From Narita Mio to Thomas Heilman, meet swimming's emerging stars
Discover some of the world's best young swimming stars who could be on the verge of an international breakthrough at this year's World Aquatics Championships 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan.
Swimming
Superstars like Katie Ledecky Kyle Chalmers, and the recent record-breakers David Popovici and Summer McIntosh know what it's like to be in the global spotlight.
But there's also another group of young swimmers aged 16 to 20 who are ready to make a splash at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Olympics.com has picked out six of them – three men and three women – who could leave their footprint on the Championships in the swimming events.
For the purposes of this list, swimmers who have won a medal at the senior 50m World Championships or Olympic Games were excluded – so there's no room for Popovici or McIntosh, despite both being under 20. It also means there are no African swimmers on the list, as Lara van Niekerk of South Africa, one of the continent's best young stars, won long-course world bronze in 2022.
This list is presented in alphabetical order by family name.
Guilherme Caribé Santos, 20, Brazil – men's 50m and 100m freestyle
Brazil are traditionally strong in the shortest and fastest event in the pool, the men's 50m free, with César Cielo and Bruno Fratus both having finished on world podiums in the event. Now they have their next hope: Caribé Santos.
The 20-year-old, who swims collegiately in the United States for the University of Tennessee, is South America's fastest freestyle swimmer. This year, he has clocked the 10th fastest time in the world in the 100m free and 15th fastest time in the 50m free.
Erika Fairweather, 19, New Zealand - women's 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle
The 19-year-old Kiwi is undoubtedly on the verge of finally making a major podium. Twice a short-course world medallist, Fairweather finished sixth at last year's long course Worlds in Budapest in the 400m. She also holds the sixth-fastest long course 400m free time ever, and could well taste success in multiple events.
Fairweather is the third-fastest 800m swimmer this season with an 8:18 at the national championships, where she also clocked personal records over 200m and 400m. She is also entered to swim in the women's 4x200m freestyle and mixed 4x100m freestyle relays in Fukuoka.
Thomas Heilman, 16, United States - men's 100m and 200m butterfly
You know a swimmer is special when they are faster than the legendary Michael Phelps. Perhaps that's why there's so much interest surrounding Heilman, who at 16 is the youngest member of the American team at this year's World Championships.
The butterfly specialist is a year older than Phelps was when the latter made his Olympic debut at Sydney 2000 – but faster. At the U.S. trials, Heilman swam the 200m butterfly in 1:54.54, breaking Phelps' American under-16 record by four hundredths of a second.
Narita Mio, 16, Japan – women's 200m and 400m individual medley
Hosts Japan's young underdog is the 16-year-old Narita Mio, a triple world junior champion. Narita won gold in both individual medley and the women's medley relay events at last year's World Juniors in Peru, a week after she won the two individual events at the Pan Pacific Junior Championships.
She has a 2:10.91 best time this year in the 200m, set at the Japanese nationals, which ranks her 19th – the top Japanese woman, ahead of Olympic champion Ohashi Yui.
Pan Zhanle, 18, People's Republic of China - men's 100m and 200m freestyle
The men's 100m freestyle may be a stacked field, but 18-year-old Pan could well be in the mix. He nearly didn't make this list, as he finished fourth at last year's World Championships – an early sign of his prowess. He has gone from strength to strength since, clocking 47.22 seconds at the Chinese national championships for a new Asian record (pending ratification).
That 47.22 is also the year's top time, even faster than both Chalmers (47.44) and Popovici (47.61) have swum; he is also the second-fastest man this year in the 200, only behind Republic of Korea's Hwang Sun-woo.
Lana Pudar, 17, Bosnia and Herzegovina - women's 100m and 200 butterfly
Pudar is already somewhat of a known quantity in Europe, having clinched European Championships gold in the 200m butterfly in Rome last year. But the Bosnia and Herzegovina 17-year-old hasn't quite had her international breakout meet yet.
Pudar has lowered her 200m personal best to 2:06.26, the fourth-fastest time in the world in 2023, achieving the mark at the European Junior Championships barely two weeks ago. At the same event, Pudar clocked a 56.95 en route to 100m butterfly gold. That scintillating form could be enough to propel her onto a podium in Fukuoka.