European Aquatics hosts third successful Athlete Media Webinar
European Aquatics hosted its latest Media Webinar for Athletes on Friday 1 May 2026, bringing together some of the sport’s top names for a practical session on media skills, personal branding, and social media strategy.
The online event, held as part of the organisation’s Strategic Plan 2024–2030 and on the European Aquatics Academy platform, was split into four parts, and began with an introduction from Antonio Silva, President of European Aquatics, who highlighted the importance of education as a force for good and a responsibility of the organisation.
Nick Davies, Communications Director for European Aquatics, then opened the content of procedings by explaining how the webinar fits into European Aquatics’ wider plans, making the point that an athlete’s public image doesn’t just reflect on them personally, and that it helps promote the sport as a whole.
Nick Hope, a veteran broadcaster and aquatics presenter, was the host of the event and took athletes through the basics of handling media. He made the case for why athletes should embrace interviews rather than avoid them, and emphasised that they gave them a chance to talk about what they care about, and help fans connect with them on a more personal level. Sponsorships and brand opportunities were cited as some of the main reasons for growing an athlete’s profile.
Hope also gave insight into best practice for interviews and making the most of an athlete’s time in the spotlight, which included a reference to Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen – who was dubbed “the muffin man” after his social media posts regarding the Paris 2024 Olympic village chocolate muffins went viral.
The webinar then moved onto how to improve an athlete’s social media presence, which was led by Andreas Georgiou, Head of Digital Content at European Aquatics, and Lily Csonka, known online as “The Swimfluencer”. They spoke about an athlete’s social media presence being a real asset for both the individual and the sport, pointing to an issue where content only tends to reach people already inside the environment – stunting growth. They revealed that the way to break out of the cycle is to let people see the person behind the athlete, not just the performances.
TikTok and Instagram Reels were flagged as essential tools, with Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen and European champion Emma Garcia taking part in the discussions as examples of people who have found their own voice online. They gave insights into how they have used the tools at their disposal to make their hard work in the pool translate into numbers on their insights.
The session closed with a short Q&A session, which gave the dozens in attendance a chance to speak directly with the athletes and experts. With the series now in its third edition and already looking ahead to future events, European Aquatics continues to provide athletes with valuable skills and tools as they move through their careers.
“This was the third European Aquatics athlete media seminar I’ve hosted and I’m consistently impressed by how much the team is able to continue enhancing the standard of the offering, event-after-event,” said Hope following the webinar.
“Regular contributors, like Emma Garcia and Andreas Georgiou, delivered fascinating new insights, while newcomers Daniel Wiffen and ‘swimfluencer’ Lily provided fresh impetous by explaining their visions, as well as inspirations, when it comes to content creation. It was also great to receive questions from some of the young athletes who were in attendance and I look forward to hopefully building on this in future EA Academy events.”
A link to re-watch the webinar will appear here.
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
The post European Aquatics hosts third successful Athlete Media Webinar first appeared on European Aquatics®.