Immerse yourself in the thrilling world of UK swimming as we showcase the top athletes dominating the sport. This article comprehensively examines the nation's finest swimmers, relying on extensive data from British and ASA swim rankings. We dive into all-time records, highlight recent achievements in the last 12 months, and analyse individual best times to understand the sport's landscape better. Whether you're a budding athlete seeking inspiration or a seasoned fan wanting to keep up with the latest results and rankings, this guide provides an engaging and insightful tour of the UK's swimming elite.
Swimming has always been among the most competitively fought sports in the UK, despite not having the same high-profile reputation and following as cricket or football. Just like football has FIFA and Formula 1 has the FIA, swimming is a sport with a single respected governing body that keeps all the records, known as Swim England, or as it was officially known before 2018 and is perhaps better known as the ASA. And so, through their highly regarded UK swimming rankings, shall we front crawl today to see just who are the fastest masters of the pool?
ASA rankings, last 12 months: who's on top?
Of course, despite the flashy title, it's not relatively as straightforward as "Who's the highest ranked British swimmer" regarding this question. Most notably, quite a few different categories are held in high competitive regard. As well as the three main distance categories, 50m, 100m, and 200m, there are also the four main stroke types: breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, and freestyle. As if this wasn't confusing enough, not every stroke type is run over every distance at the highest levels of competition, which only makes the question more convoluted. With that all being said, there's no reason we can't delve into the most successful competitors in every category of the swimming rankings UK as recorded by Swim England.
Who are the fastest 50m freestyle swimmers of the last 12 months?
One of the more hotly contested ASA swim rankings categories is the 50m freestyle category. In both the male and female divisions, these are some of the fastest times being swum across the country, with the male division stacking up as follows:
- Benjamin Proud, 21.32s
- Lewis Burras, 21.68
- Matthew Richards, 21.98
- Alexander Cohoon, 22.10
- Thomas Carswell, 22.41
These times mostly come from the April 2023 round of the British Swimming Championships. Of the top 5, only Proud and Burras set their times outside this event, with Proud's benchmark time being set at the FINA world championships in Budapest, and Burras's being from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
Meanwhile, on the female side of the ASA swimming rankings in the same category, the top 5 looks like this:
- Anna Hopkin, 24.51
- Catie Deloof, 24.70
- Kornelia Fiedkiewicz, 25.20
- Isabella Hindley, 25.25
- Rebecca Guy, 25.30
These two top fives are probably what most people are most interested in about the ASA swimming results and rankings, since they give an accurate picture of the best sprint swimmers by ASA rankings 12 months trailing from the time of writing of this piece.
Who are the fastest 100m freestyle swimmers of the last 12 months?
As we move to start looking at the longer distances in the ASA rankings of individual best times by distance, the next logical place to look is the 100m category. The male ASA rankings individual to the last 12 months produce a host of familiar names, with the ASA event rankings showing two of the top five in this distance category being common with the 50m category, as follows:
- Lewis Burras, 47.63
- Matthew Richards, 47.72
- Thomas Dean, 47.83
- Duncan Scott, 48.00
- Jacob Whittle, 48.19
Burras and Richards also make it into the top 3 in this category, both of them being regulars in the ASA individual ranking's top echelons. This is no mean feat, as both distance categories thus far are extremely hotly contested.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ASA rankings swimming records, the female division also yields a list of similar names, with three of the top five appearing in both the 50m and 100m categories:
- Freya Anderson, 53.48
- Anna Hopkin, 53.52
- Catie Deloof, 54.04
- Lucy Hope, 54.34
- Kornelia Fiedkiewicz, 54.45
These times all they have ended up being recorded at the same two events, the 2023 British Swimming Championships in Sheffield and the AP Race International in London.
Who are the fastest 200m freestyle swimmers of the last 12 months?
As we move up the distance categories of the ASA swimming times and rankings, we arrive at the 200m category, a significantly longer category than the other two, and the third of the three most popular distance categories. The male top 5 of the British ASA swimming rankings at this distance shares a few names with the lower distances, although there are some notable omissions as well. This is primarily due to the fact that as we move into the longer distances, some athletes choose not to compete here, instead focusing purely on the shorter distance categories, and training to be the best in that category. As such, our male top 5 looks like this:
- Matthew Richards, 1:44.83
- Thomas Dean, 1:44.93
- Duncan Scott, 1:45.02
- James Guy, 1:45.85
- Felix Auboeck, 1:46.22
Notable among these is the man in the number 1 spot, with Matthew Richards being the only man to remain inside the top 3 in the British ASA rankings for freestyle swimming across all three main distances this year. Quite the achievement or the Millfield representative by every margin. Meanwhile, on the female side at this distance, Bath University's Freya Anderson continues to light up the timings:
- Freya Anderson, 1:55.89
- Abbie Wood, 1:57.21
- Paige Madden, 1:57.62
- Freya Colbert, 1:57.85
- Lucy Hope, 1:58.03
This category is where we really see Anderson come into her own, holding on to the top spot as she did in the 100m rankings, but this time clearing second place by almost a second and a half. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about her category dominance this year, little else will.
ASA rankings all time standouts: who are the fastest to ever do it?
While the insight into those at the pinnacle of their game in the recent season is exciting and informative, especially to understand the current landscape of competitive swimming, there is always something just fascinating about looking at the all time rankings and at just how fast a human being has been able to propel themself unaided and under their own power through the water. Fortunately, the swimming rankings UK charts maintained by Swim England also keep these records, which gives us plenty to look at.
Who are the fastest 50m freestyle swimmers of all time?
The first thing to know about the ASA national rankings in most of these categories is that unsurprisingly, as the sport has evolved and training and technique have improved across the board, it is unsurprising that most of those seen towards the sharp end of the timings are the same names we see dominating the current season. In the case of the men's 50m freestyle, that looks like this:
- Benjamin Proud, 21.11
- Lewis Burras, 21.68
- Adam Brown, 21.92
- Mark Foster, 21.96
- David Cumberlidge, 21.97
What should immediately jump out from these is that the top two are the exact same as the rankings from the last 12 months, with the only difference being that this time Proud's nation-beating time is even faster, coming from the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, and being over half a second clear of Burras's time in second. When you consider the length of the course, half a second difference is absolutely nothing to scoff at. As for the women's side, we see a similar yet different trend:
- Francesca Halsall, 23.96
- Anna Hopkin, 24.34
- Alison Sheppard, 24.68
- Catie Deloof, 24.70
- Marie Wattel, 24.75
Whereas the men's category featured the top two both being the same, with only a difference in their fastest times being noticeable, the female standings are topped by Francesca Halsall, who set her incredible 23.96 at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games back in 2014, with third placeholder Sheppard setting her equally impressive 24.68 at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, over 20 years before the time of writing.
Who are the fastest 100m freestyle swimmers of all time?
As before, we now focus on the 100m category, the middle category testing both explosive power and stamina. The male list follows the same pattern as the ASA results and rankings for the 50m freestyle category, with the entire top 5 being the same, again with only their best times being improved:
- Lewis Burras, 47.63
- Matthew Richards, 47.72
- Thomas Dean, 47.83
- Duncan Scott, 47.87
- Jacob Whittle, 48.11
Meanwhile, on the female side of the competition, the trend is again bucked by Halsall, who continues to set times that have stood the test of time:
- Anna Hopkin, 52.75
- Francesca Halsall, 52.87
- Frewya Anderson, 53.31
- Marie Wattel, 53.40
- Siobahn-Marie O'Connor, 53.81
Anna Hopkin continues to stay right at the top of the tables but is very closely followed by Halsall, this time with a time set in the 2009 Fina World Championship in Rome, the Liverpudlian still holding a solid claim for her spot despite competing for a decade before most of those around her on the list.
Who are the fastest 200m freestyle swimmers of all time?
We finally look at the 200m freestyle all-time records, starting with a male list that diverges slightly from the precedent of the others discussed here. The names are mostly shared with the rankings from the past 12 months, aside from Robert Renwick just edging out Felix Auboeck for the fifth-place spot, but the order is entirely different when you look at their all-time results:
- Thomas Dean, 1:44.22
- Duncan Scott, 1:44.26
- Matthew Richards, 1:44.83
- James Guy, 1:45.14
- Robert Renwick, 1:45.99
Only Richards's time remains the same as his time when examining the results from the most recent 12 months, with all the others have managed better times in prior years that they have been just unable to replicate in recent months. Over in the female 200m freestyle rankings, however, we see a list that bears almost no resemblance to the results of the last 12 months, with only Freya Anderson carrying the torch for the new guard thanks to a stellar performance at the British Swimming Championships of this year in Sheffield:
- Joanne Jackson, 1:55.54
- Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, 1:55.82
- Freya Anderson, 1:55.89
- Caitlin McClatchey, 1:56.62
- Rebecca Adlington, 1:56.66
Of these top five, three of them (being Jackson, McClatchey, and Adlington) all set their records before the 2010s even began, in 2009, 09, and 08, respectively. O'Connor set her record in 2014, with Freya's third-place attempt coming from 2023.
There are many more amazing swimmers with great stories than could be told through just these rankings. Still, these top fives offer some insight into the thrilling world of competitive swimming and the men and women whose record makes the series as exciting as it is.
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