Top 10 Most ICONIC Swim Races of ALL TIME

These are the most iconic swim races of our generation. They're packed with intensity, action, and emotion. But most importantly, they all have a storyline. Coming in at number 10, this is Cesar Cielo's world record in the 50-meter freestyle. The record was set in 2009. And what's important about this race, it was the last race using the super suits. You can see he looks really good right there, hovering over the water. And he extends his lead into the finish. He is only one of two men ever to break 21 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle. This swim was absolutely insane. He did it in December in his home country of Brazil. He is considered the greatest and the fastest sprinter of all time because he still holds the world record to this date 15 years later. We'll see how long it lasts. Let me know what you guys think down below in the comments. He looks super pumped up. And this is Cesar Cielo, who was an 18.4 at Auburn in the 50-yard freestyle. And he also can do it in the 100-meter freestyle because he broke 47 seconds in the Rome World Championships in that same very year. Like I said, only one other person was able to go under 21 seconds. He was a 20.91. And he did it in the super suit. And you can see here at the World Championships, he's celebrating. This is the suit, the Arena X-Glide. And it had a bunch of drama. And these suits are now banned in competition. Next up, we have Simone Manuel winning the 100 freestyle, tying Penny Oleksiak of Canada. She is the first African-American swimmer to win an individual event at the Olympic Games in swimming. Look at the emotion on her face. Congratulations. Next up, in eighth place, we have the 2000 Olympics four-by-one free relay. You've got the Americans. And you have the Australians. Now, this is the ultimate showdown because, remember, in 2000, the Olympics were in Sydney, Australia. And you can see the finish right there. That's Ian Thorpe. And he came in with a monster split. He was able to pass the Americans. That's Gary Hall right there, who won the 50 freestyle, tying Anthony Urban. But you can see right there the Australians celebrating in their homeland. And the drama in the smack talk. They're playing the guitar right there. You can see these guys. They're celebrating. And that was some drama. If you Google search, you can see what the hype was about. Why they were playing guitars. But that's a whole other story in itself. Maybe we'll make a video about that. Next up, we have Kayla Decky in seventh. This is her first Olympics at the age of 15. She couldn't drive a car. But she still broke the world record in the 800 freestyle. It's her first gold of many more to come. And that just set up her career to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest freestyle swimmer. She didn't break the world record, my bad. But she destroyed the field. Look at that four-second separation. Not bad for your first Olympics at the age of 15. Next up, the men's 200 freestyle of the 2004 Athens Olympics. This is the ultimate showdown. Because you have three absolute studs and a few others in the field. You have Michael Phelps. You have Ian Thorpe. There he is right there, Ian Thorpe. You have Pieter van den Hogenbaan of the Netherlands. The Flying Dutchman, as they say. And this squad really assembled here. There's Ian Thorpe, the Australian superpower from 2000. He's back for more in 2004. You had others like Grant Hackett were in this field as well. And this is when Michael Phelps was first stepping onto the stage. There he is, Michael Phelps. You can see him in that USA swag. And he had already gone to the Olympics in 2000. And there was a lot of smack talk about this event specifically, the 200 freestyle. It continued beyond this Olympics into 2008. Ian Thorpe doubted Phelps' ability to win seven gold medals at the championships. But Ian Thorpe had the last laugh at these championships. At the Olympics, Ian Thorpe was the winner. Pieter van den Hogenbaan, right above him, right there, was the silver. And Michael Phelps was the bronze. And you can see the energy and the excitement that Ian Thorpe had to win in this historic way in Athens four years after dominating in his home country of Australia. Look at that emotion. Next up, one of my favorites. We have Sarah Hoistrom of Sweden. This is the double. She breaks the world record in the 50 freestyle 17 minutes right after winning the world title in the 50 butterfly. And my favorite part about this is her reaction. Look at the smile on her face. She didn't expect to win it. She just won her fifth consecutive world title in the 50 freestyle. And then in the semifinal of the 50 free, 17 minutes later, she broke the world record. She can't even believe it. And then later, in 2024, she won her sixth consecutive world title in the 50 butterfly. Absolutely considered one of, if not the greatest, female sprinter in the world. Look how excited she is. You can see, like, she was going into it, just, OK, just got to qualify for the final. And there she is. Cameraman's having a good time filming the energy and the emotion. But how about that? World title and world record within 17 minutes. What a double that is. Congratulations, Sarah, right there. All right, in number four, we have the woman's 400-meter freestyle, because we've got Titmuss of Australia against Katie Ledecky of the United States. Now, this was at the Olympics in 2020, 2021, in Tokyo, COVID Olympics. Not many people in the stands. But this is the ultimate showdown, because we have Ledecky, the queen of distance freestyle, and the newcomer, Ariane Titmuss of Australia. And they're going to face off. Ledecky had the early lead in this race, and it came down to the touch. Look at them right next to each other. But at the touch, it was Ariane Titmuss making a statement that she can come up against Katie Ledecky, the queen, and dethrone her to be the greatest 400 freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics. We'll see what happens in Paris. It's going to be a good lineup. She has since lowered the world record to a 3.55. We'll see what that ends up being. It's going to be a good one. And look at Ledecky. She knows that she's got some work cut out for her in the next games. There she is in the medal ceremony. Respect all around, as it should be in these types of competitions. All right, next up is one of the hot ones. We have Michael Phelps in his 0.01 finish at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is one of, if not the closest races in Olympic history. It's not a tie. It's the slimmest of margins. And when you guys see this slow motion footage, it is absolutely incredible. There's Phelps diving into the water. He looks great. And there's the finish. If you didn't see the finish, we'll put it there in slow motion. Look at that excitement. He won by one one hundredth of a second. If you remember, Phelps won eight gold medals at this Olympics. And look at that finish. Look at that. Here it is another time. Look at that margin. Four millimeters of margin between the two. That is absolutely ridiculous. One of the greatest races of all time. Next up, runner up is Katie Ledecky winning this race in a monster 22 seconds. I mean, it's not even close. Look how far ahead she is. Where is everyone? I don't even see them. She destroyed the field. And this is why Katie Ledecky is considered one of, if not the greatest female swimmers of all time, because the margin of victory, the margin of her dominance. Look at that smile. She's happy. She is happy. It's just unbelievable to watch her completely dominate the pool. And that is why she is a distance queen. We'll see how she can hold up here at the next Olympics. And finally, the absolute banger is the four by one freestyle from Beijing Olympics. Jason Lezak taking down the Frenchman after all the smack talk. The French actually said, we came here to smash the Americans. And Jason Lezak, what a 46-06 split at the end to keep Phelps' hopes alive for eight gold medals. Absolutely incredible. Look at the excitement. Look at the passion. Let me know what you guys think down below in the comments. Which races did I miss? Check out this video over here for more. I'll see you over there and happy swimming.