Swimming is an individual as well as a team sport that requires the use of a full body to move through the water. Swimming is the best way to get a full-body workout. Each stroke in swimming requires a set of specific techniques.
It is a highly intensive exercise across all the events, and the performance is best measured by timing and consistency without breaking any rules. In every sport, there are few who excel and are way beyond others, and swimming is no exception. In this blog, we will look at the world’s top 10 best women swimmers in the world.
10. Ariarne Titmus, Australia
At the number 1 spot on this list of best women swimmers, we have Ariarne Titmus from Australia. In the Tokyo Olympics, Ariarne Titmus won the 400 freestyle over Katie Ledecky. Two days later, Titmus added a second individual gold in the 200 freestyle and silver in the 800 freestyle.
Titmus clocked a time of 3:56.40 in the 400 free, breaking Ledecky’s six-year-old world record at the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships in May. Titmus is coached by South African-born Dean Boxall, who has been a swim coach for more than twenty years.
9. Emma McKeon, Australia
Australian swimmer Emma McKeon and her performances in 2021 are more than enough to keep her at No. 2 on this list of best women swimmers in the world. McKeon would likely still be No. 1 on this list if Titmus hadn’t the record-breaking form.
In her career, Emma McKeon won a total of 11 Olympics medals, following the 2020 Olympic Games making her Australia’s most decorated Olympian. She won one gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and four gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
8. Katie Ledecky, USA
This 25-year-old has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals. She holds the world record in the women’s 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course). Her records in women’s swimming are; six gold medals at the Olympics, World Aquatics Championships 14 gold medals, and 22 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships.
7. Kaylee McKeown, Australia
An Australian swimmer and triple Olympic gold medalist Kaylee McKeown was the backstroke queen at the Tokyo Olympics, beating Kylie Masse and Regan Smith for gold in the 100 back, and a few days later she went on to claim another title in the 200 back.
This 21-year star is the current world record holder of the women’s 100-meter backstroke (long course). When she was only 15 years old, she won gold in the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships with a time of 2:10.01 in the 200-meter backstroke.
6. Lilly King, USA
She is an American swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. In International Swimming League, she represents the Cali Condors team. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she clinched a silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, silver in the 200-meter breaststroke, and bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke.
She holds the current world record in the long-course 100-meter breaststroke. She was crowned the NCAA Champion in the 100-yard breaststroke (56.85) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:03.59), during her freshman year at the NCAA Women’s Division I Swimming and Diving Championships.
5. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden
Sarah is a Swedish competitive swimmer who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She holds the world record in the 50-meter freestyle (long course), the 100-meter freestyle (long course), the 50-meter butterfly (long course), the 100-meter butterfly (long course), and the 4×50-meter medley relay (short course).
In International Swimming League, she currently represents Energy Standard. She accomplished a major feat in 2019 and became the only female swimmer to win five individual medals at a single FINA World Aquatics Championships. At Swimming World Cup, she won a total of 112 medals.
4. Yui Ohashi, Japan
Yui Ohashi is a Japanese swimmer, who is specialized in medley events. She dips beneath the 2:08-barrier in the women’s 200-meter individual medley event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships and became the first Japanese woman to do so.
There she finished with a silver medal and a national record of 2:07.91. She clinched Japan’s second gold in the 2020 Summer Olympics as she won the Women’s 400m individual medley.
3. Zhang Yufei, China
A Chinese competitive swimmer who specialized in sprint freestyle and butterfly events. She is considered one of the best women swimmers and currently holds a world junior record in the 200 m butterfly.
In her career, she produced a tally of ten medals (five golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronzes). In July 2021, Zhang broke the Olympic record and the world record in the Women’s 200m butterfly and the Women’s 4×200 freestyle relay respectively and won the yellow metal in both events.
2.Tatjana Schoenmaker, South Africa
Tatjana is a South African swimmer. She specialized in breaststroke events, and won the gold medal, and even set the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke and the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2020 Olympic Games.
She currently holds the record for long course 200-metre breaststroke. She won silver in the 50-meter breaststroke at the 2022 South Africa National Swimming Championships. In 2022, she received the Forbes Woman Africa Sports Award.
1. Siobhan Haughey, Hong Kong
Siobhan is a Hong Kong competitive swimmer. She was the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal and the first Hong Kong athlete to win two Olympic medals in any sport after she clinched silver medals in the women’s 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
She also holds the world record of Hong Kong’s first swimmer of breaking the 200-meter freestyle record at the 2021 World Short Course Championships. In the International Swimming League, she represents Energy Standard. So far in her career, she has broken 19 Hong Kong records and 6 Asian records.