Combined World Championships: Hubert Kos, Sam Short Lead Two Events Apiece

Hubert Kos
Hubert Kos -- Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
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Combined World Championships: Hubert Kos, Sam Short Lead Two Events Apiece

Over the past several weeks, most of the world’s top swimmers have raced in their main long course competition for 2026. The Commonwealth Games came first in Glasgow, Scotland, before the European Championships in Paris and the Pan Pacific Championships in Irvine, Calif., took place simultaneously. While there will be a Short Course World Championships in December, the best way to determine the best long course swimmers of the year is to compare times from these three meets plus the upcoming Asian Games.

Below are the top-five times recorded in finals at the three recent international meets. Swimmers who raced at two of these competitions are considered with their fastest finals time between the two opportunities, and only the top two swimmers per country were ranked. These competitions took place under different circumstances with different event programs, but this mythical World Championships show how the swimmers stack up.

Two male swimmers led the way in multiple individual events. Hubert Kos topped the 200 backstroke after his stunning semifinal time of 1:52.30, the second-fastest mark in history, and his European-title-winning performance in the 200 IM also made him the best of 2026. Sam Short took first place in the 400 and 800 freestyle based on his performances at the Pan Pacific Championships, and he also ranked second in the 1500 free.

The lone world record on this list belongs to Johannes Liebmann, the German who annihilated the global standard in the 1500 free. Several others came close, though, including Cam McEvoy (50 free) and Pieter Coetze (100 back) at the Commonwealth Games plus Kristof Milak (100 butterfly) and David Popovici (100 free) at the European Championships. And although Leon Marchand was unable to race his signature medley events at the European Championships, he still posted the world’s top time in the 200 fly by a huge margin.

50 Freestyle

  1. Cam McEvoy (AUS), 20.97 – Commonwealth Games
  2. Nikita Sheremet (UKR), 21.13 – European Championships
  3. Jamie Jack (AUS), 21.35 – Pan Pacs
  4. Egor Kornev (RUS), 21.37 – European Championships
  5. Andrej Barna (SRB), 21.37 – European Championships

100 Freestyle

  1. David Popovici (ROU), 46.56 – European Championships
  2. Egor Kornev (RUS), 46.74 – European Championships
  3. Kristof Milak (HUN), 46.87 – European Championships
  4. Flynn Southam (AUS), 47.13 – Commonwealth Games
  5. Jack Alexy (USA), 47.14 – Pan Pacs

200 Freestyle

  1. Luke Hobson (USA), 1:43.85 – Pan Pacs
  2. Gabriel Jett (USA), 1:43.96 – Pan Pacs
  3. David Popovici (ROU), 1:44.15 – European Championships
  4. Tomas Navikonis (LTU), 1:44.55 – European Championships
  5. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 1:44.59 – Pan Pacs
sam short

Sam Short — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

400 Freestyle

  1. Sam Short (AUS), 3:40.52 – Pan Pacs
  2. Zhang Zhanshuo (CHN), 3:42.42 – Pan Pacs
  3. Leon Marchand (FRA), 3:43.14 – European Championships
  4. Aaron Shackell (USA), 3:43.44 – Pan Pacs
  5. Oliver Papai (HUN), 3:44.46 – European Championships

800 Freestyle

  1. Sam Short (AUS), 7:37.02 – Pan Pacs
  2. Johannes Liebmann (GER), 7:37.59 – European Championships
  3. Sven Schwarz (GER), 7:41.16 – European Championships
  4. Zalan Sarkany (HUN), 7:41.75 – European Championships
  5. Bobby Finke (USA), 7:42.52 – Pan Pacs

1500 Freestyle

  1. Johannes Liebmann (GER), 14:26.79 – European Championships
  2. Sam Short (AUS), 14:33.97 – Pan Pacs
  3. Zalan Sarkany (HUN), 14:39.45 – European Championships
  4. Oliver Klemet (GER), 14:40.64 – European Championships
  5. Kazushi Imafuku (JPN), 14:42.59 – Pan Pacs

50 Backstroke

  1. Miroslav Knedla (CZE), 24.11 – European Championships
  2. Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS), 24.12 – European Championships
  3. Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 24.14 – European Championships
  4. Apostolos Christou (GRE), 24.15 – European Championships
  5. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 24.18 – Commonwealth Games

100 Backstroke

  1. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 51.77 – Commonwealth Games
  2. Apostolos Christou (GRE), 52.27 – European Championships
  3. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 52.28 – European Championships
  4. Pavel Samusenko (RUS), 52.57 – European Championships
  5. Oliver Morgan (ENG), 52.66 – Commonwealth Games

200 Backstroke

  1. Hubert Kos (HUN), 1:53.08 – European Championships
  2. Apostolos Siskos (GRE), 1:53.81 – European Championships
  3. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 1:53.96 – European Championships
  4. Roman Mityukov (SUI), 1:54.07 – European Championships
  5. Pieter Coetze (RSA), 1:54.22 – Commonwealth Games

