SwimSwam’s Top 100 For 2026: Men’s 20-11 ...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:

#20: Luca Urlando, USA (2025 Rank: NR) – Urlando won his first international medal in six years at the 2025 World Championships, claiming gold in the men’s 200 fly in dominant fashion. After dealing with shoulder injuries throughout the early 2020s, Urlando worked his way back into good enough form to qualify for the 2024 Olympic team, ultimately placing 17th in the 200 fly in Paris (1:56.18), well shy of his PB set back in 2019 of 1:53.84. After a few years away, Urlando returned to the University of Georgia in the fall of 2024 and has been on fire ever since, roaring to the NCAA title with a new U.S. Open Record in the 200 fly in yards last March (1:36.43). He followed up with a sensational long course season, lowering his best time in the 200 fly for the first time in six years one week after NCAAs in 1:52.37, and then following up by winning the U.S. National title (1:53.42) and qualifying for the World Championships. In Singapore, Urlando led the 200 fly field through the heats (1:52.71), semis (1:52.84), and then dominated the final, becoming just the fourth swimmer in history under the 1:52 barrier in 1:51.87. The climb from junior world champion in 2019 to world champion in 2025 was a long one, but it showed his talent and long-term potential ultimately came to fruition. After finishing the year ranked #1 in the world in the 200 fly, Urlando is the clear favorite for gold in the event at Pan Pacs. Two of the three men who have been faster than him in the event are still active in Kristof Milak and Leon Marchand, but Milak’s commitment has come into question in recent years and Marchand opted not to race the 200 fly last summer. Urlando won’t go head-to-head with either at a major international long course meet this year, but it could happen at the 2027 World Championships. It would also be interesting to see if Urlando wanted to take on the Short Course World Championships, given his status as the fastest man ever in yards in the 200 fly and one of the fastest ever in the 100 back. What holds him back slightly in these rankings is that his second-best event (in long course), the 100 fly, doesn’t put him in medal contention on the international stage, having ranked 31st last year in 51.32.

#19: Bobby Finke, USA (2025 Rank: 3) – Finke has been the best male distance freestyler of the 2020s, no question, with three gold medals and one silver to show for himself across the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. However, the 2025 World Championships certainly weren’t his best, settling for bronze in the 1500 free and placing 4th in the 800 free, more than six seconds back of the bronze medal. The 25-year-old finished the year ranked 4th in the world in the 1500 free (14:36.60) and 7th in the 800 free (7:43.13), both well shy of his lifetime bests, which include the world record in the 1500 free (14:30.67) and the American Record in the 800 free (7:38.67). Given the circumstances surrounding the U.S. team in Singapore, it’s possible Finke was operating at less than 100%, and though there is no shortage of medal contenders in the distance events with the recent emergence of Ahmed Jaouadi and Sven Schwarz, Finke is still right there and capable of winning gold in both races. This year, his main challenger at the Pan Pacific Championships will be Sam Short, who was faster in the 800 last year but is still a step behind in the 1500. Another factor working in Finke’s favor is what he did in the 400 IM last year, putting up a time of 4:07.46 at U.S. Nationals to rank 4th in the world, though he dropped it from his program at the World Championships due to a conflict with the 1500. At Pan Pacs, the 800, 1500 and 400 IM are all on different nights, opening the door for Finke to possibly take a run at winning three events. The question then becomes did he catch lightning in a bottle with his 4:07 swim? Is he able to replicate it? He’s only broken 4:10 one other time, going 4:09.55 in 2023, though of course, he rarely has raced it tapered.

#18: Sam Short, Australia (2025 Rank: 13) – Short is one of the best rangy freestylers in the world, with an elite ability from the 200 up to the 1500, which was on full display at the 2023 World Championships when he won gold in the 400, silver in the 800 and bronze in the 1500. After illness and injury plagued his 2024 Olympic campaign, though he still managed to finish 4th in the 400 free, Short bounced back with a phenomenal showing at the 2025 Australian Nationals, sweeping the 400 free (3:41.03), 800 free (7:40.95) and 1500 free (14:52.43) while placing 2nd and setting a new best time in the 200 free (1:45.71). Illness, unfortunately, played a role in his results at the World Championships last summer; he claimed silver in the 400 free (3:42.37) before withdrawing from the 800 free final due to food poisoning. The Aussie managed to come back in time to swim the 1500 free a few days later, placing 4th in a time of 14:43.08. Having only turned 22 a few months ago, Short is incredibly talented and likely still has plenty of time to drop in these events, which is a scary thought considering he’s already one of the fastest ever. He finished 2025 ranked 2nd in the world in the 400 free, 4th in the 800 free, 7th in the 1500 free and 20th in the 200 free. Looking forward to this summer, he could easily win three individual gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and two at Pan Pacs, with a showdown with Bobby Finke on tap in the 800 and 1500.

