European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards 2025: Bettina Fabian voted best women’s open water swimmer
Hungary’s Bettina Fabian has been named the women’s open water swimming winner at the 2025 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards after topping a highly competitive five-athlete shortlist.
Fabian secured 30.51% of the total vote, emerging ahead of Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci, who finished second with 28.69%, following a season that marked a clear breakthrough at both world and European level.
The 2025 campaign represented a significant step forward for Fabian, particularly in the newly introduced knockout sprint formats that have reshaped the open water landscape.
At the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, she claimed joint bronze in the 3km knockout sprint and added a further bronze medal in the team event, underlining her growing consistency on the biggest stages as she also grew to become one of the big names on the already illustrious Hungarian team.
Her success was even more pronounced at continental level. Fabian reached the top of the podium twice at the European Aquatics Championships, winning gold in the 3km knockout sprint and gold in the team event, confirming her status as one of the leading specialists in the shorter open water formats, and making the most of the recent addition of both of those events to the programnme.
While longer distances have traditionally been the cornerstone of open water success, Fabian’s 2025 results highlighted how adaptability and tactical sharpness are now equally decisive. The 21-year-old’s ability to capitalise on the evolving programme proved central to her award-winning year.
Runner-up Taddeucci was once again among the most prolific performers of the season, earning four silver medals at the World Aquatics Championships across the 3km knockout sprint, 5km, 10km and team event.
She added the European 5km title, team and 10km silver medals, and capped her year by winning the overall World Aquatics Open Water Cup series, finishing narrowly behind Fabian in the voting.
Third place went to Lisa Pou of Monaco. Pou enjoyed a landmark season highlighted by world bronze in the 10km and overall victory in the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup, reflecting both championship quality and series consistency in a year where she established herself as a one to watch going forwards.
Hungary’s Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas finished fourth, following a season that included world team bronze, European gold in the 10km and team event, and European silver in the 5km, marking her emergence as a force over longer distances.
Her performance at those European Championships in Stari Grad shocked the field, and she will undoubtedly look to improve on those already impressive performances in 2026.
Rounding out the shortlist was Klaudia Tarasiewicz of Poland, who earned her place on the shortlist after a dominant year on the cup circuit, winning three legs of the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup and concluding the season with victory at the final leg of the World Aquatics Open Water Cup.
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
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