SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2026: Men’s 80-71 ...Middle East

By James Sutherland on SwimSwam

Welcome to the SwimSwam Top 100 Swimmers of 2026: Men’s Edition. This is our outlook on the top 100 swimmers to watch globally in 2026.

Like most non-Olympic even-numbered years, the world of swimming will be scattered across the globe, with no real single meet to weigh the medals from most. That means times will rule the day in the 2026 rankings, which makes some things easier and some things harder.

The principles for ranking:

We start with data, and then debate, massage, re-rank, re-rank again, and eventually wind up with some vision of a top 100 that makes sense to our collective hivemind.

Note: we’ve excluded swimmers who have no sign of being in the pool in 2026, and hedged on others like Sarah Sjostrom that we expect to be back but don’t really know how they’ll be. These ranks always wind up a bit wonky because there’s so much opacity to the situations.

Men’s Rankings:

#80: Alberto Razzetti, Italy (2025 Rank: 61) – Razzetti is one of the swimmers who is much stronger in the short course pool than he is in long course. After claiming three individual medals at the 2024 SC World Championships, the Italian defended his European SC title last month in the 400 IM, clocking 3:58.79 to top the field by four and a half seconds after setting a PB of 3:57.01 in 2023. He also won silver in the 200 IM and took 6th in the 200 fly. At the LC World Championships in the summer, he placed 6th in the 200 fly (1:54.47 in semis), 10th in the 200 IM (1:57.53) and 12th in the 400 IM (4:14.52). The 26-year-old finished the year ranked 9th in the world in the 200 fly, but 3rd among Europeans, putting him in the medal conversation at LC Euros, while he sat 17th in the 200 IM (5th among Euros). His best chance of success, however, will come at the SC World Championships at the end of 2026, where he’ll look to follow up on his 2024 performance that saw him win silver in the 200 fly and 200 IM and bronze in the 400 IM.

#79: Roman Mityukov, Switzerland (2025 Rank: 43) – Mityukov has solidified himself as a consistent medal threat on the international stage in the 200 back. After winning a breakthrough bronze medal in the event at the 2023 Worlds in Fukuoka (1:55.34), the Swiss native pulled out a bronze medal victory in the 200 back at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, clocking a career-best 1:54.85 in the final. At the 2025 World Championships, he lowered his Swiss Record to 1:54.83 in the semis, but was unable to back it up in the final, placing 7th in 1:55.57. Behind Hubert Kos and Pieter Coetze, who pulled away from the pack last year and entered 1:53-low territory, Mityukov is one of a few men in the next tier, as Kos, Jack Aikins and Keaton Jones are the only other swimmers who have been sub-1:55 two years in a row. Like many of the pure 200 backstrokers, Mityukov’s 100 back isn’t quite at the same level, owning a PB of 53.32 from 2023 and ranking 49th last year at 53.92.

#78: Elijah Winnington, Australia (2025 Rank: 23) – Winnington is at an interesting spot in his career. He’s only a year removed from a standout 2024, which saw him win silver in the men’s 400 free at the Paris Olympics (3:42.21) after clocking 3:41.41 at the Australian Open in April, and then he ended the year by winning the short course world title in the event. However, in 2025, Winnington’s best swim came at the Aussie Trials, where he was the 400 free runner-up in 3:43.99, which ranked him 7th in the world for the year. However, he failed to earn a second swim at the World Championships, clocking 3:46.37 to place 10th. Now 25, Winnington would need to return to at least 3:42 form to challenge for a medal on the biggest stage, with Lukas Martens raising the bar and going sub-3:40, fellow Aussie Sam Short clearly establishing himself as the second-best in the world, and Korean Kim Woomin coming off winning back-to-back major international and China’s Zhang Zhangshuo also quickly on the rise. In 2026, Winnington may be in the medal picture at Pan Pacs, but nothing is certain with American Rex Maurer ranking ahead of him last year and teenager Luka Mijatovic on the come-up. Outside of the 400 free, Winnington ranked 22nd in the world in the 800 free (7:49.62) and tied for 79th in the 200 free (1:47.04).

#77: Matt Temple, Australia (2025 Rank: 71) – Temple is a pure 100 butterflier–the only other event he ranked in the top 100 in the world last year was the 100 free, where he was 81st (48.61). A consistent 50-point performer, the Aussie went sub-51 in all three rounds of the 100 fly at the World Championships, culminating with a season-best of 50.57 in the final to place 5th. That swim ranked him 8th in the world for the year, and it was also the third-fastest of his career, only trailing the 50.25 he produced in 2023 and the 50.45 he clocked in 2021. Now 26, Temple is a surefire medal contender in the 100 fly this summer at Pan Pacs, and he should also be a factor at Short Course Worlds after winning bronze in the 100 fly (48.71) back in 2024.

#76: Ippei Watanabe, Japan (2025 Rank: 99) – Watanabe has been one of the world’s best 200 breaststrokers for the better part of the past decade, snagging a silver medal in the event at the 2025 World Championships after winning back-to-back medals in 2017 (silver) and 2019 (bronze). The 28-year-old ranked 5th in the world last year with his 2:07.53 clocking from the Konami Open, and he was able to produce a time of 2:07.70 at Worlds to win silver in a tightly bunched battle for the medals. He also ranked 37th in the world in the 100 breast (59.87), and after racing the World Cup circuit in 2025, perhaps he plans on attending Short Course Worlds in 2026, where he’s a medal contender after taking 4th in the 200 breast in 2022.

