Best Swimming Nations: Men's Sprint Freestyles

If you’re a frequent reader of The Swimmers Circle, you’ll know that we frequently refer to certain national programs, as a country, excelling in certain disciplines. The Dutch women in sprint freestyles, the Polish men in the distance butterflies, for example, are two programs that have made their mark in certain disciplines.

Beginning today, we will examine the top 10 countries in each event (Olympic and World Championship), as well as each “discipline” overall. These rankings are going to be based on the current World Rankings, World Record histories, historical prowess, with a generous dash of subjectivity. Consider this a cheat sheet of where the best places are to look for the next great swimmers in each of the events/disciplines.

Today, we’ll kick things off with the men’s sprint freestyles – the 50 and 100.  This is a tough one to really nail down because of the fractions of seconds that separate the top sprinters, and how fickle-ly and quickly things can change.

50 free

Picking the winner in this one was tough. I went back-and-forth between France and Brazil. France obviously has more depth in the event, but Brazil has in Cesar Cielo the World Record holder, the last two World Championships, and the last Olympic championship. With the emergence of a second great Brazilian – Bruno Fratus, who finished the year ranked 2nd in the world – their case becomes even stronger, so I gave them the edge. The Americans have won more Olympic golds (4) in this event than anyone else, and still have one of the world’s best in Nathan Adrian, so they remain in the top 3.

The surprise on the list was Japan, who sneaks in at #10. For all of the abuse that Japan’s sprint group has received as of late, they have a great pair of young sprinters who are trying to change that perception.

Legend: WR – Current World Record Holder; FWR – Former World Record Holder; TB – Textile Best

Men’s 100 free

This was another tough call. The Australians are hot now, coming off of their win in the 400 free relay at the World Championships, but the French have been very good for a number of years and continue to churn out new swimmers to take over as the old guard moves on. I’ll give the nod to the French on the basis of their depth

Legend: WR – Current World Record Holder; FWR – Former World Record Holder; TB – Textile Best

Overall Discipline Rankings – Men’s Sprint Freestyles

The old guard of French sprinting is aging, and the likes of Gilot, Bernard, and Bousquet will soon be moving on and have to be replaced, but with Yannick Agnel, Jeremy Stravius, and Florent Manaudou ready to hit their primes in London and beyond, the slide won’t be much, if anything. The Americans are consistent in the top 3 across both events, which gives them the 2nd-position overall, with the Australians, on the back of James Magnussen’s 100, in 3rd. Two years ago, Australia might have been in the top two, but with Eamon Sullivan’s injury problems and Ashley Callus’ retirement/non-retirement limbo, they slide to 3rd.