2026 in prospect: open water swimming

After a compelling 2025 season that reinforced Europe’s authority in open water swimming, the discipline moves into 2026 firing on all cylinders.

The past year confirmed two consistent themes: in the men’s races, margins remain slim amongst Europe’s elite, with a number of athletes in with a shout of continental glory in 2026; in the women’s field, depth continues to expand, with established champions now pressed by a confident generation of contenders.

With the return of the continental showpiece at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris from August 4 to 8 August, and another Open Water Swimming Cup programme, the coming season offers both continuity and opportunity. The calendar is compact but strategically balanced, rewarding athletes capable of sustaining form across varied conditions.

The men’s discipline in 2025 illustrated how European leadership is shared rather than concentrated.

Germany’s Florian Wellbrock remains the reference point in championship racing thanks to a quadruple of gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky has proven repeatedly that he thrives in structured championship formats, as he did at the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships Stari Grad 2025, while compatriot David Betlehem has matured into a consistent medal winner..

Italy’s endurance tradition endures through figures such as Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza, whose capacity to shift pace mid-race keeps them central to any competition. Medal successes throughout the year can also come from the likes of Marc-Antoine Olivier, Logan Fontaine (both France), and Andrea Filadelli (Italy), amongst several others – emphasising the continent’s strength in depth.

In 2026 the key question will be who translates that depth into continental supremacy in Paris. Championship racing carries a different psychological weight from World Cup legs, and the intense schedule in the French capital will ensure that those who rise to the top are deserving of their rewards.

The Paris course will provide the clearest measure yet of how established Olympic medallists compare with a cohort determined to accelerate generational change.

For Europe’s women, 2025 was characterised by sustained excellence at the top and increasing volatility beneath it.

After The Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal retired at the end of 2024, and Germany’s Leonie Beck took a hiatus from the sport, Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci, Hungary’s Bettina Fabian and Monaco’s Lisa Pou led the European charge at world level as the athletes continued to narrow the gap at major meets.

Meanwhile Spain’s María de Valdes and Paula Otero, Germany’s Lea Boy and Hungary’s Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas have demonstrated that tactical patience can yield decisive rewards in championship finals at continental level. Any one of those will be an unsurprising feature on the podium in Paris.

Behind them, a growing cluster of European athletes have begun to treat podium finishes not as distant ambitions but as realistic objectives. With the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup providing a number of opportunities for that, fans will have a number of competitions to look forward to.

The campaign begins on April 18 with Open Water Swimming Cup Leg 1 in Protaras, an early benchmark that will immediately test winter preparation. The junior pathway then takes centre stage from July 23 to 26 July at the Junior Open Water Swimming Championships in Sukoro, reinforcing a development structure that now feeds directly into senior success.

Together, the junior championships, the Paris showcase and the Cup circuit create a coherent competitive framework that European open water swimming has refined year by year.

With this year not featuring a World Championships, only the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup provides global competition, with stops in Egypt, Ibiza, Golfo Aranci and Setubal, along with a World Junior Championships in Santa Fe. All of the above provide ample opportunities for athletes to showcase their preparations for a blockbuster year of open water swimming.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics

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