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 – WOMEN’S 200 FREESTYLE
World Record: 1:52.23 – Ariarne Titmus, Australia (2024) European Record: 1:52.98 – Federica Pellegrini, Italy (2009) Championship Record: 1:54.95 – Charlotte Bonnet, France (2018) 2025 World Champion: Mollie O’Callaghan(AUS), 1:53.48 2024 European Champion: Barbara Seemanova (CZE), 1:55.37The women’s 200 free has cast studded with returning medalists – seven in total – but only one of those has won more than one medal in this event in Czechia’s Barbara Seemanova.
With Australia, Canada, China, and the U.S. leading the way at the global level, there has not been a European medalist at the World Championships or Olympics since Federica Pellegrini won the title at the 2019 World Championships. With the form of three women this season, that looks like it could change over the next couple of years.
The Leading Trio
Freya Colbert has been on an absolute tear in the 200 free over the last couple of years, taking over Freya Anderson’s mantle as Britain’s best hope and inserting herself as a serious contender for this year’s European title. She has dropped seven tenths of a second from the 1:55.06 she clocked at the 2025 World Championships, where she finished 4th, setting a new British record of 1:54.34 at the Aquatics GB Championships in April.
She has not had just one good swim this season either. She has actually set a British record on two occasions, first posting a 1:54.98 for her first swim under 1:55, before slicing six tenths of a second off one month later. She was the top European finisher at last year’s world championships, and looks the favorite so far this season.
She did add time at the Commonwealth Games, placing 4th in 1:55.74. As a whole though the English team there looked a little off the pace, with the optimistic view of that being that they will peak two weeks later in Paris. However, her performance in Glasgow probably knocks her out of favorite status right now.
Her best times have typically come at the big meets though. She has set her 200 free season best in the summer in both of the last two years, and made the individual final at both the 2024 Olympics and 2025 World Championships. She is the only swimmer in this field to have broken 1:55, and that may end up being be enough.
She will have competition from a pair of swimmers on different trajectories. Barbara Seemanova has been one of the more consistent European performers in this event over the past few years, and sits at #2 in the European season rankings with a time of 1:55.99. She is also the #9 swimmer in European history thanks to the 1:55.12 Czech record she posted in May 2024, and has been 1:55-point for three seasons in a row now.
She has made her mark on the international stage during that period. Having been 9th at 2023 worlds, she then won the 2024 European Championships in 1:55.36 before placing 5th in at the Paris Olympics in 1:55.47. She was 5th again at the 2025 World Championships, clocking 1:55.20 to come within a tenth of her best. Something similar to her summer performances in the last two years will be enough for a podium at least in Paris.
The other is an incendiary Marrit Steenbergen, who has a season best of 1:56.02 from the ‘B’ final at the Sette Colli but has a best of 1:55.51 from the 2023 World Championships. She is having an historic season, setting European records in short course in the 100 free, 200 free, 50 back, 100 IM, and 200 IM, and then breaking Sarah Sjostrom‘s long course 100 free record with a 51.68.
Those records had belonged to some big names – Sjostrom for all three freestyle marks, Katinka Hosszu for IMs, Sara Curtis for the 50 back – and Steenbergen seems destined for some more headlines in Paris. However, the long course 200 free has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for her recently.
Since placing 5th in Fukuoka three years ago, her only swim at a major international meet was a 9th-place finish at the 2024 World Championships in a time of 1:57.30. She was solid on the 4×200 free relay in Doha, splitting 1:54.98 in the heats and 1:54.89 in the final, but she seems far more focused on the 100 free nowadays. If she swims, she is a title contender and probably just about has the edge on Seemanova, but an in-form Colbert may be a bridge too far.
Podium Potential
Freya Anderson missed a chunk of last season due to illness, but is well on track in the 200 free so far this year. She placed second at the Aquatics GB Championships in a time of 1:57.00, just over a second off her lifetime best of 1:55.85, and ranks fourth among European women so far this season.
She is on the comeback trail, having missed a chunk of last season through illness and returning as a relay-only swimmer for the World Championships. This will be her first European Championships since winning silver in 2022, in a race she should have won, but this time a podium would be a fantastic result for her. Like Colbert, she added time at the Commonwealth Games, which may put a spot in the final in jeopardy if repeated here.
