On a night when the first three swimming finals of the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 were won in Championship records, a tumultuous full house of excited spectators at the Olympic Aquatic Arena were also able to witness a first medal – silver – for France and a first ever European medal Leon Marchand.
Unable to take part in the earlier 400m individual medley due to his lingering hip adductor injury, the four-times Paris 2024 gold medallist swam an inspired opening leg of the concluding men’s 4×200 freestyle – clocking 1:43.76, comfortably the fastest split in the final – to set the home nation up for a podium appearance.
Gold went to the Great Britain quartet which won at last year’s World Championships – Matt Richards, Jack McMillan, James Guy, who clocked 1:44.07 and finally Duncan Scott, who brought them home in a Championship record time of 7:01.52.
France – who had qualified seventh without Marchand in the morning’s heats – clocked a national record of 7:02.23 after Roman Fuchs – with roof-raising encouragement – had overtaken Germany’s Cornelius Jahn over the final 50m, with the Germans taking bronze in 7:02.28.
Marchand’s time made him the sixth fastest performer ever in the event. It was a highly encouraging start to the Championships for him as he looks forward to the men’s 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle..
“I feel really good,” he said. “It felt like my debut, and it was explosive. I feel really sharp.”
Shortly beforehand Great Britain’s women had won the women’s 4x200m freestyle after leading from start to finish, with Freya Anderson bringing things home in a Championship record of 7:45.93.
Hungary’s quartet of Nikolett Padar, Lilla Abraham, Ajna Kesely and Panna Ugrai won the battle with NAB for silver, coming home in 7:49.09, with the NAB earning bronze in 7:49.13.
There was also a Championship record in the first Paris 2026 swimming final as NAB athlete Ilia Borodin won the men’s 400m individual medley title in 4:08.17, bettering the 17-year-old mark of 4:09.59 set by Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.
Matt Richards, who led the British men off in the relay, told European Aquatics: “Any time we walk away from a championships with a gold is always a great result so yeah, great performance from all the boys tonight and a really solid swim and we can walk away with the heads high tonight.
Scott added: “It’s the first time in a long time we’ve won the Europeans, 2018 being the last, so to win it again is pretty good and putting ourselves in these positions is great.
“We probably wanted a little more from ourselves in that one if I’m honest but it’s championship finals stuff so it’s about racing and getting the job done, which we did.”
Jack McMillan added: “It’s great for Great Britain for the women to also win and for the men, we haven’t done this since 2018 so it’s great to put ourselves back in this position and just challenging ourselves and each one of us did our best tonight and gold was the aim which we achieved in front of a great crowd.”
James Guy added: “Tonight was another good result for the women’s and men’s relays which is a great start for the team and we were pretty good there.
“I think we wanted to go quicker individually but most of us are still learning about doubling up after the Commonwealth Games and now the Europeans but this just shows the strength we have.”
Freya Colbert, who led off the British women’s relay quartet, commented:
“”We all knew a massive performance was coming and we know that European record and British record was set by some massive names in our history and so we’ve had our eye on it for a while and to now be really close, it’s really big for us.
Abbie Wood added: “I think this is such a relief as it’s been a really long time coming. We’ve all done the performances individually but on separate days and for us all to have a really good day at the same time is really hard but that’s been four years coming.”
Freya Anderson commented:
“I’ve had a tough time over by last few years and at the Commonwealths too, so to put that performance down was amazing.”In the absence of Marchand, the packed crowd witnessed a closely contested race involving three men who had won this title before.”
Borodin, 23, who won European 400m IM gold in 2021, finished ahead of Italy’s 2022 champion Alberto Razzetti, who claimed silver in 4:10.40, with bronze going to Great Britain’s Max Litchfield in 4:11.58.
The third participant who had won this European title, defending champion Apostolos Papastamos of Greece, finished sixth in 4:14.99.
Borodin, strongest in final breaststroke and freestyle legs, took over the lead in the second half from Litchfield, with Razzetti also moving past the Briton in the second half.
“I feel great, so great because I have done what I’ve done,” Borodin told European Aquatics, before referring to the 2021 win in his last EA Championships appearance: “I’ve worked so hard for this and finally it is ‘back to back’.
“I’m the morning I felt I was too slow but tonight although it is not my personal best I feel good about the result.”
Razzetti commented: “It’s always great to stand on such an important podium and race such a competitive field. This crowd? What else can you ask for? I’m really happy with my result and a silver medal is always a very nice thing to come home with.”
Litchfield added: “It’s really great. Starting the Euros with the 400m IM is a little weird as it’s usually at the other end of the meet, but it’s really nice to kick us off as a team with that medal too.”
Dutch double world champion Marrit Steenbergen, who had set a women’s 100m freestyle Championship record of 52.62, lowered it to 52.44 in reaching tomorrow night’s final, with Italy’s 19-year-old Sara Curtis second fastest in a personal best of 52.93 followed by Daria Klepikova on 53.19.
The packed venue created an ear-buzzing noise for home athlete “Maxime! Maxime” – and Maxime Grousset obliged them by qualifying for tomorrow’s men’s 50m butterfly in style – although not quite in the victorious manner they had anticipated.
There was a faint ripple of disappointment as NAB athlete Egor Kornev touched home first in a Championship record of 22.36, with Grousset second in 22.49, replicating his time in the morning’s heat – just 0.01 off the French record he set in winning world gold last year – in what was his first competitive swim since breaking a bone in his foot in early June.
Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, whom Grousset beat to world 50m and 100m breaststroke gold last summer, was third fastest qualifier having won the first semi-final in 22.53.
Italy’s Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi qualified fastest for tomorrow’s men’s 100m breaststroke final in 58.67, ahead of Ireland’s Texas-based Jack Kelly on 58.90 and multiple world and Olympic champion Adam Ramsay-Peaty, who won the second semi-final in a season’s best of 58.94, one place ahead of 18-year-old fellow Briton Filip Nowacki, who clocked 59.03.
Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan was top qualifier for tomorrow’s women’s 200m backstroke final in 2:07.61 ahead of Portugal’s defending champion Camila Rebelo on 2:08.48.
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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
