Six Female Swimmers Who Could Emerge Internationally in 2025
The year after the Olympic Games marks a perfect opportunity for young swimmers to make a major impact on the international stage. This year, numerous veterans are step away from the sport temporarily and permanently while others are slow-pacing their way back into training after their Olympic successes. And at the start every quadrennial, swimmers take small openings to become stars.
In 2022, the list of swimmers to win their first world titles included Paris superstars Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand plus individual champions David Popovici, Torri Huske, Thomas Ceccon, Mollie O’Callaghan and Nicolo Martinenghi. At the 2017 edition of the global meet, Caeleb Dressel became a global sensation as he won seven gold medals, a preview of his five-year stretch of dominance in the sprint events, while Ariarne Titmus swam at her first senior-level meet and got big-race experience that proved vital as she blossomed into a star.
Here are six women we are watching this year for a potential breakout. Five of them have already competed in individual Olympic finals while three won relay medals in Paris, and the 2025 World Championships in Singapore could be a golden opportunity for some of these swimmers.
Iona Anderson, Australia
Anderson swam in her first Olympics as an 18-year-old, and of the five swimmers to break 59 in the 100 backstroke final, she was by far the least heralded. She finished behind only teammate Kaylee McKeown, Americans Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff and Canada’s Kylie Masse, and she later earned a pair of relay medals in Paris as the prelims backstroker on Australia’s mixed 400 medley relay and women’s 400 medley relay teams. Earlier in the year, she claimed silver medals in the 50 and 100 back at the Doha World Championships.
Mizuki Hirai, Japan
Hirai is the only swimmer on this list to never win an international medal, but she has quickly entered the conversation among the world’s elite in the 100 butterfly. She clocked 56.33 in the event in June, a time which stands as the official world junior record (although Claire Curzan swam faster in 2021). In Paris, she upstaged world-record holder Gretchen Walsh with a win in the final preliminary heat of the event, and she ended up placing seventh in a star-studded final. Hirai will not turn 18 until March.
Eneli Jefimova, Estonia
Jefimova has been winning junior-level medals for years, topping out with a world junior title in the 50 breaststroke in 2023, but she took steps onto the senior level in 2024. She captured the European title in the 100 breast before placing seventh in the Paris final and then earning bronze in the event at the Short Course World Championships. Jefimova just turned 18 in December, and a breakthrough to 1:05 territory this year could yield more international hardware.
Alex Shackell, United States
Alex Shackell — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Shackell made her senior-level international debut for the United States in 2023, helping the 800 free relay to a World Championships silver, and she added an individual event on her slate for Paris. After staying closer than expected to Smith in the Olympic Trials final of the 200 fly, Shackell qualified for the Paris top-eight as a bona fide medal contender before ending up six. A run at an international medal in her main event is within reach next year, and she could step into a larger relay role after again earning 800 free relay silver (as a prelims swimmer) in Paris. Shackell, a high school senior, turned 18 in November.
Claire Weinstein, United States
Weinstein has been part of the senior-level U.S. roster in the 200 free each of the last three years, and her improvements at the major meets have steadily improved. Her best came in Paris: a best time in the 200 free semifinals yielded her a finals spot (she placed eighth), and she broke 1:55 for the first time while leading off the Americans’ silver-medal-winning 800 free relay squad. Later in the year, Weinstein helped the U.S. women to gold and a world record in the 800 free relay at Short Course Worlds before winning her first individual medal with bronze and a world junior record in the 200 free.
Olivia Wunsch, Australia
The 18-year-old Wunsch had a front-row seat as Australia’s women captured gold medals in both freestyle relays in Paris, and she contributed the leadoff leg of the 400 free relay before yielding to the Aussies’ established sprint stars in the final. Now, Wunsch could be in store for a bigger role with swimmers like Emma McKeon and Bronte Campbell absent from next year’s Worlds. In addition to her Olympic gold, Wunsch won five gold medals and one bronze at the 2023 World Junior Championships.