#17: Cameron McEvoy, Australia (2025 Rank: 29) – McEvoy’s focus at this point in his career is laser-focused on the 50 free, and it’s working. McEvoy won the world title in 2023, Olympic gold in 2024, and then reclaimed gold at the World Championships last summer in Singapore in a time of 21.14, the third-fastest of his career. The 31-year-old set his personal best time of 21.06 at the 2023 Worlds, and it’s conceivable that he could join the sub-21 club sometime soon and possibly even challenge Cesar Cielo‘s world record of 20.91 from 2009. McEvoy recently went into detail on his unique training program, which should help keep him in the sport at a high level into his 30s. With Ben Proud‘s announcement that he’s heading to the Enhanced Games, the second-fastest active swimmer in the world last year in the 50 was Jack Alexy, who sits 18 one-hundredths back of McEvoy. This year, McEvoy should have no issues winning gold in the 50 at the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs if he attends both. Could he also make an impact in the 50 fly? Last year, he ranked 22nd in the world at 23.09.

#16: Shin Ohashi, Japan (2025 Rank: NR) – Ohashi had a monster year in 2025, emerging as the world’s fastest man in the 200 breaststroke as a 16-year-old. The Japanese native finished 2024 ranked 20th in the world in the 200 breast (2:09.22) and 61st in the 100 breast (1:00.29), and knocked more than two seconds off his PB in the 200 and over a second off his lifetime best in the 100. Ohashi put up a World Junior Record time of 2:07.27 in the 200 breast in June, and then joined the sub-2:07 club one month later, clocking 2:06.91 to rank 10th all-time. At the same meet in Japan, Ohashi also broke the World Junior Record in the 100 breast in 58.94, finishing the year ranked 7th in the world in the event, in addition to ranking #1 in the 200 by more than three-tenths. Due to his breakout performances coming in the summer, Ohashi did not race at the World Championships in Singapore, where his best time would’ve won gold by a half-second. He was in the field at World Juniors in August, and wasn’t able to recreate his swims from earlier in the summer, settling for silver in the 100 breast (59.50) and 200 breast (2:07.56) and adding a bronze in the 50 breast (27.12). Perhaps most notably coming out of that meet was Ohashi’s 58.55 split on the Japanese boys’ medley relay. The men’s breaststroke field at the Asian Games will be loaded, but Ohashi is clearly the frontrunner in the 200 breast and a medal hopeful in the 100 breast. The same can be said for the Pan Pacific Championships, where his Japanese countrymen will be his biggest opponents in the 200 breast, and possibly Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook, while in the 100, Ohashi’s 58.94 makes him the fastest in the field among Pan Pac countries, with American Campbell McKean (58.96) close behind.

#15: Sven Schwarz, Germany (2025 Rank: 72) – After a breakout performance in 2023 that saw him win gold in the 800 free (7:41.77) and silver in the 1500 free (14:43.53) at the U23 European Championships in a pair of big best times, Schwarz made his Olympic debut in 2024 in Paris, placing 5th in the 800 free and 10th in the 1500 free. Although he was unable to match his PBs from 2023, that experience lent itself to what was to come for the now 24-year-old, who took another giant leap in 2025 to firmly establish himself as one of the best distance swimmers in the world. Schwarz broke the European Record in the 800 free at the German Swimming Championships in May, clocking 7:38.12, and also set massive bests in the 400 free (3:46.71) and 1500 free (14:36.82) at the meet. In his World Championship debut, Schwarz lowered his best time again in the 1500 free to claim silver in a time of 14:35.69, while he also won silver in the 800 free (7:39.96). He finished the year ranked 2nd in the world in both the 800 and 1500, only trailing double world champion Ahmed Jaouadi, and also ranked 31st in the 400 free. Though he’ll have big challenges from countrymen Lukas Märtens and Florian Wellbrock, along with Daniel Wiffen and possibly another German, Oliver Klemet, Schwarz would have to be considered the favorite for gold in the 800 and 1500 at the European Championships based on what he did last year.

#14: Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia (2025 Rank: 7) – Kolesnikov has established himself as the clear-cut best in the world in the men’s 50 backstroke over the last five years, now owning nine career swims under 24 seconds, a barrier that wasn’t broken until he did it in 2021. Competing at the LC World Championships for the first time since 2019, the 25-year-old Russian won gold in the 50 back (23.68) in Singapore and added a sixth-place finish in the 100 back (52.38) after clocking 52.26 in the semis. Kolesnikov did go faster in the 100 back in April, clocking 52.04 at the Russian Championships to rank 5th in the world, and he’s also consistently produced elite times in the sprint free events, though his best times of 21.69 and 47.11 were set in 2022 and 2021, respectively. In 2025, Kolesnikov ranked 34th in the world in the 50 free (21.88) and 72nd in the 100 free (48.50). Looking towards 2026, he’ll be the gold medal favorite in the 50 back at the European Championships, and one of the main players in the 100 back, but where he could really do some damage is at Short Course Worlds. An ultra-elite SC performer, Kolesnikov owns the 50 back world record (22.11), and he’s among the fastest ever in the 100 back (48.58) and has been 20.88/45.58 in the sprint free events and 50.63 in the 100 IM. Most recently, at the Salnikov Cup in December, he went 49.18 in the 100 back and 51.35 in the 100 IM.

