After a wild 2018 where Caeleb Dressel‘s final NCAA Championship meet drove massive traffic traffic, the normal order was restored in 2019 with live recaps again dominating SwimSwam’s traffic.
The World Championships were the leading recaps, but Dressel wasn’t entirely shut out: our most-viewed article of the year was the recap where Dressel set a World Record in the semi-finals of the 100 fly. The top 3 live recaps actually each included a Dressel semi-final swim, though none an individual Dressel final.
The International Swimming League, which certainly was the most innovative development of 2019, drew good traffic for SwimSwam, but still needs some growth to reach the heights they’re promising. Only the finals recaps, which they’re the 39th and 43rd most popular articles of the year, cracked the top 50 from the league’s initial season.
Outside of those recaps, the biggest drivers of traffic in 2019 were a number of big controversies and tragedies. A 20-month suspension for Olympic gold medalist Conor Dwyer was one of the top news stories of the year, as was the disqualification of Lilly King in the 200 breaststroke prelims at the World Championships, which was 2 of the top 40 articles of the year. Danas Rapsys’ DQ in the 200 free final also earned a spot in the top 50 articles.
The shooting of a pair of swimmers at the University of Minnesota, the arrest of an Indiana University assistant swim coach, and a misstep by Elizabeth Beisel on the television show Survivor all caught significant attention – including a high percentage of non-usual SwimSwam readers. The collapse of an elevated deck at a nightclub near the World Championship site, where athletes were present including swimmers, also drew a lot of attention from outside of the sport’s usual followers.
Podium protests by both Mack Horton (#24) and Duncan Scott (#34) both were lightning rods, as were the subsequent FINA warnings (#44). Horton’s original protest drew more attention than did Scott’s copycat effort – probably a factor of both the novelty and the longer history between Horton and Sun.
2019 also saw the death of 26-year old Australian and Hong Kong swimmer Kenneth To. It’s always tragic when a human dies so young in the prime of their lives, and To was an especially-beloved figure in the sport for his reputation as one of the kindest and most genuine elite swimmers.
There was some positive news that drew a lot of attention as well, though. Kristof Milak’s World Record in the 200 fly at only 19 years old caused a ton of excitement, given that the previous record belonged to the GOAT Michael Phelps. People were also very excited about the possibilities presented by the FORM Goggles with an on-screen display.
The girls recruiting rankings in the class of 2020 were more popular than the boys by a pretty significant margin (maybe thanks to Regan Smith‘s 3-World Record breakthrough at the World Championships).
And as we turn our page to 2020, fittingly the #49 most-popular article was the list of Olympic Trials qualifiers. Which reminds me: we’ll have to update that soon. We suspect that Omaha and Tokyo will dominate the 2020 storylines, but the biggest stories, as always, will be the ones we don’t expect, the ones that can’t be predicted, the ones that keep us all on the edge of our seats as sports fans.
See you all next year in Japan.
See Past Lists
Most Read Articles – Overall
News-Driven
Live Recaps
Training & Lifestyle
| 29 | 10 Telltale Signs You Have a Swimmer’s Body |
| 35 | 3 Highly Recommended Pre-Race Meals for Swimmers |
What was Regan Smith’s 3rd world record at the World Championships? Are you referring to the entire 400 medley relay team’s world record?
Yes
Next year it will be an article talking about Dean Farris’s 100 back win at Tokyo in 51.7.
Despite respect for the lord, I have to say no way.
He will be much faster of course!
I’d like to think Dressel showed these stats to Speedo to boost his contact.
Huge shout to Rapsys for his previously unexpected 200 fly world record.