#75: Luka Mijatovic, USA (2025 Rank: NR) – Mijatovic has been on a rapid rise through the U.S. age group ranks since 2020, but last year, he took the step from the junior scene to the senior international stage. The 2024 Junior Pan Pac champion in the boys’ 200 and 400 free, Mijatovic qualified for the 2025 U.S. World Championship team after placing 2nd in the 400 free at the National Championships in a time of 3:45.71. He also set best times to place 4th in the 800 free (7:53.80), 5th in the 400 IM (4:16.18) and 8th in the 200 free (1:45.92), and though he was ill at the World Championships and added 14 seconds in his lone swim in the 400 free, he finished out the year with a bang. Mijatovic re-lowered his best times in the 400 free (3:45.30), 800 free (7:48.28) and 400 IM (4:15.91) at the U.S. Open in December. He finished the year ranked 14th in the world in the 400 free, 16th in the 800 free, 28th in the 200 free and 50th in the 400 IM. Working against Mijatovic this year is the fact that he won’t be on the U.S. Pan Pac roster, but given his constant improvement, he should still make a big impact on the world rankings, with the National Championships likely his target meet for the summer. The

#74: Yumeki Kojima, Japan (2025 Rank: NR) – One of the lesser-known names in the Top 100, Kojima is coming off a breakout year that saw him evolve into one of the world’s best medley swimmers despite still being in his teen years. Kojima, who only turned 17 in December, stunningly broke the World Junior Record in the boys’ 400 IM at a high school meet in Tokyo in July, clocking 4:09.38 to crack Ilya Borodin‘s mark of 4:10.02 from 2021 while lowering his month-old PB of 4:11.67. That swim ranked Kojima 7th in the world for 2025, and he followed it up by a lifetime best of 1:57.32 in the 200 IM at the World Junior Championships, winning silver and recording the fastest time ever by a 16-year-old. He also won silver in the 400 IM (4:12.99), and continued to thrive into the fall, setting best times in the 200 back (1:56.70) and 100 back (54.05) at the Japanese Sports Festival in September, the former ranking him 27th in the world for the year.

#73: Nyls Korstanje, Netherlands (2025 Rank: 49) – It was a relatively quiet year for Korstanje, who was dealing with a back injury throughout 2025, which led him to skip the European Short Course Championships in December. This came after an impressive 2024 that saw him make the Olympic final of the men’s 100 fly and win bronze in the 50 fly at the Short Course World Championships. After setting a new Dutch Record of 50.59 in the 100 fly in Paris, Korstanje did manage to produce two more sub-51 swims in the 100 fly in 2025, but at the World Championships, he could only muster a time of 51.67 in the prelims to finish 20th. He did excel in the 50 fly, however, setting a new national record of 22.72 in May before clocking 22.79 in the semis at Worlds and ultimately placing 6th in the final (22.84). His Dutch Record time from earlier in the year ranked him 5th in 2025 in the 50 fly, while in the 100 fly, his season-best of 50.84 ranked 13th. After taking some time to get back to full strength in the back half of last year, Korstanje should be firing on all cylinders again this year, making him a formidable threat in the men’s 50 and 100 fly at both the European LC and SC World Championships. He’s also one to watch in the 50 free after taking 5th at SC Worlds in 2024.

#72: Apostolos Siskos, Greece (2025 Rank: NR) – Siskos emerged as one of the top up-and-coming backstrokers last year when he dropped a time of 1:54.66 in the 200 back at the Greek Nationals in May, which came one month before his 20th birthday. That performance ranked him 5th globally in 2025, matching his finish at the World Championships, where he clocked 1:55.13 in the final. He’s also one to watch in the 200 fly–his best time stands at 1:56.42 and he was only 1:57.23 last year, but he did touch in 1:55.80 in the prelims at the World Championships before being disqualified. Siskos finished out the year with a solid showing in the 200 back at the SC European Championships, placing 6th in a Greek Record of 1:50.26, and he’ll be a prime medal threat in the event at the LC Euros in 2026. And given his age, he has the runway to improve in the 100 back, where his PB of 54.25 only ranked him 81st in the world last year.

#71: Wang Shun, China (2025 Rank: 36) – Wang has always performed when it counts, but as he’s gotten older, the Olympics have seemingly been his main focus and the World Championships have become secondary, at least based on his results. The Chinese native has won a medal in the 200 IM at three straight Olympics, including claiming gold in 2021. He owns a pair of World Championship medals in the event from 2015 and 2017, but over the last few years, he’s been 16th in 2022, 11th in 2023, and 7th in 2025. However, this year he’ll be targeting the Asian Games, and the last time they were held in 2023, he set the Asian Record of 1:54.62, which still ranks him #5 all-time. Wang will turn 32 in February, and it remains to be seen if he’s able to approach the level he’s shown in previous years. In 2025, he ranked 8th in the world in the 200 IM (1:56.20) and 11th in the 400 IM (4:10.64).

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