she completed fifth within the 200 free in a season finest 1:55.20, simply over a tenth off her lifetime finest 1:55.12 from Could of 2024. She additionally earned a semifinals spot within the 100 free, ending tenth total in 53.72. She completed the 12 months ranked twenty fifth within the 100 free and eighth within the 200 free. Most of her finest instances are solely two years previous, and he or she wasn’t far off them at Worlds. She is a severe medal menace at this summer season’s European Championships within the 200 freestyle, with solely one of many 4 swimmers forward of her coming from Europe.

#97 Erin Gallagher, South Africa (2025 Rank: NR) – One of many greatest issues that occurred in swimming this 12 months was the addition of stroke 50s to the Olympic lineup. This has put an enormous emphasis on stroke 50 swimmers and pushed them onto this record once they beforehand may need sat off it. South Africa’s Erin Gallagher completed eighth within the 50 fly on the World Championships, however her semifinals private finest time of 25.39 completed the 12 months tied for 4th total with Kate Douglass of america. Gallagher additionally completed the 12 months at seventeenth within the ladies’s 100 fly, an extremely deep occasion proper now, after ending thirteenth at Worlds. She is a strong medal menace within the 50 and 100 fly at Commonwealth, particularly if she continues to enhance. South Africa can even race at Pan Pacs, however 50 fly competitors will probably be steeper.

#96 Rikako Ikee, Japan (2025 Rank: 95) – After being recognized with Leukemia in 2019, Rikako Ikee made her return to swimming following the pandemic and has been slowly returning to her 2017 – 2018 kind. On the 2025 World Championships, she swam 57.89 to complete 14th total. She was about seven tenths off the 57.03 she swam final 12 months, however her prelims time of 57.75 was sooner than the 57.79 she swam in semifinals on the 2024 Paris Olympics. She additionally certified for the semifinals within the 50 fly, the place swam 25.67 to complete eleventh total. Her season finest time of 25.41 within the 50 fly completed the 12 months ranked sixth on this planet, simply behind Gallagher and Douglass. Within the 100 fly, she was nineteenth in 57.63. At simply 25, Ikee may nonetheless see a return to her 25.33/54.08 from from the 2018 season.

#95 Amalie Smith, Nice Britain (2025 Rank: NR) – Our first junior swimmer on this 12 months’s record is Nice Britain’s Amalie Smith. Smith turned 16 in August, and have become the quickest European Junior swimmer ever within the SCM 400 IM in December. Her swim of 4:30.64 broke the benchmark customary of 4:31.06, which was established in 2016. On the 2025 World Junior Championships, which swam days earlier than her sixteenth birthday, she gained silver medals in each the 200 and 400 IM, setting private bests of two:11.07 and 4:35.49 in each. She noticed unbelievable enchancment this 12 months, dropping greater than 5 seconds within the 200 IM and nearly 13 seconds within the 400 IM lengthy course. She ended 2025 ranked twenty eighth within the 200 IM and ninth within the 400 IM and he or she will probably be a severe contender on the European Championships and the Commonwealth Video games for a medal, notably within the 400 IM.

#94 McKenzie Siroky, United States (2025 Rank: NR) – McKenzie Siroky’s swimming journey has been removed from typical. Initially committing to play Division I Hockey, Siroky continued swimming, profitable highschool titles within the breaststroke occasions and breaking the Michigan state report within the 100 breast. In February of 2023, she determined to decide to Tennessee for the autumn of 2024 after taking a niche 12 months to qualify for the Olympic Trials. She did, and in June of 2024, she completed seventh within the 100 breaststroke. This summer season, she certified for her first worldwide staff within the 50 breaststroke after profitable a swim off. At Worlds, she completed seventeenth within the occasion, touching in 30.80 so as to add about eight tenths from her lifetime finest 30.05, which was the sixth quickest time on this planet final 12 months. Final summer season was her first full summer season of coaching, so she might be taking a look at some large drops this summer season, as she has already certified for the U.S. Pan Pacs staff.

#93 Moesha Johnson, Australia (2025 Rank: 90) – Let’s be clear. If this was an Open Water rating, Australia’s Moesha Johnson can be the undisputed primary. This isn’t an open water rating, nonetheless, so she falls again to 93rd. Open Water is her focus, however she nonetheless races the space occasions within the pool. On the 2025 World Championships, she swept the OW occasions, and raced the 1500 and 800 freestyles within the pool. She completed sixth within the 1500, touching in 16:02.45, a 4 second add from the 15:58.53 she swam in April, which was the seventh quickest time on this planet. Within the 800, she completed twelfth, simply lacking a finals swim together with her 8:30.85. Her season finest within the occasion stood at 8:25.42 from the Australia Open, additionally in April. Johnson will doubtless race the space occasions at Pan Pacs in 2026, and he or she would be the favourite within the open water 10k.

#92 Minna Abraham, Hungary (2025 Rank: NR) – One of many prime 200 freestylers in Europe, Hungary’s Minna Abraham completed 2025 tied for seventeenth on this planet within the lengthy course 200 freestyle with the 1:56.03 she swam on the U23 European Championships with countrymate Nikolett Padar. On the World Championships, she added about seven tenths to swim 1:56.70 within the semifinals to complete tenth total, two spots out of the ultimate. She had a a lot stronger efficiency on the 2025 SC Euros, which is a greater indication of her efficiency in 2026, since this summer season’s lengthy course Euros will doubtless be her focus meet. She gained a silver medal within the 200 free, setting a private finest 1:51.47. She additionally picked up eighth within the 100 free after breaking the Hungarian report in prelims, and fifth within the 400 free. She set new private bests in all three occasions and will see comparable enhancements this lengthy course season.

#91 Sienna Toohey, Australia (2025 Rank: NR) – Sienna Toohey is the 2nd junior swimmer on this portion of the record. She has made her impression on the world breaststroke rankings, however greater than that, she is rising into a powerful breaststroke leg for an Australian relay that has been trying to find breaststrokers. Toohey is simply 16 and has been breaking nationwide age data within the breaststroke occasions for years now. She made her senior worldwide debut on the 2025 World Championships, the place she completed twenty second within the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.24 and thirteenth within the 50 breast in a private finest 30.58. On the Australian Swimming Trials, she swam 1:06.55 within the 100, which ended the 12 months ranked 18th on this planet. The swim additionally marked a half-second drop from the 1:07.01 she swam in 2024, which is an effective signal for her continued enchancment via 2026 and Pan Pacs and the Commonwealth Video games.

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