Ranking the Top-20 Men’s Swimmers in the World, Part IV (1-5): Marchand Tops the Best of the Best
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.
5. Maxime Grousset, France
Maxime Grousset — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Grousset won five individual medals between the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, including the 2023 world title in the 100 fly, but he was disappointed to come up short of another honor on his own at a home Olympics. Grousset came in fifth in the 100 fly final in Paris, although he would earn Olympic bronze by virtue of his sizzling fly leg on the French men’s 400 medley relay. A year later, though, Grousset had no peer in sprint butterfly at the World Championships.
First, Grousset edged Noè Ponti for gold in the 50 fly by three hundredths, his time of 22.48 good for fourth all-time in the event. Five days later in the 100-meter race, Grousset blasted out ahead of the field and did not give an inch on the way home. He finished in 49.63, good enough for gold, a European record and the status as history’s No. 2 performer behind Caeleb Dressel. The Frenchman is now just two tenths off the world records in both events. He would finish the meet with a 49.27 fly split on France’s 400 medley relay to earn a silver medal.
4. Hubert Kos, Hungary
Hubert Kos — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Kos might be the only swimmer among our top-five without multiple gold medals from this year’s World Championships, but he has one dominant event plus four further really good ones in his stable. Within the past three years, the 22-year-old from Hungary has won two world titles as well as Olympic gold in the 200 backstroke. The most recent win was perhaps the most impressive as Kos held off a spirited push from South Africa’s Pieter Coetze down the stretch. A personal best by more than a second was required to secure the win by 0.17, and Kos became the fifth-fastest man in history at 1:53.19.
Additionally, Kos won World Championships bronze in the 200 IM, returning to the event which first made him European champion in 2022. He also finished fourth in the 100 back, a podium comprised of sub-52 swimmers preventing him from reaching the top-three, while also getting into the final of the 50 back. Kos is also a skilled butterflyer, having gone 50.55 in the 100-meter race earlier in the year to rank seventh globally, and his short course success in the spring was central to the University of Texas winning an NCAA title as Kos captured wins in all three of his individual events.
3. Ahmed Jaouadi, Tunisia
Ahmed Jaouadi — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
For the second time in three years, a Tunisian distance swimmer with the first name Ahmed swept the men’s distance races at the World Championships. Jaouadi had been building his résumé over the previous two years with a pair of Olympic final appearances in Paris, topping out with a fourth-place finish in the 800 free, and then a short course world title in the 1500 free (along with 800-meter bronze) in December. Eight months later, Jaouadi defeated tough competition to win long course world titles in the 800 and 1500.
In both finals, the back half made the difference, with Jaouadi distinguishing himself against three-time Olympic champion Bobby Finke and German newcomer Sven Schwarz, with 400-meter gold medalist Lukas Martens also at the center of the 800 final. The 16-lap race saw Jaouadi finish three seconds ahead of the field, his time of 7:36.88 the quickest ever in a textile suit. He had to work a bit harder to get the better of the field in the mile, but a strong finish got him to the wall in 14:34.41, making him the No. 6 all-time performer in the race.
2. David Popovici, Romania
David Popovici — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Magic might be the best word to describe Popovici at peak form. That’s what he showed in 2022 when he stormed to world titles in the 100 and 200 free and later took down a 13-year-old world record in the 100-meter race, a mark which had survived since the supersuit era. But a year later, Popovici looked stunningly human at the Fukuoka World Championships as he was unable to reach the podium in either of his main events. By the time the Paris Games rolled around, Popovici was quick enough to earn gold in an incredibly tight finish of the 200 free before claiming bronze in the 100.
His performances this year showed what the Romanian standout, who just turned 21 last week, is capable of. In a match race against Luke Hobson in the 200 free final, Popovici came out on top after unleashing a closing split of 26.43 to pick off the American. His time of 1:43.53 was one that no one else has bettered in a textile suit. Two days later, Popovici got back on top in the 100 free, using another incredible finish to get the better of a tough American competitor. Home in 24.02, Popovici clocked 46.51 to come up just a tenth off the world record while beating Jack Alexy by four tenths.
1. Leon Marchand, France
Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
A similar story to the women’s top-20 rankings: we would have been ignorant to place anyone but Summer McIntosh at No. 1, and Marchand is the obvious choice here, despite the Frenchman winning only two individual medals at the World Championships. One year after his stunning four-gold-medal haul at the Paris Olympics, which included golds in the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke on the same night, Marchand chose to downsize for this year’s global meet and focus on the individual medley events.
Specifically, he wanted the world record in the 200 IM, a mark that had eluded Marchand by six hundredths in Paris. Thus, Marchand got to Singapore and decided to go all-out in the semifinal round to leave no doubt. He ended up annihilating the world record, his time of 1:52.69 faster than the time established by Ryan Lochte 14 years earlier by an incredible 1.31 seconds. He skipped right over 1:53-territory, but he would get there a day later by finishing in 1:53.68 to secure gold.
Marchand would then be quiet until the final day of the meet, when he raced in finals of the 400 IM and 400 medley relay. No one expected a competitive race in the long medley, and Marchand indeed won by three-and-a-half seconds despite finishing far off his own world record. Barely a half-hour later, Marchand handled the breaststroke leg on the French men’s 400 medley relay, and he put any fatigue aside to split 58.44 and help his country earn a silver medal. Thus, even a quiet meet included three medals and no doubt as to the identity of the male swimmer superior to all others.
