# World Aquatics Athletes of the Year

The World Aquatics Athletes of the Year (formerly FINA Athletes of the Year) is a set of awards presented by World Aquatics (International Swimming Federation) and the FINA Aquatics World Magazine. Each recognises excellence in five categories of aquatic sports: swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo and open water swimming. The award was inaugurated in 2010.

## Swimming

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2010 | Therese Alshammar | Sweden | Ryan Lochte | United States |
| 2011 | Missy Franklin | United States | Ryan Lochte (2) | United States |
| 2012 | Missy Franklin (2) | United States | Michael Phelps | United States |
| 2013 | Katie Ledecky | United States | Ryan Lochte (3) | United States |
| 2014 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | Chad le Clos | South Africa |
| 2015 | Katinka Hosszú (2) | Hungary | Mitch Larkin | Australia |
| 2016 | Katinka Hosszú (3) | Hungary | Michael Phelps (2) | United States |
| 2017 | Sarah Sjöström | Sweden | Caeleb Dressel | United States |
| 2018 | Katinka Hosszú (4) | Hungary | Chad le Clos (2) | South Africa |
| 2019 | Sarah Sjöström (2) | Sweden | Caeleb Dressel (2) | United States |
| 2021 | Emma McKeon | Australia | Caeleb Dressel (3) | United States |
| 2022 | Katie Ledecky (2) | United States | David Popovici | Romania |
| 2023 | Kaylee McKeown | Australia | Qin Haiyang | China |
| 2024 | Summer McIntosh | Canada | Léon Marchand | France |

### Best swimming performance

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2015 | Katie Ledecky | United States | Adam Peaty | United Kingdom |
| 2016 | Katie Ledecky (2) | United States | Adam Peaty (2) | United Kingdom |

## Water polo

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Armstrong | United States | Filip Filipović | Serbia |
| 2010 | Elizabeth Armstrong | United States | Vanja Udovičić | Serbia |
| 2011 | Alexandra Asimaki | Greece | Filip Filipović | Serbia |
| 2012 | Maggie Steffens | United States | Josip Pavić | Croatia |
| 2013 | Jennifer Pareja | Spain | Dénes Varga | Hungary |
| 2014 | Maggie Steffens (2) | United States | Filip Filipović | Serbia |
| Year | Female team winner | Female team winner | Male team winner | Male team winner |
| 2015 | United States | United States | Serbia | Serbia |
| 2016 | United States (2) | United States (2) | Serbia (2) | Serbia (2) |
| 2017 | United States (3) | United States (3) | Croatia | Croatia |
| 2018 | United States (4) | United States (4) | Hungary | Hungary |
| 2019 | United States (5) |- | United States (5) |- | Francesco Di Fulvio | Italy |
| 2020 | | | Dušan Mandić | Serbia |
| 2021 | Maggie Steffens (3) | United States | Filip Filipović | Serbia |
| 2022 | Maddie Musselman | United States | Felipe Perrone | Spain |
| 2023 | Brigitte Sleeking | Netherlands | Gergő Zalánki | Hungary |
| 2024 | Beatriz Ortiz | Spain | Dušan Mandić (2) | Serbia |

## Diving

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2010 | Chen Ruolin | China | Patrick Hausding | Germany |
| 2011 | Wu Minxia | China | Qiu Bo | China |
| 2012 | Wu Minxia (2) | China | Ilya Zakharov | Russia |
| 2013 | He Zi | China | He Chong | China |
| 2014 | Liu Huixia | China | Cao Yuan | China |
| 2015 | Shi Tingmao | China | He Chao | China |
| 2016 | Shi Tingmao (2) | China | Chen Aisen | China |
| 2017 | Shi Tingmao (3) | China | Thomas Daley | United Kingdom |
| 2018 | Shi Tingmao (4) | China | Cao Yuan (2) | China |
| 2019 | Shi Tingmao (5) | China | Xie Siyi | China |
| 2021 | Shi Tingmao (6) | China | Xie Siyi (2) | China |
| 2022 | Chen Yiwen | China | Wang Zongyuan | China |
| 2023 | Chen Yiwen (2) | China | Cassiel Rousseau | Australia |

## High diving

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2013 | Cesilie Carlton | United States | Orlando Duque | Colombia |
| 2014 | Rachelle Simpson | United States | Orlando Duque (2) | Colombia |
| 2015 | Rachelle Simpson (2) | United States | Gary Hunt | United Kingdom |
| 2016 | Lysanne Richard | Canada | Gary Hunt (2) | United Kingdom |
| 2017 | Rhiannan Iffland | Australia | Steven LoBue | United States |
| 2018 | Rhiannan Iffland (2) | Australia | Gary Hunt (3) | United Kingdom |
| 2019 | Rhiannan Iffland (3) | Australia | Gary Hunt (4) | United Kingdom |
| 2021 | Ellie Smart | United States | Owen Weymouth | United Kingdom |
| 2022 | Rhiannan Iffland (4) | Australia | Aidan Heslop | United Kingdom |

## Artistic swimming

| Year | Winner | Nationality |
| 2010 | Natalia Ishchenko | Russia |
| 2011 | Natalia Ishchenko (2) Svetlana Romashina | Russia Russia |
| 2012 | Natalia Ishchenko (3) | Russia |
| 2013 | Svetlana Romashina (2) | Russia |
| 2014 | Huang Xuechen | China |
| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2015 | Svetlana Romashina (3) | Russia | Aleksandr Maltsev Bill May | Russia United States |
| 2016 | Natalia Ishchenko (4) Svetlana Romashina (4) | Russia Russia | | |
| 2017 | Svetlana Kolesnichenko | Russia | Giorgio Minisini Aleksandr Maltsev (2) | Italy Russia |
| 2018 | Yelyzaveta Yakhno | Ukraine | Giorgio Minisini (2) | Italy |
| 2019 | Svetlana Romashina (5) Svetlana Kolesnichenko (2) | Russia Russia | Aleksandr Maltsev (3) | Russia |
| 2021 | Svetlana Romashina (6) Svetlana Kolesnichenko (3) | Russia Russia | Aleksandr Maltsev (4) | Russia |
| 2022 | Yukiko Inui | Japan | Giorgio Minisini (3) | Italy |

## Open water swimming

| Year | Female winner | Nationality | Male winner | Nationality |
| 2010 | Ana Marcela Cunha | Brazil | Valerio Cleri | Italy |
| 2011 | Keri-Anne Payne | United Kingdom | Thomas Lurz | Germany |
| 2012 | Éva Risztov | Hungary | Oussama Mellouli | Tunisia |
| 2013 | Poliana Okimoto | Brazil | Thomas Lurz (2) | Germany |
| 2014 | Ana Marcela Cunha (2) | Brazil | Allan do Carmo | Brazil |
| 2015 | Ana Marcela Cunha (3) | Brazil | Jordan Wilimovsky | United States |
| 2016 | Sharon van Rouwendaal | Netherlands | Ferry Weertman | Netherlands |
| 2017 | Ana Marcela Cunha (4) | Brazil | Marc-Antoine Olivier | France |
| 2018 | Ana Marcela Cunha (5) | Brazil | Ferry Weertman (2) | Netherlands |
| 2019 | Ana Marcela Cunha (6) | Brazil | Kristóf Rasovszky | Hungary |
| 2021 | Ana Marcela Cunha (7) | Brazil | Florian Wellbrock | Germany |
| 2022 | Ana Marcela Cunha (8) | Brazil | Gregorio Paltrinieri | Italy |