By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
2026 European Swimming Championships
August 10-16, 2026 Paris, France – Olympic Aquatics Centre LCM (50 Meters) Meet Information Meet Central Entries Results Live Results SwimSwam Preview Index Live Stream Recaps: Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5| Day 6 | Day 7We saw some stunningly fast swims and some earth-shattering performances at the European Championships last week, with a sizable percentage of the top ten men in swimming all looking at their best in Paris last week.
There were plenty of deserving swimmers who are not mentioned here, but those that are proved that they very much are the best of the best.
Swimmer of the Meet: Johannes Liebmann – Germany
Not the star that Paris expected, but one of the many it deserved and got. Liebmann came in as one of the best distance freestylers in history, and left having delivered distance freestyle’s most earth-shattering swim since Grant Hackett 25 years ago.
It is a struggle to explain just how good his 1500 free swim was. He went out far too hard, nearly three seconds under world record pace by the 500 meter mark. We have seen swimmers do just that and then crumble.
But Liebmann did not. Staggeringly, he just kept going, splitting metronomic 58-lows for the next 900 meters and then still having enough left for the fastest final 100 in the field.
He touched in 14:26.79, a time so incredulously fast that even he couldn’t quite believe it at the finish. A swimmer who does two kicks off each wall, at a time when almost no-one does any at all, became the first man in history under 14:30 and it wasn’t even close.
His 800 free earlier in the week was a European record of 7:37.59, itself a fantastic swim where he stalked Zalan Sarkany and Sven Schwarz to 500 then left them trailing in his wake, the apprentice schooling the masters. But the 1500 alone may have landed him here. The two combined? Among a field of some of the very best male swimmers in the world, they make this award fully deserved for the 19-year-old from Eckernförde.
Honorable Mentions:
Leon Marchand (FRA) – “Marchand, Marchand”. That’s how the French national anthem goes, right? After this week, maybe it should. Leon Marchand couldn’t swim three of his four best events here, including the two he holds the world record in, which for pretty much everybody in recorded history would make this competition something of a write-off. He swam the 200 fly and won gold by more than two seconds, an event he probably expected to win given he is the #2 performer in history, but the 400 free looked a far longer shot. He never really looked troubled during that final though, just doing what he normally does – getting out in front and deciding to stay there as he won gold in 3:43.14. Oh, and he dropped a 49.64 100 fly on the men’s medley relay that was faster than anything Maxime Grousset, the #3 swimmer in history, swam this week, and ranks Marchand #5 all-time, ahead of Michael Phelps, Ilya Kharun, and Chad le Clos. There was a 1:43.76 200 free in there somewhere as well that felt shocking at the time, but with hindsight seems like something we should have expected. The swimming schedule has been extended to nine days for the LA Olympics, but you know what? Double it and let Marchand enter everything. He proved this week that he could. Hubert Kos (HUN) – Two individual gold medals, two more finals where he set a PB, and some incredible swims all made Kos a strong contender for this award. His 200 back semi-final would possibly have been the swim of the week if it were not for Liebmann’s 1500 free world record, and the 200 IM final showcased his lethal fly/back speed. He broke Laszlo Cseh’s supersuited Hungarian record by a second in that race, and with a slightly reduced schedule could have maybe added another medal or two. If the 100 back had been on a different day to the 200 IM he would surely have won that given the form he showed in the 200. David Popovici (ROU) – Two gold medals here, but the Romanian didn’t stun in the same way he has in past seasons. The 100 free was a masterclass, as he posted the #3 swim in history, and moved through the rounds in 47.13, 46.72, and 46.56, but the 200 was over a second slower than he went two years ago. He was still 1:44.15 and showed masterful race management, however, and has now done the 100/200 free double at three European Championships in a row. He remains the man to beat in those events at both the world and European level.Breakout Swimmer of the Meet: Tomas Navikonis – Lithuania
Navikonis came into this meet with lifetime bests of 48.37 in the 100 free and 1:46.90 in the 200 free. Both were solid semi-finals times for a Championships like these, marking out a swimmer who would make it through but never particularly close to making the final.
The first signs that he may play more of a role than that came on the men’s 4×200 free relay. He split 1:45.64 in the heats, then 1:45.45 in the final as Lithuania reset their national record on both occasions. They did not quite manage to defend their title from 2024, but they dropped four and a half seconds and were seriously competitive in a high-quality field.
He was just off his best in the 100 free heats. He shattered it in the semi-finals, notching a new national record of 47.91 as he progressed 6th into the final. Another drop, down to 47.75, saw him place 8th there.
And so onto the 200. This is the better of his two events, the one in which he placed 4th at the 2026 NCAA championships in his final meet at Ohio State. He set a new best in the heats. He set another new best in the semi-finals. And then, out of lane 1, he dropped another second to win silver in 1:44.55.
Navikonis was not on anyone’s radar coming into this meet, and ended up making two individual finals and winning his first international medal. That is a phenomenal return.
Honorable Mentions:
Jack Kelly (IRL) – Kelly broke an Irish record in December, shortly after switching allegiance, but the Texas-based swimmer was levels above in Paris. He dropped eight tenths of a second in the 100 breast, going from 59.72 to 59.27, then 58.90. Repeating that in the final would have tied him for bronze, and would have only just missed the podium at the World Championships last summer. However, the 59 second barrier is a big one – him being under it is a big deal, especially for a swimmer who hadn’t broken 1:00 before the start of the season. Miroslav Knedla (CZE) –Knedla’s 50 back victory was a huge shock, with the Neutral Athlete pair of Kolesnikov and Samusenko seemingly nailed on for gold and silver. The Czech swimmer, who is a world junior champion and European junior champion in the event, dropped three tenths to move into the top ten in history, breaking out of the 24-mid range that many swimmers seem to remain stuck in. He sliced two seconds off his 200 back PB to just miss the final in 1:56.26, and probably has a big 100 back swim in him next season – he was two seconds off his PB in the heats, which came the morning after his 50 back title. There may be a relation between the two. Zalan Sarkany (HUN) – Sarkany was on fire in the NCAA for Indiana this season, and fully translated that to long course last week. Two Hungarian records – by 2.67 seconds in the 800 free and 1.46 seconds in the 1500 – came as he dropped multiple seconds in both events, and he was the #2 distance freestyler behind Johannes Liebmann this week. He will go into next season with an expectation of making both finals at a home World Championships, and maybe even a podium. Nikita Sheremet (UKR) – The world junior record holder may not be a true breakout contender, but there is such a difference between juniors and seniors in this event that his transformation is noteworthy. He dropped half a second from his best in Paris, clocking a 21.13 that makes him the #7 swimmer in history, and beat the heavy pre-meet favorite. If he can back this up next year in Budapest, Cam McEvoy could have a race on his hands. Hugo Gonzalez (ESP) – Gonzalez was already a 200 back world champion from 2024 and made the final in that event here, but his 200 IM performance had a patented shock factor and was a mind-boggling swim from the Spaniard. He may have finished second behind Hubert Kos, but dropping from 1:56.31 to 1:54.44 in one season, let alone one swim, is something that no one, not Kos, Marchand, Casas, or anyone else, has ever done before and was completely unexpected. The World Championship final next year should be something special.Junior Swimmer Of The Meet: Luca Hoek Le Guenedal – Spain
Luca Hoek Le Guenedal won the 100 free at the European Junior Championships last summer and defended his title this year, both in 48-low swims. Last week, he was on a completely different level and is going to be a serious threat in the event over the next couple of years.
He shattered his Spanish record of 47.72 in the 100 free semi-finals in 47.26, then placed 4th in the final in 47.39. That makes him the second-fastest junior in history, behind only David Popovici, and three tenths ahead of the likes of Hwang Sunwoo and Kyle Chalmers.
He was just as good, if not even better, on the relays. He posted leadoff legs of 47.47 and 47.56 and rolling splits of 47.37, 47.10, and then 46.85 on the men’s medley relay. The latter is the #2 junior 100 free split in history, after Kyle Chalmers’ 46.72 from the 2016 Olympic Games.
There are exactly three meets in history where Le Guenedal would have missed the podium in the 100 free with either his 47.26 from the semi-final or his 47.39 from the final – the 2009 World Championships, the 2025 World Championships, and this meet.
He is the best junior sprint freestyler since David Popovici – in fact, he is the best junior sprint freestyler other than David Popovici – and was fantastic all week here. Spain have a real gem on their hands.
Honorable Mentions:
Christian Giefing (AUT) – Giefing finished 4th at the European Junior Championships last month and finished 4th again at the senior meet, but broke 1:45 and set a new Austrian record in the meantime. Navigating three rounds of the 200 free is a tough task, but Giefing did it with aplomb and, if anything, dispatched his semi-final like a wily old veteran. Three swims under 1:45.50, including a 1:44.96 in the heats and a 1:45.14 in the final, make him one of the top junior swimmers in history in the event. Sauveur Cristofini (FRA) – Two ninth-place finishes were a little heartbreaking, but 16-year-old Cristofini came away from a home championship with a silver medal and two huge lifetime bests. He split 1:45.28 on third leg of the men’s 4×200 free, France’s fastest rolling split and third-fastest in the entire field, playing a key part in placing second, and set French junior records in the 200 free (1:45.74) and 400 free (3:46.98). The most exciting aspect was just how composed every one of his swims was – he is going to be very, very good. Nathan Muratory (FRA) – Muratory didn’t make it through to the final, but the presence of four elite Frenchmen in the men’s 200 back heats resulted in some rapid swims. Chief among those, as both the fastest of the four and a new world junior record, was Muratory’s 1:54.87, a full-second drop from his previous best of 1:55.88. He swam that to win gold in a dominant victory at the European Junior Championships last month, and was two and a half seconds faster here than the 1:57.31 he swam in March, slicing a quarter of a second off Kliment Kolesnikov’s eight-year-old former junior mark. Oliver Papai (HUN) – Papai had to wait almost a whole week until his swim, but once day 7 rolled around he performed. He matched the Hungarian 400 free record of 3:45.32 in prelims, hacking 2.50 seconds off his best, then lowered it by a second with a 3:44.46 in the final as he stormed home on the final 100 to move from 6th to win silver. He is still just 16 years old, and does not turn 17 until the end of the year. Ian Thorpe is the only 16-year-old in history to have been faster. Mikhail Shcherbakov (NAB) – A world junior record and a bronze medal in the 200 IM was a great way to round off the meet for Shcherbakov, who added the world junior record to the world junior and European junior titles he currently holds. He dropped nearly a second to clock 1:56.16, moving into the top ten on the European all-time lists, and added a silver medal with his heats swim on the men’s 4×100 free relay.Swims Of The Meet
Johannes Liebmann, Men’s 1500 Free Final – This was the swim of the meet, in a competition littered with stunning performances. Liebmann went out fast, breaking first Oliver Klemet then Zalan Sarkany, and just didn’t stop. He was 2.85 seconds under world record pace at 500, 4.38 seconds under at 1000, and finished 3.88 seconds under. By halfway the race was Liebmann against the clock, and Liebmann never let it become much of a race. Great 1500 freestylers have come and gone, but rarely are they this far ahead of anyone else this early on in their career or do they look quite so composed. Hubert Kos, Men’s 200 Backstroke Semi-Final – Kos decided to go for it in the semi-final, rocketing out to a 53.64 opening 100 that would have made the 100 back semi-finals later in the week. With 50 to go he was a second under world record pace – the world record that no one had been within a second of since the race it was set – and despite having to dodge Steinways falling from the ceiling he still posted the second-fastest swim in history. Watching this swim is the only real way to do it justice. Leon Marchand, Men’s 4×200 Free Relay (Leadoff) – Leon Marchand split 1:44.89 at the 2023 World Championships, and was half a second faster with a 1:44.34 anchor leg last year. But in both races he had shot out and paid for it on the second half, so it wasn’t clear what he would do on a tapered, flat start 200 free. It is now. Marchand broke several world-class freestylers on the opening 150, including 2023 world champion Matt Richards and 400 free world record holder Lukas Martens, and finished in a 1:43.76 that ranks him 6th all-time. As a reminder, this is the same man who set the Olympic record in the 200 breast two years ago. Kristof Milak, Men’s 100 Fly Final –Kristof Milak showed that he was in good form with a blistering 100 free the night before, but this was an even better swim. Maxime Grousset went out in 22.97, a ridiculous opening 50, but Milak showed his strength on the second 50 to pull ahead and set a new European record of 49.48, just 0.03 seconds off the world record. He reminded the world of his level here, and my word, that level is high.Races Of The Meet
Men’s 100 Free Final – This was billed as a showdown between David Popovici and Egor Kornev, but Kristof Milak hacked six tenths of a second off his best to make this a three-horse race. Kornev shot out in 22.06, three tenths ahead of Popovici, and at the 75 it looked like he may hang on for victory. Milak stuck with the pair out of lane 1, but as they came into the final ten meters it was Popovici who turned on the jets and pulled away to get the touch, two tenths ahead of Kornev and three tenths ahead of Milak, in the first-ever sub-47 second podium. Men’s 4×100 Free Relay Final – This was a great race throughout – seriously, go watch it – but it all came to the anchor leg. Kristof Milak vs Egor Kornev. Individual bronze against individual silver. The 200 fly world record holder against the #3 100 free performer in history. It lived up to its billing, with Milak splitting 46.29 to Kornev’s 46.32, coming back from a tenth down with 50 to go to win Hungary’s first-ever European title in this relay. Men’s 4×200 Free Relay Final – Leon Marchand’s ridiculous leadoff leg and Great Britain’s failure to be at their best turned this race into an enthralling contest. Marchand led by over a second and a half after his leg, and no one ever truly broke away in a back-and-forth as we saw the top five teams finish within two seconds of each other. Men’s 4×100 Medley Relay Final– after the women’s race just before saw three teams finish within three tenths of a second, the men’s had four teams finish within half a second. There were some phenomenal splits, the lead changed hands multiple times, and there was the glorious sight of all four anchor legs going in near-simultaneously. Men’s 200 IM Final – Hubert Kos won a title people had expected him to win, but Hugo Gonzalez made that look decidedly uncertain down the final 25 meters. Kos went out like a man that had forgotten that the race was four lengths instead of two, but Gonzalez was clearly in second the whole way through the opening 100, closed the gap on breaststroke, and very, very nearly ran the Hungarian down as both moved into the top six all-time.Breakout Nation: Lithuania
Two top-five performances on relays, two individual finals, and one individual medal make this a fantastic meet for Lithuania. They won gold in the men’s 800 free four years ago, but were four and a half seconds faster here in 7:03.53 to place 5th in a very competitive field, and finished just off the podium in the mixed 4×200 freestyle as well.
Tomas Navikonis is the breakout swimmer of the meet, but there were solid swims from Danas Rapsys, Aleksas Savickas, and Andreas Sidlauskas too. They have themselves a relay to focus on on the world stage, and with European junior silver medalist Tajus Juska still developing despite a 1:45.30 split they should be back in the final again in Budapest next year.
Honorable Mentions:
Croatia – Croatia, who finished 4th in the men’s 4×100 free relay at the last European Championships behind a podium of Serbia, Poland, and Greece, won bronze this year ahead of nations such as Great Britain, Spain, and Germany. They shattered their national record in 3:11.08 and their quartet, all of whom finished in the top 30 in the individual 100 free, stepped up in a huge way. Jere Hribar was 5th in the individual 100 free as he hacked half a second off his national record in 47.42, and Filip Mujan made the 200 breast semi-finals.The James Guy Award For Services To Relays That Really Shouldn’t Have Won That Race, And For Breaking 1:45 In The 200 Free In Your 30s
After a search that some say lasted as long as 60 seconds, there only appears to be one contender for this award. Guy was clutch on the men’s 4×200 free relay again for Great Britain, and it would be fair to say that without his 1:44.07 split they don’t win this relay.
He proved the difference maker yet again there for Great Britain, and then in the 200 free final came the swim everyone had been hoping for – his first 1:44. He has been chasing that for 11 years.
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