By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2026 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 100 Breaststroke
World Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2019) European Record: 56.88 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2019) Championship Record: 57.10 – Adam Peaty, Great Britain (2018) 2025 World Champion: Qin Haiyang, China – 58.23 2024 European Champion: Melvin Imoudu, Germany – 58.84In years past, we’ve looked to British champion Adam Peaty as the ‘North Star’ when it comes to the men’s 100m breaststroke, as the storied Englishman reigned with history-making times, including the seemingly untouchable current 56.88 World Record and Olympic gold medal-worthy efforts of 57.13 from 2016 and 57.37 from 2020.
However, since the Paris Olympic Games, we’ve been seeking one dominant European athlete to establish the new gold standard. Several contenders have notched new PBs and national records, giving us a pool of potential stars ready to potentially break out this month in Paris.
Italian Masters of the Al Dente Glide
The duo of reigning Italian Championships gold medalist Simone Cerasuolo and reigning Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi provide a potentially powerful 1-2 punch in the men’s 100m breaststroke this year.
23-year-old Cerasuolo ripped a big-time personal best of 58.82 to take the title in Riccione this past April, with his time ranking him 4th in the world and the #1 European swimmer of the season.
He entered that domestic competition with a stellar history as a solid 50m breaststroker, having been a former World Junior Record holder in short course and winning gold at the Singapore World Championships last summer. However, he had been a rung below that level in the 100, owning a best of 59.54 and having qualified for just one major long course final prior to Riccione.
His 58.82 PB checked him in as the 3rd-best Italian in history, and the 26th-fastest performer of all time worldwide.
Cerasuolo finished 6th out of the 1breast heats at the 2022 European Championships but was denied the next round due to the two-per-country rule, with Martinenghi and Federico Poggio claiming faster times. That means the man is hungry to put his stamp on the competition in a big way this month in Paris.
But 27-year-old Martinenghi is absolutely in the mix for gold, despite having missed this year’s Italian Championships with a shoulder injury.
Martinenghi’s season-best may only rest at the 59.79 he logged earlier this year; however, he owns a hefty resume when it comes to this event.
It took just 59.03 for the Italian to win gold at the 2024 Olympic Games but before that he earned bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in a speedy mark of 58.33, a result he lowered to 58.26 en route to claiming the 2022 European Championships gold medal. That rendered him the 7th-best performer of all time.
As long as Martinenghi’s shoulder is back to full strength, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be fighting for the gold when the finalists come roaring to the wall.
The Russians Return
The European Championships hold special significance for the Russian swimmers, who are going to be competing under their national flag and colors rather than under the Neutral Athlete designation for the first time in more than four years.
Ready to make the most of the opportunity will be Ivan Kozhakin, the 28-year-old veteran who ranks among the top Europeans this season, courtesy of a lifetime best he clocked in April.
Kozhakin entered 2026 with a career-swiftest performance of 59.04 from the 2023 Russian Championships but has managed to clear the 59-second barrier twice this season.
He first punched a rapid 58.91 in St. Petersburg before nearly matching the same result at 58.93 in Kazan two months later to represent just one of three swimmers to dip under the threshold this season. The question is whether those performances were flukes, or if he’s ready to notch sub-59-second performances on the regular from now on.
Not terribly far behind is Kirill Prigoda, the 30-year-old veteran and 2017 World Championships bronze medalist in this race, along with being the 6th-fastest European man in history.
Prigoda put up a time of 59.30 this past June but has been as fast as 58.53 in his career, an outing he produced in the prelims at last year’s World Championships to establish the still-remaining Russian national record. There in Singapore, he was ultimately disqualified in the final, giving the Olympian extra incentive to obtain redemption and earn an individual title in Paris.
British Breaststroking Legacy Looking to Continue
There is no denying that aforementioned British icon Peaty is synonymous with breaststroke, owning an astonishing 32 international medals in the discipline, including two individual 100m breaststroke Olympic gold medals.
