Ranking the Best Women’s Swimmers in the World From 1-25

Looking ahead to yet another Olympic year and putting 2020 in the rearview mirror, Swimming World decided to compile a list of the 25 best swimmers in the world-leading into 2021. There was a lot of fast swimming in the first three months of 2020 (pre-pandemic), and even with an extended time out of the water during the summer, many of the world’s elite returned to either the ISL or various regional meets to put up times quicker than expected.

In compiling this list, we took into account what happened in 2019 as well as what each athlete showed in 2020. There was no perfect way to rank every swimmer in the world, but we tried to stay as objective as possible when weighing each swimmer’s achievements in the pandemic year of 2020. The ISL swims were taken into account as well as what happened in January and February before the pandemic shut everything down and pushed the Olympic Games back a full year.

So looking ahead to 2021, here are the top 25 best women’s swimmers in the world ranked as objectively as possible.

21. Olivia Smoliga, United States

Smoliga proved pivotal for the Cali Condors in the ISL this season, leading the world rankings in the 100 backstroke, nearly breaking Atherton’s world record in the process. Smoliga had been on a tear in 2019 where she finished with an individual bronze in the 100 back and a gold in the non-Olympic 50 back. Smoliga is a gamer, and will be tough to beat if she is at her best in 2021. In the last couple years, she has also developed a strong 200 back that could land her a place on the team to Tokyo.

Click here to see the full rankings.