Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was named FINA’s Female Swimmer of the Year over Katie Ledecky for a second straight year on Sunday.
In 2015, Ledecky became the first man or woman to sweep the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyles at a World Championships in August. She also broke the 800m and 1500m free world records. The women’s 1500m free is not part of the Olympic program.
Hosszu swept the 200m and 400m individual medleys at Worlds, breaking the 200m IM world record.
The Hungarian also cleaned up on the FINA World Cup circuit throughout the year, while Ledecky swam zero World Cup events. That’s the reason why Hosszu earned Swimmer of the Year over Ledecky, if FINA went by this criteria published on its website.
Ledecky did win the award in 2013 and earned the female Performance of the Year for 2015.
Australia’s Mitch Larkin took the men’s award after sweeping the 100m and 200m backstrokes at Worlds and breaking the short-course 200m back world record. He’s the first Australian male or female swimmer to win the award, which debuted in 2010.
Missy Franklin earned the women’s award for 2011 and 2012. Ryan Lochte has won the men’s award three times and Michael Phelps once.
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