The four-day open water swimming programme at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 came to a close on the River Seine on Saturday, with Italy claiming the overall team trophy for the most successful nation across the Championships, while Germany brought the curtain down on the individual and relay action by winning the 4x1500m mixed team relay.
Having racked up medals across the 10km, 5km and 3km knockout sprint events over the previous three days, Italy’s tally of golds, silvers and bronzes from a host of different swimmers was enough to see them be named the best team of the week, thanks to a strength in depth of a squad that produced podium finishes in almost every race on offer in Paris. It capped a superb week for the Italians, even as they were pipped to the final gold medal of the Championships by perhaps their closest rivals.
That last event, the mixed 4x1500m team relay, brought the open water programme to a close in fitting fashion, with Germany, Italy and Hungary locked together for the majority of the race before the reigning world champions held on to win by the narrowest of margins.
Julia Ackermann got Germany’s campaign underway before handing over to Isabel Gose, who had claimed the 3km knockout sprint title 24 hours earlier, to then hand the responsibility to Oliver Klemet who moved the team into the lead on the third leg. It was left to Florian Wellbrock, already the owner of two individual gold medals from the week, to bring it home, and he did so in style, touching in a time of 1:03:39.2 to seal the win.
Italy pushed the Germans all the way. Barbara Pozzobon and Ginevra Taddeucci, the latter then a three-time medallist across the week, kept Italy in touch through the opening two legs, with Taddeucci actually leading at the halfway stage.
Marcello Guidi slipped to third on the penultimate leg before seven-time European open water swimming champion Gregorio Paltrinieri produced a strong anchor swim, but it was not quite enough to reel in Wellbrock and Italy had to settle for silver, just 2.0 seconds adrift.
Hungary completed the podium in 1:03:42.4, with Bettina Fabian, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem – the latter two both individual medallists earlier in the week – finishing 3.1 seconds off the winning time, with France in fourth.
For Germany, the relay victory rounded off a dominant week in the water, topping the medal table courtesy of Wellbrock’s brace of individual titles and Gose’s own knockout sprint success.
“Yes, of course. It was a great performance by the German team to get top of the medal table,” said Wellbrock. “For me personally, three golds and the final event, we took the gold again. As a defending world champion, we are the European champion now. And yeah, I’m really proud of my team.”
Klemet, who swam the third leg to put Germany into the lead, praised the strength in depth that has underpinned the team’s success throughout the week, including a debutant Ackermann on the anchor of the women’s legs.
“I think we always have a really good team and we always want to win the race,” he said. “And even if you get some new members, with Julia, they are always ready to step up. She did a really good race. It was her first race at senior level. And I think that’s what relays are there for, to step up their game. And that’s why we won.”
Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem, who helped close out Hungary for the bronze medal, were candid in their assessments of the race.
“Everyone focused on his or her own task, the girls managed to make the a large enough gap to secure the medal by the halfway mark. From that point our task was to go for the best possible position, now we ended up third,” said Rasovszky.
“We came first a couple of times, second a couple of times, but what really matters that this relay has always made the podium at the majors since 2021, we had nine medals from as many worlds and Europeans which shows the strength of our team.”
“I’m sorry that I could only finish third among the top three this time,” Betlehem said.
“I doubled down and wanted to go for the gold, to catch up Flo (Wellbrock), but after yesterday’s knockout race I ran out of gas completely during the last leg, this cost us the silver. Still, we have a medal, as usual, and I’m proud of the team.”
While Germany’s victory in the relay brought a successful individual programme to a close in style, it was Italy who left Paris with the overall bragging rights.
Germany topped the final open water swimming medal table. Their four golds, courtesy of Wellbrock’s individual two-piece and the mixed relay triumph, were enough to see them finish top of the standings with a solitary bronze rounding out their tally of five medals overall.
Italy and Hungary finished level on seven medals apiece, with Italy’s two golds, one silver and four bronzes putting them ahead of Hungary’s one gold, five silvers and one bronze on the head-to-head gold count, leaving the two nations close together at the top of the total medals standings. France completed the table with a single silver and bronze from the week’s action. In total, 21 medals were awarded across the seven open water events in Paris.
The attention of the senior open water community now turns to Alghero, Sardinia, where the 2027 edition of the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships will be held at the end of May.
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Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
