The swimming competition at the 1979 Mediterranean Games was held in Split, Yugoslavia.
| 100 m freestyle | 51.58 | 51.77 | 51.93 | ||||
| 200 m freestyle | 1:53.58 | 1:53.76 | 1:53.81 | ||||
| 400 m freestyle | 3:58.86 | 4:01.00 | 4:03.08 | ||||
| 1500 m freestyle | 15:50.47 | 15:51.72 | 15:51.74 | ||||
| 100 m backstroke | 59.93 | 1:00.10 | 1:00.28 | ||||
| 200 m backstroke | 2:06.98 | 2:07.35 | 2:08.83 | ||||
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:07.23 | 1:07.41 | 1:07.67 | ||||
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:25.53 | 2:27.08 | 2:29.24 | ||||
| 100 m butterfly | 56.38 | 56.82 | 57.04 | ||||
| 200 m butterfly | 2:04.48 | 2:04.75 | 2:04.95 | ||||
| 400 m medley | 4:35.50 | 4:40.98 | 4:41.36 | ||||
| 4 × 200 m freestyle relay | 7:36.70 | 7:41.51 | 7:52.96 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m medley relay | 3:53.18 | 3:55.19 | 3:57.57 |
| 100 m freestyle | 59.28 | 59.88 | 1:00.17 | ||||
| 200 m freestyle | 2:04.32 | 2:04.96 | 2:06.57 | ||||
| 400 m freestyle | 4:18.94 | 4:22.25 | 4:27.70 | ||||
| 800 m freestyle | 8:51.01 | 9:00.61 | 9:01.01 | ||||
| 100 m backstroke | 1:05.82 | 1:06.30 | 1:06.82 | ||||
| 200 m backstroke | 2:19.80 | 2:24.31 | 2:24.99 | ||||
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:13.85 | 1:14.54 | 1:15.19 | ||||
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:40.95 | 2:41.56 | 2:41.84 | ||||
| 100 m butterfly | 1:02.96 | 1:04.92 | 1:06.29 | ||||
| 200 m butterfly | 2:16.96 | 2:19.20 | 2:19.34 | ||||
| 400 m medley | 5:02.45 | 5:07.70 | 5:11.94 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m freestyle relay | 3:58.89 | 4:00.57 | 4:00.60 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m medley relay | 4:24.19 | 4:24.91 | 4:34.02 |