#13: Jack Alexy, USA (2025 Rank: 26) – Alexy has not missed the podium in the 50 or 100 free in his three career World Championship appearances. He broke out in 2023, earning a pair of silvers at the World Championships in Fukuoka, won the short course world title in the 100 free in 2024 while adding a bronze in the 50 free, and then last summer in Singapore, won silver in the 100 free and bronze in the 50 free. The only blip for Alexy in his senior international career came at the Paris Olympics, where he took 7th in the 100 free and didn’t race the 50 after missing out on a qualifying spot at the U.S. Trials. There’s no denying Alexy has firmly established himself as one of the world’s best freestyle sprinters and, having only turned 23 last month, has plenty of runway to keep improving. Perhaps the most impressive stat for Alexy last year was the fact that there were only seven sub-47 swims in the 100 free by anyone in 2025, and he had four of them. The Cal grad joined the sub-47 club at the U.S. National Championships in June (46.99), and then reeled off three 46-second swims at the World Championships, highlighted by a 46.81 showing in the semis that ranks him #3 all-time and broke Caeleb Dressel‘s six-year-old American Record. The only problem for Alexy is that the two men who have been faster in history, Pan Zhanle and David Popovici, are not only still active, but younger and likely not yet having hit their prime. Alexy was still quicker than Pan last year and ranked 2nd in the world in the 100 free, while in the 50 free, his time of 21.32 ranked him 3rd, though for all intents and purposes, he’s 2nd among swimmers who will be active this year after Ben Proud‘s move to the Enhanced Games. In 2026, Alexy is the clear favorite for gold at Pan Pacs in the 100 free, though he’ll have his work cut out for him with Cameron McEvoy in the 50. Alexy will also be aiming to defend his short course world title in the 100 free at the end of the year.

#12: Miron Lifintsev, Russia (2025 Rank: 22) – Lifintsev exploded onto the scene in 2024. Despite not competing at the Olympics, he finished that year ranked 3rd in the world in both the 50 back (24.28) and 100 back (52.08) in long course meters as an 18-year-old, and then followed up with a dominant performance at Short Course Worlds, winning five gold medals including sweeping the men’s 50 back (22.47) and 100 back (48.76) with a pair of World Junior Records. He then had mixed results in his LC World Championship debut in 2025, settling for 7th in the 100 back final in a time of 52.51 while not even cracking the Russian roster in the 50 back. However, on the other hand, Lifintsev unleashed the fastest swim of 2025 in the 100 back, unofficially, leading off Russia’s mixed medley relay in a time of 51.78 to rank #2 all-time. He led his team to gold in that relay, and did the same in the men’s 4×100 medley, clocking 52.44 in the 100 back before his teammates finished things off in a new European Record time of 3:26.93. Still just 19, Lifintsev will be someone to watch this year in the sprint backstroke events, with the potential of challenging Thomas Ceccon‘s world record in the 100. Lifintsev will be a gold medal challenger in the 100 back at both the European Championships and Short Course Worlds, while in the 50 back, though he could realistically medal, he’s got his work cut out for him with countrymen Kliment Kolesnikov and Pavel Samusenko ranking 1-2 in the world last year (with Lifintsev 7th). He also showed some potential in the 200 back in 2024, clocking 1:56.61, but did not swim it in 2025 in long course.

#11: Thomas Ceccon, Italy (2025 Rank: 9) – He’s been the king of the 100 backstroke as the world record holder and reigning Olympic champion, but is Ceccon losing his crown? The Italian has settled for silver in back-to-back World Championship finals in the event (though his win in the Olympics came in between), and the list of swimmers who have broken 52 seconds is growing. With that being said, Ceccon did have his best performances in the 100 back since setting the world record in 2022 (51.60) in 2025, clocking 51.90 en route to winning silver at the World Championships and then getting down to 51.80 leading off the Italian men’s medley relay. In addition to his silver in the 100 back, Ceccon also won bronze in the 50 fly (22.67) and became a potential future medal threat in the 100 fly, setting a new Italian Record of 50.42 in the semis before placing 8th in the final (51.12). The 200 back was another event the 25-year-old ventured into last year, getting his PB down to 1:55.71 in April before placing 17th in Singapore. We also can’t forget he ripped a 47.10 100 free relay split at the World Championships, helping Italy earn silver in the men’s 4×100 free. Ceccon finished the year ranked 2nd in the world in the 100 back, 3rd in the 50 fly, 6th in the 100 fly, 16th in the 200 back and 33rd in the 100 free (48.17). His sprinting versatility is elite, and though he may not definitively be the best in the world in any one event, he’s one of the best in many. At the European Championships, the battle for medals in the 100 back and 50 fly will be a blood bath, but Ceccon will be right there. He’s also got a chance in the 100 fly, 200 back, or even the 100 free if he heads that direction. He wasn’t at Short Course Worlds in 2024, but he could do some damage if he’s there in 2026, notably being the 2022 world champion in the 100 IM.

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