2024 Swammy Awards: World Junior Male Swimmer Of The Year — Kuzey Tunçelli

See all of our 2024 Swammy Awards here.

Men’s distance swimming entered a new era in the last Olympic quad. Distance swimmers from around the world helped reshape the all-time top 10 in the 800 and 1500 freestyle, putting on thrilling races that made it impossible to stomach a cut to commercial at the 650-meter mark. One of the most thrilling aspects of this revolution is that it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon. Not only are the biggest stars still racing, but the next wave of great distance swimmers is coming up the junior ranks, headlined by Kuzey Tunçelli.

Tunçelli announced himself in 2023, becoming the youngest swimmer to crack the 15-minute barrier in the 1500 freestyle and earning double gold in the distance events at the 2023 World Junior Championships. He continued improving in 2024, taking the next step in his career on the senior international stage which earned him the 2024 Swammy for World Junior Male Swimmer of the Year.

This year, Tunçelli won his first senior European Championship title, finishing first in the 1500 freestyle at the championships in June with a 14:55.64. He went to the European Junior Championships a few weeks later and claimed double gold in the 800 and 1500 freestyle. In the latter, he broke the world junior record, European junior, and championship record with a 14:41.89. The swim knocked more than 12 seconds off his Turkey record and lifetime best of 14:54.16 as he moved to 18th all-time in the event and 8th among Europeans ahead of his 17th birthday.

The Paris Games were Tunçelli’s Olympic debut. In his first swim, he broke the Turkish record, clocking 7:47.29 for an 11th-place finish. He made the 1500 freestyle final, where he chopped even more time off his world junior and national records, clocking a 14:41.22 to take fifth. The time improved his standing as the 18th fastest all-time in the event.

Tunçelli wasn’t done breaking records after the Olympic Games. He took over the official 1500 freestyle world junior record at the 2024 Short Course World Championships, swimming 14:20.64 and winning bronze for his first medal at the senior World Championship level. He now owns the 1500 freestyle world junior record in long-course and short-course meters. Tunçelli broke two Turkish records during the swim as his 800 freestyle split of 7:38.76 broke his Turkish record in the 800 freestyle.

Tunçelli made major strides during 2024, breaking records, staying atop the world junior distance scene, and moving up the senior international distance ranks and onto a senior World Championship podium for the first time. But, it still seems he has more room to improve—an exciting prospect on the brink of a new Olympic quad after the jumps he made this season.

Honorable Mention:

• Miron Lifintsev: If 18-year-old Miron Lifintsev had been approved for neutral athlete status before December, he would have a strong case to make for the male World Junior athlete of the year. He’s close to having one anyway. Lifintsev broke onto the backstroke scene this year, crushing a world junior record in the 100 backstroke with a 52.08 leading off a relay at July’s Russian Cup. That swim would’ve earned him a silver medal had he done it in the Olympic final. Lifinitsev made plenty of finals at the 2024 Short Course World Championships once approved as a neutral athlete. He swept the sprint backstrokes, using his long reach to get his hand on the wall first ahead of loaded fields in two world junior records. He swam 22.47 in the 50 backstroke, winning by two-hundredths, and won by three-hundredths in the 100 backstroke with a 48.76. He won gold as part of the Neutral Athletes ‘B’ mixed 4×50 and 4×100 medley relays, setting a European record in the former. Then, he capped his meet by leading off the NAB team’s 400 medley relay, which won gold in a world record of 3:18.68.