Ranking the Top-20 Men’s Swimmers in the World, Part II (11-15): Highlighting the Standout Americans of 2025
At the recent World Championships, swimmers competed for medals in 42 pool events, and the results clearly show the best swimmer in the world for each race. Comparing swimmers across events is a subjective task, with factors including versatility, dominance, longevity, big-race performance and relay contributions all considered. With the summer competition season concluded, we will again try to stack up the various competitors from one through 20.
These rankings will be based largely on performances at the World Championships but results from other meets will be considered. Swimmers who sat out this year’s major competitions will not be included on this list.
15. Sven Schwarz, Germany
Sven Schwarz — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Germany has become a distance swimming powerhouse thanks to Florian Wellbrock, a former world champion in the 1500 free and one of the best open water swimmers in history, and Lukas Martens, the world-record holder and Olympic champion in the 400-meter race. Now, add Schwarz to the list after his breakout year. Previously, Schwarz’s top accomplishment had been a fifth-place finish in the 800 free at the Paris Olympics, where he finished about four seconds out of medal contention, but he broke through at the German Championships in May with a European-record time of 7:38.12 in the 800 free and a sizzling 14:36.82 in the 1500.
He arrived at the Singapore World Championships with real medal chances for the first time in his career, and he delivered on that promise. In the 800 free, Schwarz took silver behind Ahmed Jaouadi. The bronze for Martens made for the first World Championships event since 1991 where two German men shared the podium. Later on, Schwarz took silver in the 1500, coming in just over a second behind Jaouadi and beating out world-record holder Bobby Finke. His mark of 14:35.69 made him the eighth-fastest performer in history.
14. Luca Urlando, United States
Luca Urlando with coach Neil Versfeld — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
One year earlier, Urlando had been locked out of the semifinals in his lone event at the Paris Olympics. Urlando had overcome a devastating shoulder injury just to make it back to competition and qualify for the Games, but it was not clear how much further he could advance up the world rankings in his signature event, the 200 butterfly. A long way, it turns out. In the aftermath of his Olympic debut, Urlando returned to college swimming and carved up his competition in the 200 fly, and he brought that speed to the world stage.
Urlando had shown promise as a global contender as a teenager, but he did not swim a best time in the long course 200 fly for six years. That changed when he blasted a mark of 1:52.37 in April. That made him the fourth-fastest man in history, behind only Kristof Milak, Leon Marchand and Michael Phelps. Urlando would follow that up with a U.S. national title in June, and then he dominated the global final in July, coming in at 1:51.87 to win the title by three-quarters of a second. The gold was the only win for the American men in Singapore. Urlando did benefit from Milak skipping the meet and Marchand opting out of the race, but if he can maintain that form in the coming years, he will continue to climb this list.
13. Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia
Kliment Kolesnikov — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
For several of his prime competitive years, Kolesnikov was unable to capitalize in international competition as Russian swimmers were exiled due to their country’s invasion of Ukraine. It was only in 2025, with numerous swimmers entered in global competition under the moniker “Neutral Athletes B,” that Kolesnikov was able to build upon the momentum he built a 100 back Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo.
Kolesnikov was the top-ranked swimmer in the world in the 100 back for much of the year with his time of 52.04 from his national championship meet in the spring, but he would falter in the event against international foes, ending up seventh in the Worlds final. But it’s the one-lap event where Kolesnikov is strongest, and his win in that event in Singapore was never in doubt. His 2023 world record of 23.55 already stood 0.16 ahead of the rest of the world, and Kolesnikov came through this year in 23.68, quicker than any other man in history. It was sufficient to clinch the world title by almost a half-second.
12. Bobby Finke, United States
Bobby Finke — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Finke’s placement on this list was tricky after he was among the American swimmers whose World Championships performance was hampered by gastrointestinal illness. For the first time since his stunning double-gold-medal performance four years earlier at the Tokyo Olympics, Finke missed the podium in a distance race, his fourth-place result in the 800 free leaving him more than six seconds outside the medal mix. He recovered sufficiently to earn bronze in the 1500, but his mark of 14:36.60 was almost six seconds outside his world record from last year.
However, Finke retains his standing among the world’s top performers thanks to his year-to-year consistency in the distance events. That world record of 14:30.67 was one of the signature performances for any swimmer at the Paris Games. Moreover, there were signs he was capable of another special international meet based on one performance at U.S. Nationals. There, he overtook Carson Foster for the win in the 400 IM, and his time of 4:07.46 helped Finke finish the summer as the second-quickest swimmer in the world in the race.
11. Jack Alexy, United States
Jack Alexy — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Following the reigns of Nathan Adrian and Caeleb Dressel, Alexy has taken over as the clear No. 1 sprint freestyler in the United States. After a mixed performance at his first Olympics, Alexy captured a short course world title in the 100 free in December and then parlayed that into a brilliant run of long course swimming. At U.S. Nationals, he became the second American to ever break 47 in the 100 free, and he came through in the event at Worlds as he captured silver behind David Popovici. Alexy’s semifinal time of 46.81 lowered Dressel’s American record and made him the third-fastest performer ever.
Later on, Alexy added a bronze medal in the 50 free, and he almost single-handedly salvaged bronze for the American men in the 400 medley relay. He entered the water for the anchor leg 1.28 seconds behind third-place Italy, but Alexy split 45.95, the second-fastest mark ever, to run down Italy and secure the podium finish. The 22-year-old will undoubtedly be called upon to play an even bigger role individually and on relays moving forward.
Notably, Alexy is the highest-ranked American man on this list, with Finke, Urlando and Luke Hobson the only others in the top-20. That presents a sharp contrast from the U.S. women, who had five of the top-nine performers on their list, and it also marks the first time in decades that a championship season concluded with no American men clearly among the 10 best swimmers in the world. Fortunately for American competitive hopes, all four swimmers on this list have potential to rise while further developments this year indicate promise for the future.
