Rising Stars of Summer 2025: Pieter Coetze Among Men Who Emerged This Year
Before trying to deal with the best backstrokers in the world, Pieter Coetze had to navigate an ambitious travel schedule. He was scheduled to represent South Africa at the World University Games in Berlin before flying across the world to Singapore to aim for world titles. Coetze pulled off the double with aplomb, using the lower-level competition to build momentum for his long-awaited senior-level breakthrough.
In Germany, Coetze became the eighth member of the sub-52 club in the 100 backstroke as he stormed to gold in 51.99. He added a second gold medal in the 50 back, this one by just two hundredths. But rather than sticking around to try to make it three golds in the 200 back, he departed for Singapore to take on backstroke fields highlighted by Olympic champions Thomas Ceccon and Hubert Kos plus Russian swimmers back in international waters following three years in exile.
Even with those swimmers in attendance, Coetze would emerge from the meet as the best men’s backstroker in the world, at least for the moment. The pace was blistering in the 100 back final, with Russian speedster Kliment Kolesnikov at the front of the field and four men under 25 seconds at the halfway point, but Coetze stayed close enough to give himself a chance. Down the stretch, he held off a surging Ceccon by five hundredths, 51.85 to 51.90. He was the winner of the first-ever all-sub-52 100 back international podium.
Coetze’s performance in the 100 back made him the third-fastest performer in history (now fourth), and he was not done. Three days later, he gave Kos everything he could handle in the 200-meter final before finishing with silver in 1:53.36, less than two tenths behind the Hungarian star and good for No. 7 in history. A third medal followed in the 50 back, with Coetze tying for silver with Pavel Samusenko as Kolesnikov took gold.
Those results put Coetze atop the list of male swimmers who boosted their status in the sport this summer. Here are four others who broke through with medal-worthy performances at the Singapore World Championships.
Ahmed Jaouadi — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Ahmed Jaouadi, Tunisia & Sven Schwarz, Germany
Jaouadi continued a tradition of Tunisian distance success this year, following the likes of Ous Mellouli and Ahmed Hafnaoui to become world champion in the longer events. Jaouadi followed up Olympic final appearances with a short course world title in the 1500 free in December 2024, so he was a medal contender entering Singapore. With world titles on the line, no one could stick with him down the back stretch in the final of either the 800 or 1500.
Meawhile, the German freestyle ranks are stacked: Lukas Martens is the world-record holder and world and Olympic champion in the 400 free while Florian Wellbrock has numerous gold medals across pool and open water events, most recently completing a four-gold sweep in open water in Singapore. Now, Schwarz takes his place along those established stars after his sizzling efforts in the 800 and 1500 free in Singapore. He beat out Martens for silver in the 800-meter final before taking down world-record holder Bobby Finke to be runnerup in the mile.
Following Singapore, Jaouadi is the third-fastest man ever in the 800 free (with Tunisia owning three of the top-four spots) while Schwarz ranks sixth. In the 1500 free, Jaouadi’s time of 14:34.41 ranks him sixth all-time while Schwarz, at 14:35.69, ranks eighth.
Simone Cerasuolo, Italy
For the last half-decade, Italian Nicolo Martinenghi has been established among the best sprint breaststrokers in the world, capping off his run with 100-meter Olympic gold last year. This year, Ludovico Viberti broke through by beating Martinenghi in the 100 breast at the Italian National Championships and then becoming the third-fastest man ever in the 50 breast. But the only Italian to capture World Championships gold this year was Cerasuolo, who took down neutral athlete Kirill Prigoda and China’s Qin Haiyang in the 50-meter final.
Cerasuolo has been winning international medals in the 50 and 100 breast for several years, beginning his run on the junior level in 2021. He had previously been a 50-meter medalist at the senior-level European Championships in both long course and short course, but his only global-level medal was Short Course World Championships bronze in 2022. This gold medal changed all that, launching Cerasuolo into the new quadrennium where the 50 breast is now an Olympic event.
Tatsuya Murasa, Japan & Harrison Turner, Australia
These two were among the most unexpected medalists of the World Championships. The 18-year-old Murasa was a relay swimmer at the Paris Olympics, but he swam more than two seconds quicker in the 200 free this year as he stormed to bronze in that event’s final. Amid a hyped-up showdown between David Popovici and Luke Hobson, Murasa moved from fifth to third on the final length, holding off Korean veteran Hwang Sunwoo to secure a medal with his time of 1:44.54.
As for Turner, he became the first Australian to ever win a medal in the 200 butterfly at the World Championships. Turner, 21, had minimal international experience prior to Singapore, having been a late call-up to the Aussie short course Worlds team late last year. He snuck into the 200 fly final as the eighth qualifier and put forth a valiant effort through the middle portion of the race, enough to hold off surging Canadian Ilya Kharun down the stretch.
