By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
European Swimming Championships
August 10-16, 2026 Paris, France — Olympic Aquatics Centre LCM (50 Meters) Meet Information Meet Central SwimSwam Preview IndexBY THE NUMBERS – MEN’S 50 BREASTSTROKE
World Record: 25.95 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2017) European Record: 25.95 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2017) Championship Record: 26.21 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2021) 2025 World Champion: Simone Cerasuolo (ITA), 26.51 2024 European Champion: Kristian Gkolomeev (GRE), 21.72If there is any one event that has the look of an alleyway free-for-all, it is the men’s 50 breast. The field is not just stacked with elite talent, but the margins look vanishingly tight.
Simone Cerasuolo enters as the reigning world champion, clocking 26.54 to defeat Qin Haiyang in Singapore last summer. But joining him are world record holder Adam Ramsay-Peaty, Italian record holder Ludovico Viberti, Dutch record holder Koen de Groot, Russian record holder Ivan Kozhakin, Belarusian record holder Ilya Shymanovich, and – okay, I’ll stop there, you get the picture.
At least one big name is almost certain to fall before the final. Pretty much all of those in the final will have the belief that they can get to the wall first. Regardless of the swimmer that does, the journey there will be tough, fraught with danger, and gloriously entertaining.
World Champions Collide
For the first time in what feels like at least 700 years, but is in fact far longer, Adam Ramsay-Peaty will swim this event at a European Championships and not be the favorite. That title belongs to Italian Simone Cerasuolo, the 2025 world champion and fastest European man in the event this season.
Cerasuolo has been a prodigious talent since his teenage years, breaking the world junior record in the SCM 50 breast and 100 breast in 2021. The sprint has been his preferred distance and he made his first senior international team in this event in 2022, when he finished 5th at the World Championships and won silver at the European Championships in Rome.
He missed the final at the 2023 World Championships, but won European U23 gold the next month. Cerasuolo made another final at the 2024 World Championships, and in April of that year lowered his best to 26.53, at the time ranking him 10th in history.
Last season was his best yet. He won the Italian Championships in a time of 26.59, before lowering his best to 26.42 in the World Championship semi-final. He was slightly slower in the final at 26.54, but touched out Kirill Prigoda and Qin Haiyang for his first world championships medal.
This year he looks even better. He won the 50 breast at the European Short Course Championships, and has posted times of 26.51, 26.63, 26.78 and 26.84. He looks like the favorite, and as the defending world champion will be the man the others in this field will be chasing.
Adam Ramsay-Peaty has never been beaten in the 50 breast or the 100 breast at the European Championships, winning gold in 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021. This year, his streak looks in jeopardy as he comes in as just the fourth-fastest European so far this season and not having broken 26.6 seconds since the 2021 championships. He is the world record holder with a 25.95 from 2017, but has not been the same dominant swimmer since suffering a foot injury in 2022.
He swam his fastest time since 2021 with a 26.64 at the Aquatics GB Championships this April, and has five sub-27 swims this year. He doesn’t quite have the same explosive power that he did in his prime, and his start is still sub-par at an elite international level. It would be a shock to see him miss the final, but in a field full of elite 50 swimmers trying to come from behind doesn’t seem like a winning tactic.
The Commonwealth Games may have been Ramsay-Peaty’s priority as well, and since 2021 the only non-injury interrupted season for him was 2024 when there was no 50 for him to swim in the summer. That makes it difficult to predict if he will drop time or not, but the 50 is probably his weaker event right now, and a podium may be just out of reach. He added time at Commonwealths, winning bronze, but didn’t look in top form.
Russia’s Return
Ivan Kozhakin is the Russian record holder courtesy of a 26.46 from the 2025 Russian Championships, and placed 4th at the 2025 World Championships in 26.73. He has been 26.52 so far this season, and has multiple swims in the 26.7-26.8 range, making him look like a lock for the final. He does seem to have a slight habit of adding time in finals, doing so at the World Championships last year and this year’s Russian Championships, and was a couple of tenths slower at the Sette Colli than in 2025. He may not quite match his personal best or season best, and in a field this tight that could be the difference that makes you miss the podium.
Kozhakin also doesn’t have much international experience. He first broke 28 seconds only four years ago, and last year’s Sette Colli and World Championships were his first major meets abroad. He is coming from a position of strength this season, but could wobble again – with 12 months of international experience under his belt the goal will be to back up his in-season swims.
His teammate Kirill Prigoda has a similar habit of adding time, but did the opposite at last season’s World Championships to take silver out of an outside lane in a time of 26.62. That stands as his lifetime best but he has been within a quarter of a second this season with a 26.85 to win gold at the Russian Championships. Prigoda hasn’t broken 27 seconds outside of that meet this year, and like Kozhakin was a little faster in-season last year with a 26.70. He is more suited to the 100 currently, but should be in the mix for a medal here as well.