The Hungarian pair of Nikolett Padar and Lila Minna Abraham, who have both made waves in the NCAA, will be seeking to replicate the form which saw them crowned co-champions at the European U23 Championships last summer. They stopped the clock in 1:56.03, a lifetime best for both swimmers, which is faster than all bar four swimmers in this field.
Neither has been quite as fast so far this season. Padar has been closest with a 1:57.27 at the Fort Lauderdale Speedo Open in May, while Abraham has been just 1:59.07. Padar’s season best is probably good enough to make the final, but Abraham will have some work to do.
A third Hungarian swimmer could make that tricky for her. Up to four swimmers from each nation can swim an event at the European Championships, but only the top two go through to the semi-finals. With that in mind, Panna Ugrai could make both Padar and Abraham swim a little faster than they’d have liked to in the heats. Ugrai set a new lifetime best of 1:57.42 at the Hungarian Championships in April, and will also have one eye on the semi-finals.
Junior Pedigree
Germany returns defending bronze medalist Nicole Maier, who clocked 1:57.36 for bronze two years ago, and with Maya Tobehn (1:57.25), newly minted European Junior champion Linda Roth (1:57.52), and Isabel Gose (1:57.69) they have a quartet of swimmers who have been 1:57-point this season. Gose has the highest ceiling of the four, owning a best of 1:56.66 from 2024, and none of the other three have broken 1:57 before. At least one German, possibly Tobehn given her breakout this season having never before cracked 2:00, should make the final, but challenging for the podium looks one step too far right now.
Italy’s Alessandra Mao may be just 15 years old, but is already a serious force in this event. She took bronze at the World Junior Championships last summer in 1:57.00, showing some stunning closing speed with a 29.33 final 50, and has looked solid so far this season with a 1:57.24 at the Sette Colli last month.
She recently broke Federica Pellegrini’s age group record in the 100 free with a 54.28 as she won the European junior title, and that added speed could go a long way. Her race strategy probably leaves her with just a little too much to do against a field that will get away from her in the first half of the race, but if she’s in the final expect her to pick off at least a couple of swimmers on the final length.
She did fail to make it through the heats at the European Junior Championships in early July as the third-fastest Italian though, with Bianca Nannucci the top Italian swimmer there. Nannucci clocked 1:57.82 at the Italian Championships to beat out Anna Chiara Mascolo (1:58.09) and Simona Quadarella (1:58.23). Any one of those three could make the semi-final, but the final may be a stretch.
Steenbergen’s teammate Imani de Jong lowered her lifetime best to 1:57.79 at Dutch Trials, over a second faster than her former best of 1:58.85 from 2023. She placed 10th at this meet four years ago, and a similar performance this year seems likely.
Maria Daza Garcia was the silver medalist in the 200 free at the 2025 European Junior Championships with a time of 1:58.97, and has a wealth of experience despite being just 18 years old. She has attended two world championships, making the 200 free semi finals in Doha two years ago and swimming in the mixed 4×100 free relay final last summer as well as being part of the 4×200 free relay at the Paris Olympics. She has hacked time off this season, dropping from 1:58.81 to 1:57.15, and already has a short course European final on her resume this season.
SwimSwam’s Picks
Place Name Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Marrit Steenbergen NED 1:56.02 1:55.51 2 Barbara Seemanova CZE 1:55.99 1:55.12 3 Freya Colbert GBR 1:54.34 1:54.34 4 Nikolett Padar HUN 1:57.27 1:56.03 5 Alessandra Mao ITA 1:57.24 1:57.00 6 Isabel Gose GER 1:57.69 1:56.66 7 Maria Daza Garcia ESP 1:57.15 1:57.15 8 Maya Tobehn GER 1:57.25 1:57.25Dark Horse – Francisca Soares Martins (POR)
Soares Martins placed 4th at the 2025 World University Games in 1:57.85, which set a new Portuguese record and was a lifetime best by nearly a second. She has been 1:59.30 this season, but will need to be right on her best to have any chance of making it into the top eight and trying to win her second European medal, having won 400 free bronze two years ago.
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