To see more from the TYR World Rankings, click here.
Thanks to rankings editor Shannon McDonald for contributing to this article.
As the calendar flipped its page to enter the year 2015, the official flag has been waved to signal that the coming Olympic Games are happening “next year”. With the Rio 2016 Olympics now in clear view, it is ever more insightful to keep an eye on how athletes are performing comparatively across federations; therefore, taking a look at the long course world rankings from 2013-2014 provides a valuable view into trends taking place throughout the world on the Road to Rio.
Australian Women Rocked the World
In terms of the quantity of number-one-ranked swims on the women’s side in 2014, Australia led the way with a total of four tremendous swims. Two were attributed to the Australian Queen of Speed, Cate Campbell, with her number-one-ranked time of 52.62 in the 100m freestyle she earned at the Pan Pacific Championships.
Campbell’s other world-topping performance was also clocked at Pan Pacs, where she scorched the field with a blistering 23.96 50m freestyle time, which tied the world’s #1 mark set by Francesca Hall (GBR) at the Commonwealth Games.
The Australian backstroking dynamos of Emily Seebohm and Belinda Hocking each pointed the way for the rest of the world in 2014, as they held the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke number-one-ranked times, respectively. Seebohm notched a 58.84 in the shorter distance in August at Pan Pacs, while Hocking scored her world #1 at the NSW State Open Championships in February of last year.
American Women – Not Far Behind
Runners up in the number of world #1 ranks were America and Sweden, each logging three top global times from two of the most talented women in the entire sport. For its part, America could rely on its already-legendary 17-year-old distance phenom, Katie Ledecky, to score the world’s leading times in the 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events.
Pan Pacs is where Ledecky made the magic happen in two of those races, breaking her own world record in the 400m freestyle in a new time 3:58.37, while also throwing down a 1500m freestyle in a world-record-shattering 15:28.36. As is her modus operandi, Ledecky’s 800m freestyle also broke a world record and did so rather under the radar by setting a new mark of 8:11.00 at the Woodlands Senior Invite in Texas back in June 2014.
As impressive of a year as Katie Ledecky enjoyed in 2014, however, the American women contingent suffered a 50% drop in the number of #1 world rankings. In 2013, America held the top spots globally in the form of Missy Franklin’s 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke events, as well as Ledecky’s 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle distances. With Franklin incurring back spasm issues around the Pan Pacs meet, as well as spending a good amount of time in the realm of yards while competing for Cal, she was not able to carry over her world-leading times into 2014.
Thus, overall, American women also slipped in the top 25 world ranked times, from holding 20% of those marks in 2013 to 17% in 2014. As such, 2015 is simply a vital year for the world’s best women, including the Americans, to stake their claim atop the world’s rankings heading into Kazan and then Rio.
Sjostrom Carries Sweden’s #1’s
Also with 3 world-topping times for 2014 was Sweden, with its superstar, Sarah Sjostrom, accounting for all of her country’s top world marks over the year. Sjostrom nabbed the top spot in the 200m freestyle in 1:55.04 and led the world with a 56.50 in the 100m butterfly, but Sjostrom’s most memorable world-topping swim was her just out-of-this-world, did-that-really-just-happen 24.43 50m butterfly world record mark she swam at the Swedish Nationals in July. In that literally breath-less swim, Sjostrom knocked over six-tenths from the previous record, or roughly 2.5%. Simply unbelievable.
American Men Dropped in World Rankings
The American men maintained the same percentage of top 25 long course world rankings, retaining 17.75% of those marks from 2013 to 2014. However, the country’s quantity of number-one-ranked-times dropped from 3 to 1, or by 66.67%. Whereas 2013 saw the likes of Matt Grevers and Ryan Lochte, as world #1-ranked swimmers, neither of these men carried over to a number-one-ranked spot in 2014. Michael Phelps’ was the only 2014 #1 ranked American male, as his 100m butterfly time of 51.17 he earned at the U.S. Summer Nationals in August 2014 thoroughly announced his official re-entry into “Phelpsian” swim territory once again.
Japanese Men Made a Statement in 2014
The men of Japan were clearly the breakout nation of 2014 in terms of the #1 world-ranked times. Through tremendous efforts over the course the year, Japan’s performances rendered five number one world ranked times, as well as 13.5% of the total top 25 world-ranked times across all events.
Junya Koga made a world-leading statement with his 24.28 50m backstroke time at the Asian Games in September, while countryman Ryosuke Irie also logged a world number one with his 52.34 in the 100m backstroke (tied with Jiayu Xu of China). Irie snagged the #1 world ranking in the 200m backstroke time at the Asian Games, winning the event in an impressive 1:54.08.
Other world-dominating times came from the ever-growing threat of Daiya Seto, who clocked the globe’s best 200m butterfly time of 1:54.08 at the Asian Games. Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, who is also beyond scary across multiple events, made the world take notice with his number-one-ranked times of 1:54.08 in the 200m IM and 4:07.75 in the 400m IM.
GBR Swimmers = Breaststroke Beasts
Great Britain men Adam Peaty and Ross Murdoch were absolute monsters in the breaststroke discipline as of late, as they swept all three long course distances – 50, 100, 200 – over 2014. Peaty’s 26.62 50m breaststroke at the European Championships took over the world’s #1-ranked time and Peaty immediately followed that up with a 58.68 world-dominating time in the 100m breaststroke.
Ross Murdoch completed the Scottish breaststroke trifecta by earning the world’s top time in the 200m breaststroke in a winning time of 2:07.30 at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
2015 Begins
Obviously it is early in the 2015 calendar year, but the American women and men hold approximately 44% and 69%, respectively, of the world’s number one-ranked times. The dependable American contingent of Katie Ledecky, Micah Lawrence, Elizabeth Beisel, Conor Dwyer, Connor Jaeger, and Matt Grevers, paired with relative newcomers on the worldwide scene such as Cassidy Bayer, Jack Conger, Michael Andrew bodes well for the upcoming year in preparations for World Championships in Kazan, and ultimately in the overriding vision of the team destined for Rio.
Obviously yards times have little or nothing to do with world rankings, but is there any chance the yards (TYR) top times can be updated to reflect a more current list of college and US Swimming times.
1) Can you clarify what you mean by top 25 world ranked times. Do you really mean top ranked times where one swimmer can have many of the top ranked times–or do you mean top 25 ranked swimmers in the event.
2) I would not place a great deal of weight on 2014 results for the US. Europeans had their championships in their time zone–and it was a lot more important to them than our Pan Pacs. The US had to swim had to way around the world outdoors in winter in their owns ummertime. The Aussies had the Commonwealth Games, and then were home for Pan Pacs.
It is so nice to see when an article is incorrect people are polite in recognizing it instead of the negativity you normally see. Swimming truly is a GREAT sport!
Adam Peaty is English not Scottish.
I’m guessing Sjostrom’s world leading time of 56.50 is in the 100m butterfly, not 100m freestyle
That’s exactly what is written in the article ( 56.50 for the 100 fly ) . Don’t know why u bring this up ?
Because the editors probably fixed the article in between the 2+ hours between
3+ hours between the time Markster poster his comment and you responded.
I will never believe in STATS. Anything is possible in Kazan.
I believe that as well. Some athletes don’t even replicate their success in the world crowd! Can’t wait for the WC!.
Adam Peaty is most definitely English, not Scottish. I concur with the British Breaststroke sentiment though, the depth is unbelievable and new names are still cropping up.
Will Kazan go off without a hitch?