Now that the year’s biggest swim meets are finished, there’s an opportunity to compare times and rank the fastest U.S. men’s swimmers per event.
The top two swimmers per event make the U.S. Olympic team at the trials next June and July, plus likely the top six from the 100m and 200m freestyles for relays.
Before getting to the rankings, some notes:
- Michael Phelps is the only U.S. man ranked No. 1 in the world in an event, for the second straight year. Phelps posted world-leading times in the 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley at the U.S. Championships over the weekend.
- There’s reason to believe that both Phelps and Ryan Lochte could be top six in the U.S. in the 100m freestyle to make the 4x100m free relay. They just didn’t swim the 100m free at top meets this summer. Their best times from 2014 (48.45 for Phelps and 48.90 for Lochte) would rank second and fifth if added to this year’s list.
- Phelps’ best 200m freestyle time since his return in April 2014 (1:48.20) would rank No. 12 in the U.S. this year, but he hasn’t contested the event at a top meet in 2014 or 2015.
- Caeleb Dressel, who turns 19 on Sunday, is ranked No. 2 in the 50m and 100m freestyle behind Olympic 100m free champion Nathan Adrian. Dressel could become the youngest U.S. male swimmer to compete in an individual event at an Olympics since 2004.
- Jordan Wilimovsky, who is second in the 1500m freestyle, already made the Olympic team in the open-water 10km. The Rio Olympic open-water race is the day after the 1500m free.
How U.S. Olympic women’s swim team would look based on 2015 times
Here are the rankings with world ranking in parentheses.
50m Freestyle
1. Nathan Adrian -- 21.37 (2)
2. Caeleb Dressel -- 21.53 (3)
--
3. Josh Schneider -- 21.86 (7)
4. Cullen Jones -- 21.87 (10)
100m Freestyle
1. Nathan Adrian -- 48.31 (11)
2. Caeleb Dressel -- 48.78 (31)
3. Michael Chadwick -- 48.87 (36)
4. Jack Conger -- 49.02 (43)
5. William Copeland -- 49.09 (50)
6. Jimmy Feigen -- 49.12 (53)
200m Freestyle
1. Ryan Lochte -- 1:45.36 (3)
2. Conor Dwyer -- 1:45.64 (15)
3. Maxime Rooney -- 1:47.10 (22)
4. Zane Grothe -- 1:47.11 (25)
5. Reed Malone -- 1:47.15 (26)
6. Blake Pieroni -- 1:47.30 (29)
400m Freestyle
1. Connor Jaeger -- 3:44.81 (6)
2. Zane Grothe -- 3:45.98 (9)
--
3. Michael McBroom -- 3:46.69 (16)
4. Clark Smith -- 3:47.10 (17)
1500m Freestyle
1. Connor Jaeger -- 14:41.20 (2)
2. Jordan Wilimovsky -- 14:57.05 (9)
--
3. Michael McBroom -- 14:57.07 (10)
4. Andrew Gemmell -- 15:09.92 (30)
100m Backstroke
1. Matt Grevers -- 52.66 (3)
2. Ryan Murphy -- 53.05 (7)
--
3. Nick Thoman -- 53.20 (11)
4. David Plummer -- 53.54 (16)
200m Backstroke
1. Ryan Murphy -- 1:55.00 (5)
2. Tyler Clary -- 1:56.26 (7)
--
3. Jacob Pebley -- 1:56.29 (8)
4. Sean Lehane -- 1:57.11 (14)
100m Breaststroke
1. Cody Miller -- 59.51 (8)
2. Andrew Wilson -- 59.65 (11)
--
3. Nic Fink -- 1:00.05 (17)
4. Kevin Cordes -- 1:00.27 (22)
200m Breaststroke
1. Kevin Cordes -- 2:08.05 (3)
2. Josh Prenot -- 2:08.90 (7)
--
3. Craig Benson -- 2:09.68 (16)
4. Cody Miller -- 2:09.71 (18)
100m Butterfly
1. Michael Phelps -- 50.45 (1)
2. Tom Shields -- 51.03 (5)
--
3. Jack Conger -- 51.33 (8)
4. Matthew Josa -- 51.68 (16)
200m Butterfly
1. Michael Phelps -- 1:52.94 (1)
2. Jack Conger -- 1:54.54 (8)
--
3. Tom Shields -- 1:55.75 (16)
4. Tyler Clary -- 1:55.86 (18)
200m Individual Medley
1. Michael Phelps -- 1:54.75 (1)
2. Ryan Lochte -- 1:55.81 (2)
--
3. Conor Dwyer -- 1:57.96 (10)
4. Josh Prenot -- 1:58.38 (15)
400m Individual Medley
1. Chase Kalisz -- 4:10.05 (4)
2. Tyler Clary -- 4:11.71 (5)
--
3. Jay Litherland -- 4:12.43 (7)
4. Josh Prenot -- 4:13.15 (10)
