Top Performances of 2024: Pan Zhanle, Bobby Finke Top List With Gold-Medal, World-Record Swims
The year concluded with one of the fastest editions of the Short Course World Championships ever, with 30 world records set over six days of competition. However, only one swim from Budapest cracks this year’s list of top-10 performances because of the astounding efforts posted at this year’s Paris Olympics and in the months leading up to the Games. Moreover, each swimmer is only eligible to appear on this list once, and three of the swimmers who set multiple world records at Short Course Worlds are recognized instead for their long course performances.
The top two performances of the year go to the two individual world records set on the way to Olympic gold. But which one earned the No. 1 spot?
1. Pan Zhanle (China), 100 Freestyle at Paris Olympics (46.40 WR)
Swimming in his first Olympic final at 19 years old, Pan upstaged more familiar names in men’s sprinting by blowing away the 100 free world record by four tenths and winning Olympic gold by a full second, even with 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers and former world-record holder David Popovici in the field. Pan’s Olympics had gotten off to a rough start, with China failing to medal in the 400 free relay before Pan ended up 22nd in the 200 free, but in this race, he was out in 22.28 and back in 24.12, both splits well ahead of the field. Later on, Pan anchored China’s 400 medley relay in 45.92, the quickest mark ever, as his team beat the United States for gold.
The world record in the 100 free had been stunningly resilient following the polyurethane suit era. Popovici first broke Cesar Cielo’s suit-aided world record in August 2022, and then Pan took the mark for himself at the World Championships in early 2024, clocking 46.80, but this mark redefined success in the event that is arguably swimming’s most glamorous.
2. Bobby Finke (USA), 1500 Freestyle at Paris Olympics (14:30.67 WR)
Bobby Finke — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
When Finke first won Olympic gold three years earlier in Tokyo, the previous generation of distance swimmers was unprepared for the American’s final-length surge which vaulted him ahead of his rivals. But that come-from-behind strategy had lost its luster in recent years: in the 2023 World Championships final of the 1500 free and in the Olympic final of the 800, Finke’s top competitors were just as good coming home, relegating Finke to a silver medal.
So in the final individual race of the Paris Games, Finke chose to get ahead of the field from the beginning, establishing a torrid pace that no one could keep up with or overtake, even with Ireland’s Dan Wiffen trying to back up his 800 free triumph with another in the 30-lap race. Moreover, Finke swam ahead of world-record pace the entire way, and at the finish, he was able to knock off a 12-year-old standard held by Sun Yang since the London Olympics. Moreover, he became the only American man to win individual gold in the pool in Paris.
3. Summer McIntosh (Canada), 400 IM at Canadian Trials (4:24.38 WR)
The world’s best female swimmer produced at every juncture this year. McIntosh was nearly perfect in her individual swims at the Olympics, taking silver in the 400 free before dominating the 400 IM and holding off valiant challengers in the 200 fly and 200 IM finals. She concluded the year by winning three gold medals, all in world-record time, plus one silver at the Short Course World Championships.
But her signature moment for 2024 came earlier, when McIntosh was just trying to secure her bid for the Olympics at Canada’s selection meet. She posted a time of 4:24.38 in the 400 IM to destroy her own world record by one-and-a-half seconds. The swim made McIntosh the fastest swimmer ever by a full two seconds, with No. 2 performer Katinka Hosszu the only other swimmer to even go below 4:28. As good as McIntosh was in Paris and Budapest, this was a tour de force that could not be matched.
4. Gretchen Walsh (USA), 100 Butterfly at U.S. Olympic Trials (55.18 WR)
At the end of the year, Walsh authored the single greatest short course meet ever as she set nine individual world records while winning seven gold medals in Budapest. So how do none of those performances in the 25-meter pool earn her a spot on the list? Because Walsh’s first career world record came in long course, and it beat out a legendary standard that had stood for eight years.
On the opening night of the U.S. Olympic Trials, Walsh broke Sarah Sjostrom’s mark in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.18. Known for her raw speed and underwater-dolphin-kicking power, Walsh showed that she had the endurance to maintain the sizzling pace down the back stretch of a long course 100. She achieved the record in the semifinals of the event, but she went on to secure the win in the final and then win Olympic silver in the event in Paris along with three relay medals.
5. Leon Marchand, 200 Butterfly & 200 Breaststroke at Paris Olympics (1:51.21/2:05.85)
Leon Marchand — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
No world records were set in this performance, but Marchand achieved the unthinkable as he scored two individual Olympic gold medals in one session, beating out the defending gold medalists in both events in the process and delighting the French crowd at La Défense Arena. In the 200 fly final, Marchand trailed Kristof Milak throughout before an incredible kickout on the final wall vaulted him into the lead. He won gold in 1:51.21, becoming the second-fastest man ever behind Milak and ahead of Michael Phelps.
Just two hours later, Marchand was at it again in the 200 breast, and this time, he led from start to finish. He surely benefitted from the failure of world-record holder Qin Haiyang to qualify for the final, but he successfully held Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook at bay while becoming the second man ever to break 2:06. Marchand’s four individual golds in Paris made him only the third man to ever win that many at one Olympics, joining Phelps and Mark Spitz, and this was the signature moment in his run.
6. United States, Mixed 400 Medley Relay at Paris Olympics (3:37.43)
The lone relay performance on this list was a masterclass in strategy and execution. Seeking a rebound after a dispiriting fifth-place result in the Olympic debut of the mixed medley relay, the Americans opted for a conventional lineup of two men followed by two women. Both male swimmers were veterans, and Ryan Murphy and Nic Fink each came through with their strongest swims of the competition to put the Americans in strong position alongside China.
The team was in second place at the halfway point, but Gretchen Walsh took care of that by ripping a 55.18 butterfly split, the fastest in history, to give anchor Torri Huske a marginal advantage of four hundredths. And as she did all Games long, Huske pulled it out in the clutch, a career-best effort of 51.88 allowing the Americans to top China for gold by a mere 12-hundredths.
7. Jordan Crooks (Cayman Islands), 50 Freestyle at Short Course World Championships (19.90 WR)
The lone short course swim on this top-10 list features Crooks, from a nation of under 100,000 people, becoming the fastest man ever. When he took to the blocks in Budapest for the 50 free, Crooks was already the defending champion, and he had already won bronze in the 100 free. He was already one of the best collegiate sprinters ever, and over the previous two years, he had shown significant improvement in long course, scoring top-eight finishes at the 2023 World Championships and Paris Olympics.
But in that 50 free, he broke Caeleb Dressel’s world record in prelims before going even faster in the semifinals, his time of 19.90 making him the first man to clear the long-sought 20-second barrier. The time was 26-hundredths quicker than any other man has recorded, an enormous margin in an event as short as the 50 free. The next night, Crooks did not challenge his world record, but he did secure his second consecutive gold medal.
8. Regan Smith (USA), 100 Backstroke at U.S. Olympic Trials (57.13 WR)
Regan Smith — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Here is another American swimmer who finished the year with a short course world record bonanza, with Smith now owning all three backstroke marks in the 25-meter course. But her best performance of the year came at the U.S. Olympic Trials as she broke her first world record in five years, reclaiming the 100 back mark from Australian rival Kaylee McKeown with a time of 57.13, two tenths quicker than McKeown’s previous mark.
Smith would go on to win two relay golds and three individual silvers in Paris, and her haul at Short Course Worlds included four golds, two silvers and a bronze. But it was this long course world record that returned Smith to the record-breaking status she had been seeking since her breakout meet at the 2019 World Championships.
9. Ariarne Titmus (Australia), 200 Freestyle at Australian Olympic Trials (1:52.23 WR)
For years, Titmus seemed destined to knock off Federica Pellegrini’s suit-aided world record in the 200 free, coming within tenths of the record on numerous occasions starting in 2021. But it was actually Mollie O’Callaghan, Titmus’ fellow Australian and training partner, who achieved the feat at the 2023 World Championships.
Less than a year later, Titmus fired back, overcoming and in fact exceeding O’Callaghan’s closing surge when the two raced at Australia’s Olympic Trials. While O’Callaghan beat her previous world record by almost four tenths, Titmus was the winner, clobbering the global standard with a time of 1:52.23. Titmus went on to earn two gold medals (400 free and 800 free relay) plus two silvers (200 free and 800 free) in Paris.
10. Katie Ledecky (USA), 800 Freestyle at Paris Olympics (8:11.04)
For the last spot on this list, we must recognize Ledecky for becoming the first female swimmer in history to win four consecutive gold medals in one event. This one required some serious toughness as Titmus stayed closer to Ledecky than she ever had in an 800-meter race, choosing to show her cards early in hopes of pulling an unlikely upset.
But Ledecky held strong, and in the final 200 meters, she pulled away to secure a gold medal. This swim was not close to her best time, the world record of 8:04.79 she set at the Rio Olympics, but winning gold at ages 15, 19, 23 and 27 put her ahead of three-time winners and icons Dawn Fraser and Kristina Egerszegi and alongside Michael Phelps as the only four-peat swimmers.
Honorable Mention
Given the number of impressive performances at both the Olympics and Short Course World Championships, plenty of deserving candidates did not make the list. Kate Douglass broke world records in the 200 IM and 200 breaststroke in short course after winning Olympic gold in the 200 breast as part of her four-medal haul in Paris, and Noè Ponti was masterful in short course, setting world records in the 50 and 100 fly in his three-gold-medal meet in Budapest. Luke Hobson, meanwhile, took down a 15-year-old short course world record in the 200 free.
Returning to the Paris Olympics, Sarah Sjostrom deserves significant credit for her clutch wins in the 100 free and 50 free, the first of which was a stunner in an event she only decided to race at the last minute. Torri Huske pulled off a stunning come-from-behind win in the 100 fly in Paris while Kristof Milak rebounded from his defeat in the 200 fly to post his fastest 100-meter race in three years, beating out Josh Liendo for Olympic gold. Numerous other relay world records were also considered, most notably the American women crushing the records in the 400 medley relay in both long course (at the Olympics) and short course.