Best Free! characters

894 duels later, Rin Matsuoka is still #1 in the Free! favorite swimmer ranking, with Nagisa Hazuki close behind at 1331 ELO points.

The top of the ranking reveals a razor-thin battle: just 1 ELO point separates Rin Matsuoka at 1332 from Nagisa Hazuki at 1331. Both swimmers have competed in 19 duels each, yet Nagisa claims a 74% win rate compared to Rin's 63%, making the narrow gap all the more striking. The sharpest drop appears further down, where an 85-point chasm divides Nagisa Hazuki from Haruka Nanase in third place at 1246 ELO. Despite Haruka's status as the series protagonist, he sits behind both Rin and Nagisa with a 50% win rate across 22 duels, suggesting fans favor their more dynamic personalities over stoic dedication. Makoto Tachibana holds fourth at 1215, while Sosuke Yamazaki rounds out the top 5 at 1139. At the bottom, Rei Ryugazaki trails at 971 ELO with a 13% win rate across 16 duels, indicating the community reserves its enthusiasm for the core cast established from the show's opening episodes.

This ranking draws from 894 duels submitted by 91 players across 6 contenders, last updated on 11 October 2026. Whether you champion Rin's fierce rivalry, Nagisa's infectious energy, or another swimmer's style, cast your vote and shape where these characters stand. Every duel shifts the ELO standings and reveals which Free! swimmer truly commands the fanbase.

Updated on October 11, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →