2026 European Championships Previews: Steenbergen Dominates Women’s 100 Free Field ...Middle East

By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam

2026 European Aquatics Championships

By The Numbers: Women’s 100 Freestyle

Coming into 2026, two women had been under 52 seconds in the women’s 100 freestyle. With the biggest meets of the year still to come, that number has more than doubled with three women cracking that barrier over the last four months.

While the event is exploding worldwide, in Europe, Marrit Steenbergen stands alone.

The Favorite

Marrit Steenbergen is the reigning champion from the 2022 European Championships and the reigning world champion, and she has been exceptional this season.

In May, she set a personal best time at the Mare Nostrum Tour in Monaco of 52.13, taking a tenth off her pre-season best of 52.26.

Just a few days later, she broke 52 seconds for the first time, swimming 51.86 to set the 2nd fastest time in history at the Mare Nostrum stop. She went on to break 52 seconds two more times during the tour.

In June, she broke the world record in the event at the Sette Colli Trophy swimming 51.68 to take three hundredths off Sarah Sjostrom’s 2017 World Record time of 51.71.

She has been under 52 seconds four times this year, more than anyone else in history, and it would be a major upset for anyone else to earn the title.

The Potential Medalists

After Steenbergen, there is a chasm in European freestylers about a second wide this season. Italy’s Sara Curtis is the next ranked swimmer this season with the Italian Record 52.69 she swam at the Sette Colli Trophy, right next to Steenbergen’s world record swim.

Curtis is coming off a very strong season where she broke the European Record in the 50 backstroke in June and had an exceptional freshman year NCAA season which saw her finish 3rd in the 100 freestyle at the NCAA Championships. Curtis is training at the University of Virginia, the home of Anna Moesch and Kate Douglass, who are the other two swimmers to break 52 seconds this season. While a seven tenth drop to become the 6th woman in history under 52 would be significant, Curtis could have more in the tank to drop and will be challenging for the 2nd place position.

Behind Curtis are a few athletes in the 53 second range who are all potential contenders for medals. Russia’s Daria Klepikova comes in at 53.45, which she swam at the Russian Championships in June. Her lifetime best is 52.98 from the World Championships last summer, and her 53.45 is three hundredths faster than the 53.48 she had swum by this time last year.

Milou van Wijk, also from the Netherlands, comes in at 53.63, which she swam at the Dutch European Trials to finish behind Steenbergen. She has a faster lifetime best than Klepikova at 52.91, which she also swam at the World Championships.

Beryl Gastaldello has not swum very many meets this season, and is coming in with a season best time of 54.05, which she swam in January. Last summer, however, she set a lifetime best in the event of 53.30 to finish 6th at the World Championships. It seems like it will take a 52 to medal, but she could earn her way onto the podium. She also recently picked up a silver medal at the 2025 European SC Championships, finishing just two tenths behind Steenbergen.

It feels odd to mention the former world record holder and reigning Olympic gold medalist this late in the article, but Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom deserves at least an acknowledgement. It doesn’t seem especially likely that she will swim the event next week, as she hasn’t raced it since coming back from giving birth to her son 11 months ago, focusing more on the 50 free and 50 fly. If she does race the event, though, she is always a medal threat.

Other Contenders

Great Britain’s Eva Okaro and Italy’s Emma Virginia Menicucci are tied with season bests of 53.75. This is Okaro’s lifetime best, but Menicucci has been 53.44, which she set in March of last year.

Okaro is coming off a strong performance at the SC European Championships, which saw her finish 4th in 51.63, which could signal an incoming strong performance in the event this week.

Behind them, Russia’s Alexandra Kuznetsova (53.80), Czechia’s Barbora Janickova (53.90), Belgium’s Florine Gaspard (53.91), France’s Marie Wattel (53.96), and Great Britain’s Evelyn Davis (53.99) are the final athletes who have been under 53 seconds this season.

Wattel has the fastest lifetime best of that group, coming in at 53.12, which she swam at the Tokyo Olympics, but the 53.96 is the fastest she has been in the last two years.

Gaspard swam 53.71 at the World Championships in Singapore to qualify 6th to the semifinal. She went on to finish 11th in the semifinal, stopping the clock in 53.87.

Czechia’s Barbora Seemanova is another potential finalist/medalist with the right performance. She finished 10th in the event at last year’s World Championships at 53.72, but she has a lifetime best of 53.50 from June of 2024. She has not been under 54 seconds this season, coming in at 54.36, which she swam at the Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum.

The Predictions

Steenbergen is the obvious choice for the top spot as the world record holder and the only swimmer under 52 seconds this season.

Behind her, Italy’s Curtis seems to be a safe bet for the silver medal, especially when considering the 100 freestyle performances we have seen from her training partners over the last month.

There is a pack of athletes after Curtis who could take over the bronze medal. Klepikova and Van Wijk seem to have the edge, but it is truly a toss up between the two over who will finish higher. Klepikova was faster than van Wijk through the first two rounds of the event at the World Championships but van Wijk earned the edge in the actual event final.

Dark Horse: Nina Holt (GER) – Germany’s Holt has been under 54 before, coming in with a lifetime best of 53.81 from April of 2025. She has only been under 54 seconds three times, and the swims were less than a week apart with her lifetime best coming just six days before she swam 53.96 in prelims and 53.90 in finals at the German Championships. She has a few swims in the low 54 range, but her season best comes in at 54.38 from April. She had a strong performance at the SC European Championships, and if she can repeat that, she could earn her way into the final.

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