Podium Potential
Melvin Imoudu set a new German record at the German Championships at the end of April posting a time of 26.57 that ranks him third among the entrants so far this season. He finished 5th at the 2025 World Championships in 26.74 and is the reigning European champion in the 100 breast, so has plenty of international experience. He has several swims in the 26-high/27-low range this season, and has the nous to make it through the rounds. He dropped time last summer and will be a real threat to finish among the medals.
Emre Sakci set a new Turkish record earlier this year with a 26.71 in May, and is the defending champion after taking gold in 26.92 in Belgrade two years ago. He is yet to really make his mark at a major long course tournament outside of that meet however, failing to make any other finals. He has broken 27 seconds on seven occasions, but with his habit of adding time in the summer he would be a slightly surprising finalist.
Ilya Shymanovich is the fourth fastest swimmer in history in a time of 26.28, but he clocked that back in 2023 and has only been 26.86 so far this season. He has struggled at major long course meets though, placing 10th at the 2025 World Championships, and doesn’t have too much recent international experience due to Belarus’ ban for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.He did post a time of 26.37 last season, but ended up adding time in the summer. Doing so again would leave him well out of the final.
Jack Kelly is another national record holder who probably finds himself on the outside looking in. He notched a new Irish standard of 26.84 at the Irish Championships in April, having broken 27 seconds for the first time in the heats, but hasn’t been under 27.2 on any other occasions. He should make the semi-finals, but anything beyond that would be a bonus.
Koen de Groot lowered his own Dutch national record at the Dutch Championships, shaving 0.03 seconds off to clock 26.68. He is coming off a strong NCAA season with Florida, in which he placed
He is probably a little bit behind some of the others in this field for pure pace and doesn’t have either the experience of personal bests that they do, but he placed 7th in the World Championships’ final last year and is very much a 50 swimmer – he has only broken 1:00.00 in the 100 breast once. He will be fully focused on this event, so watch for him to threaten the podium.
Final Spots In Their Sights
In addition to Cerasuolo, there are another two Italians who rank in the all-time top ten. Ludovico Viberti is the third-fastest man in history after he clocked 26.27 at the 2025 Sette Colli, but did not make the Italian team in the event for the 2025 World Championships after placing 3rd at the Italian Championships. He did place 5th in the 100 breast in Singapore, but this will be his first European Championships.
He has been about half a second slower this year, placing 2nd at the Sette Colli in 26.69, which stands as his season best. While he is yet to race at the European Championships, he has made an Olympic final and a World Championships final in the last 24 months in the 100 breast. He will need to make it through the gauntlet of the heats, as he is in a fight with Cerasuolo and Nicolo Martinenghi for the two semi-final spots available to Italian swimmers, which could affect his tactics through the rounds. He probably is ahead of Martinenghi right now, especially with the 2024 Olympic champion’s recent injury, and if he makes it to the semi-finals he should win his first individual international medal.
Martinenghi has not been in the same form in the 50 as in the 100 recently. He won the 2022 European title in 26.33, which still stands as his personal best, but has been trending slower in the seasons since and is yet to break 27 seconds this season. His season best stands at the 27.07 he posted at the Sette Colli, and he missed the final at the World Championships last season with a 27.03 for 13th in the semi-finals. He had been 26.86 heading into that meet, and was 26.65 the season before. Out of the three elite Italians in this event – who rank 3rd (Viberti), 6th (Martinenghi) and 9th (Cerasuolo) all-time, he is probably the one to miss out on the semi-finals at this meet.
World junior record holder Jan-Malte Grafe posted 26.95 in the heats at the World Junior Championships last summer, but added slightly to take silver in 26.99 in the final. He was 6th at the European Short Course Championships, and has been 27.19 already this season, nearly a second faster than he was in-season last year.
Filip Nowacki was 4th in that world junior final in 27.18, but has sliced a few hundredths off this season to rank 10th among European men in 27.10. He is better in the longer events, but could be a semi-finalist here as well. If he is making the final in the 50, he is probably doing something scary in the 200.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place Name Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Simone Cerasuolo ITA 26.42 26.42 2 Melvin Imoudu GER 26.57 26.57 3 Ivan Kozhakin RUS 26.52 26.46 4 Ludovico Viberti ITA 26.69 26.27 5 Kirill Prigoda RUS 26.85 26.62 6 Koen de Groot NED 26.68 26.68 7 Adam Ramsay-Peaty GBR 26.64 25.95 8 Jack Kelly IRL 26.84 26.84Dark Horse – Nusrat Allahverdi (TUR)
Finishing ahead of Grafe and Nowacki at the World Junior Championships last year, Allahverdi ended last season as the world and European junior champion. His lifetime best stands at 26.98, and he has already posted times of 27.18 and 27.20 this season. He dropped from 27.33 to 26.98 last summer, and will have just the one major meet to focus on this year rather than three. He should be a semi-finalist, but he could be even more.
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