For the first time, World Aquatics has launched an Open Water Swimming World Ranking that will attempt to rank athletes globally on an objective scale.
The ranking will take into account an athlete’s eight best results in the prior 24 months, and will weight results based on competition level, event distance, the quality of the field, and how long ago the performance was.
Once swimmers compete in a Tier One (World Championships or Olympics) or Tier Two (World Cups) event, they will automatically be included in the ranking.
Besides offering new sponsorship opportunities for the organization, the ranking also offers a new pathway for fans and the media to engage with open water swimming – similar to systems used in other individual sports like tennis and golf. While it seems like a simple thing, providing a more digestible way for fans to consume the sport will make it easier for fans to be fans and should provide at least an incremental growth in interest.
Initial Rankings
Showing off how the system weights Olympic success, the leaders in both the men’s and women’s categories are the current Olympic champions: Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary and Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands. Van Rouwendaal will presumably fall in these rankings in 2025 after announcing that she will pull back from competition to tour the world giving clinics and consider her future in the sport.
After that, the rankings get a little more varied. Italian Domenico Acerenza, who was 4th at the Olympics but who did really well in both the 5km and 10km races at the last two World Championships, is 2nd on the men’s side.
Moesha Johnson of Australia, as another example, won silver in the 10km race at the Olympics, but is only 15th in these rankings because she hasn’t been ‘on the tour’ as long as some of the other swimmers on the list. She did have a good fall World Cup season, including a win in Hong Kong, but many of those races were lightly-attended by the stars, so didn’t boost her score as much as they might have otherwise.
Men’s Initial Top 10:
Women’s Initial Top 10:
Tier System
- Tier 1. Major Aquatics Competitions: The Olympic Games and the World Aquatics Championships.
- Tier 2. Other World Aquatics Competitions: The Open Water Swimming World Cups.
- Tier 3. Continental and Regional Competitions: Continental or Regional Multi-Sport Games, Competitions organized by Continental or Regional Organisations.
- Tier 4. Member Federation International Competitions: Events organized or sanctioned by a
Member Federation in which other World Aquatics Member Federations, clubs or individuals participate. - Tier 5. Other competitions of major international importance as defined by World Aquatics.
Event Weighting
The 25km event, which has been eliminated from the World Championships, is also being excluded from this ranking.
By Event Type:
| Tier 1 | |
| Tier 2 | 72.25 |
| Tier 3 | 49 |
| Tier 4 | 30.25 |
| Tier 5 | 16 |
By Distance:
The Math
In short, longer races at bigger meets carry more weight, and event impact decays over 24 months. Swimmers who participate in the World Cups will have a big advantage over those who don’t.
Because of the quality of field factors, swimmers who emerge as top finishers from regions like Europe, with deeper domestic fields, will do better than those from regions like Africa, with shallower fields.
The nature of the tiers and the decay means that athletes who swim more open water races will also have an advantage, because there is a limit to the number of Olympic and World Championship and World Cup races that an athlete can swim in a 24 month period.
Defining Terms:
Quality of Field Factor:
Age of the Event Value:
Points:
