The U.S. still reigns in men’s swimming, but the world rankings show the field is as diverse as ever and much tighter than on the women’s side, where there are U.S. medal contenders in every event.
U.S. men would earn four golds and eight medals overall from the 14 individual Olympic events based on fastest times from 2018 across all competitions. That’s one more gold and two more total medals than the second-place nations. It’s close.
Japan, ramping up to host the Olympics in two years, is second in the world in men ranked in the top three (six) and top five (11 to the U.