Leonie Beck and Florian Wellbrock claimed a German double as they were named top open water swimmers of the year in the 2023 European Aquatics Awards.

Both were clear winners in their respective categories with Beck claiming 35.59% of the total vote among the women and Wellbrock 35.54% in the men.

It was Beck’s first Athlete of the Year award and a second for Wellbrock following his honour in 2021 when he claimed the Olympic title in Tokyo.

Beck was heavily favoured by the federations with 40% of the vote and gained over 25% of the public backing to become only the second German woman to win the award and the first since Angela Maurer back in 2009.

It followed a superb year for Beck who won the 5k and 10k double at the World Championships in Fukuoka, booking her spot for Paris 2024 with victory in the longer race.

The 2022 European 10k champion followed that up with overall victory in the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup series, ahead of Sharon van Rouwendaal.

The race for second was a close-run thing where the public vote was pivotal.

Bettina Fabian gleaned 13% of the federations’ backing but the Hungarian claimed a huge 40.7% of the public vote to finish second with 21.31%.

Fabian was the overall winner of the LEN Open Water Cup and claimed top-10 finishes in the 5k and 10k in Fukuoka.

She also led off the Hungary quartet that were second in the team event.

Van Rouwendaal – winner of five Awards – enjoyed 25% of the federations’ backing and close to 9% of the public support.

That secured the two-time Olympic medallist 20.14% of the vote.

Ginevra Taddeuci of Italy (19.42) and Germany’s Lea Boy (4.21) were fourth and fifth respectively in the standings.

Wellbrock also swept the 5/10k double in Fukuoka to clinch his Olympic spot where he will seek to defend his title in the River Seine.

It brought to six the number of open water medals he has claimed at World Championships with five of them gold.

The five-time European medallist is set to compete in both the open water and pool programme in the French capital.

Gregorio Paltrinieri was awarded 29% of the federations’ vote and 20.2% of the public backing to finish second with 26.36%, a year after winning the 2022 Award.

The Tokyo bronze medallist swam the final leg as Italy won the team event in Fukuoka and finished second behind Wellbrock in the 5k.

Like his Hungary teammate Fabian, Kristof Rasovszky secured a large portion of the public backing with more than 38% of the vote.

He got 19% of the federations’ vote to finish in third with 24.76% overall.

Rasovszky was second in the 10k in Fukuoka to clinch a berth at Paris 2024 where he’ll look to upgrade his Tokyo silver.

The double European champion also won silver in the team event and claimed the overall men’s title at the Open Water Swimming World Cup.

Marcello Guidi (11%) and Domenico Acerenza (2.51%) were fourth and fifth respectively.