50 Breaststroke

  1. Sam Williamson (AUS), 26.36 – Pan Pacs
  2. Michael Houlie (RSA)/Van Mathias (USA), 26.42 – Pan Pacs
  3. None (tie for second)
  4. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 26.57 – European Championships
  5. Koen de Groot (NED)/Simone Cerasuolo (ITA), 26.62 – European Championships

100 Breaststroke

  1. Van Mathias (USA), 58.02 – Pan Pacs
  2. Shin Ohashi (JPN), 58.54 – Pan Pacs
  3. Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 58.58 – European Championships
  4. Ivan Kozhakin (RUS), 58.58 – European Championships
  5. Simone Cerasuolo (ITA), 58.90 – European Championships

200 Breaststroke

  1. Filip Nowacki (GBR), 2:07.70 – European Championships
  2. Caspar Corbeau (NED), 2:07.78 – European Championships
  3. Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS), 2:08.09 – Pan Pacs
  4. Josh Matheny (USA), 2:08.25 – Pan Pacs
  5. Shin Ohashi (JPN), 2:08.27 – Pan Pacs

50 Butterfly

  1. Egor Kornev (RUS), 22.52 – European Championships
  2. Maxime Grousset (FRA), 22.54 – European Championships
  3. Grigori Pekarski (BLR), 22.68 – European Championships
  4. Thomas Ceccon (ITA), 22.72 – European Championships
  5. Kyle Chalmers (AUS)/Ben Armbruster (AUS), 22.73 – Commonwealth Games
kristof milak

Kristof Milak — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

100 Butterfly

  1. Kristof Milak (HUN), 49.48 – European Championships
  2. Maxime Grousset (FRA), 49.70 – European Championships
  3. Noè Ponti (SUI), 49.93 – European Championships
  4. Hubert Kos (HUN), 50.25 – European Championships
  5. Matt Temple (AUS), 50.39 – Pan Pacs

200 Butterfly

  1. Leon Marchand (FRA), 1:51.72 – European Championships
  2. Luca Urlando (USA), 1:53.11 – Pan Pacs
  3. Carson Foster (USA), 1:53.67 – Pan Pacs
  4. Richard Marton (HUN), 1:54.06 – European Championships
  5. Apostolos Siskos (GRE), 1:54.13 – European Championships

200 IM

  1. Hubert Kos (HUN), 1:54.24 – European Championships
  2. Hugo Gonzalez (ESP), 1:54.44 – European Championships
  3. Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN), 1:56.02 – Pan Pacs
  4. Mikhail Shcherbakov (RUS), 1:56.16 – European Championships
  5. Duncan Scott (GBR), 1:56.32 – European Championships

400 IM

  1. Tomoyuki Matsushita (JPN), 4:06.75 – Pan Pacs
  2. Carson Foster (USA), 4:07.11 – Pan Pacs
  3. Bobby Finke (USA), 4:07.59 – Pan Pacs
  4. Ilya Borodin (RUS), 4:08.17 – Pan Pacs
  5. Lewis Clareburt (NZL), 4:08.72 – Commonwealth Games

400 Freestyle Relay

  1. United States (Sammon, Guiliano, Lasco, Alexy), 3:09.01 – Pan Pacs
  2. Australia (Southam, Taylor, Turner, Chalmers), 3:09.49 – Commonwealth
  3. Hungary (Kos, Szabo, Nemeth, Milak), 3:10.03 – European Championships
  4. Russia (Giryov, Kukushkin, Shehegolev, Kornev), 3:10.02 – European Championships
  5. Croatia (Hribar, Nenadic, Sivec, Dragoja), 3:11.08 – European Championships

800 Freestyle Relay

  1. United States (Hobson, Shackell, Sammon, Jett), 6:59.37 – Pan Pacs
  2. Australia (Giuliani, Taylor, Hawke, Short), 7:01.10 – Pan Pacs
  3. Great Britain (Richards, McMillan, Guy, Scott), 7:01.52 – European Championships
  4. France (Marchand, Largeron, Cristofini, Fuchs), 7:02.23 – European Championships
  5. Germany (Martens, Sorgius, Baschnitt, Jahn), 7:02.28 – European Championships

400 Medley Relay

  1. Russia (Kolesnikov, Kozhakin, Minakov, Kornev), 3:28.67 – European Championships
  2. Australia (Allan, Williamson, Temple, Southam), 3:28.71 – Commonwealth Games
  3. Italy (Ceccon, Martinenghi, Razzetti, D’Ambrosio), 3:28.86 – European Championships
  4. France (Ndoye-Brouard-Aitkaci, Marchand, Grousset), 3:29.03 – European Championships
  5. United States (Modglin, Mathias, Urlando, Alexy), 3:29.06 – Pan Pacs

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