Peaty owns the World Record with the lifetime best of 56.88 he put on the books at the 2019 World Championships, a benchmark others, including his future self, have been trying to beat ever since.
After those golds in 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo, Peaty settled for silver in the 1breast event at the 2024 Games in Paris. The Brit then took time off from competing at major championships in order to tend to his mental and physical wellbeing before coming back to the racing scene.
This year at the Aquatics GB Championships, Peaty seemingly proved he was returning to form, hitting a season-best of 58.97 in his first sub-59-second performance since the semi-finals in Paris.
However, some may say he faltered at the Commonwealth Games, finishing in just 59.65 for the bronze behind winner Sam Williamson of Australia (59.17) and teammate Filip Nowacki (59.34). That leaves a question mark over Peaty’s head as to which version of himself we’ll see in Paris.
He gave an emotional interview after the race where the Brit explained he felt he’d been putting in the work and was disappointed and bewildered with how it didn’t translate into the Glasgow pool.
World Junior Championships multi-gold medalist Nowacki is continuing to grow into the role of heir apparent to the British breaststroking crown, coming into Paris as the Commonwealth Games silver medalist and GBR’s 4th-fastest performer ever in the 100m sprint.
Thus far, however, Nowacki has been arguably more impressive in the 200m distance, with his having yet to clear the 59-second barrier in the shorter race.
He owns a PB of 59.20 from Otopeni, but is still young at just 18, an age at which time drops can sometimes rain down like the famous English weather.
With the Commies just having finished, he has another elite international competition under his belt, which will only give him more confidence stepping onto the blocks against his more seasoned peers.
A Sprinkling of Other Contenders
Melvin Imoudu of Germany is the reigning European Championships gold medalist, having clocked a speedy result of 58.84 to take the title two years ago at the lesser-attended meet in Belgrade.
He was the only competitor of that field to delve into the 58-second territory and that performance remains his sole outing in that zone.
This season, the 27-year-old notched a season-best of 59.33 at April’s German Championships to be positioned as the 13th-best performer in the world at the moment.
If Imoudu can muster the type of performance which made him his nation’s #2 performer ever, he’ll be a threat to the podium, on par with the best in Europe competing in Paris.
Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands, an Olympic bronze medalist in the 200m breast, has been as fast as 59.03 in his career to fall in line with what will most likely at least make the European Championships final. The former University of Texas Longhorn placed 4th in this event at the 2025 World Championships but has yet to get near his time there of 59.06 this season.
Finally, Ludovico Blu Art Viberti is another Italian potentially ready to rumble in Paris. He placed 5th in this event at the 2025 World Championships (59.08) but hit a quicker 58.89 in that semi-final as a new lifetime best. He may be a victim of the two-per-country rule unless he can somehow surpass Cerasuolo and Martinenghi.
SwimSwam Picks
Place Swimmer Nation Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Simone Cerasuolo Italy 58.82 58.82 2 Nicolo Martinenghi Italy 59.79 58.26 3 Adam Ramsay-Peaty Great Britain 58.97 56.88 4 Ivan Kozhakin Russia 58.91 58.91 5 Kirill Prigoda Russia 59.30 58.53 6 Melvin Imoudu Germany 59.33 58.84 7 Filip Nowacki Great Britain 59.34 59.20 8 Caspar Corbeau Netherlands 59.37 59.03Dark Horse: Ilya Shymanovich (BLR)
32-year-old veteran Ilya Shymanovich of Belarus won’t go down quietly, with the Olympian having collected over a dozen international medals in the breaststroke discipline. His lifetime best checks in at a rapid 58.29, although that was put on the books over seven years ago. More recently, he’s been in the range of 59.34 – 1:00.06, casting some doubt as to whether or not he can produce something faster when medals are on the line. But his racing experience works in his favor and we’ll have to see what version of Ilya shows up next week.
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