Will Marchand march on after injury?

Leon Marchand is the central poster boy for the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026. A French sporting icon after winning four golds at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

But he pulled out of the French Championships at the end of June after straining his right adductor during the 200m breaststroke heats.

Before the injury occurred at the national event in Saint-Etienne the 24-year-old from Toulouse had qualified for the 400m individual medley in 4:04.56, the fifth fastest performance in history.

The French federation said Marchand would be free to add further events so long as he had already met the qualifying standard in them at an approved meet within the past year.

But in a recent interview with L’Equipe, Marchand confirmed that he reaggravated the injury during training three weeks after the French Championships and that he was uncertain how it would affect him for competition at Euros, particularly in terms of breaststroke.

“Regarding my injury, I’ve had a bit of a rough time, to be honest,” he said.

The injury has ruled out Marchand competing in the 200m breaststroke, an event in which he is the reigning Olympic champion and second-fastest performer in history. The 400m IM is also in doubt.

But Marchand is expected to contest the 200m butterfly – in which he is also Olympic champion – and the 400m freestyle, a new field for exploration.

Will Grousset be able to put his left foot forward?

Similar questions obtain for another of the French poster stars, Maxime Grousset.

Last year Grousset won world 50m and 100m butterfly titles, each time beating Switzerland’s Noe Ponti into second place, and their prospective re-match in Paris has been one of the most strongly anticipated features of the Championships.

But Grousset’s participation has been thrown into doubt since he broke a bone in his left foot early in June. Asked about his prospects during the D-15 press conference held at the Eiffel Tower on July 15 he responded cautiously:

“My foot is OK. It’s not 100 per cent repaired. My shoulder is OK. My arms too. But my legs – I don’t have a good preparation with my kick under the water, with my start.

“So it’s complicated to say I will be good in Paris but I will do the best I can.”

Sjostrom the mum making swift return to the top

Sweden’s three-times Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom returned to the sport in April this year at the age of 32 after giving birth to son Adrian in August 2025.

Despite missing 20 months of training she is already back in contention to add to her current total of 28 European long course medals, which include 17 golds.

Sjostrom clocked 23.86 for the women’s 50m freestyle at the Sette Colli International in Rome at the end of June, finishing second to Gretchen Walsh, who swam 23.55 to take 0.40 off the world record set by fellow American Kate Douglass nine days earlier.

The encouraging fact for the Swede was that she was only 0.25 adrift of the world record of 23.61 she set in 2023. To make the podium in Paris would be a remarkable achievement.

Ramsay-Peaty back but still not content

Adam Ramsay-Peaty is another multiple Olympic and world champion making a return to the sport this year and hoping to get among the European Aquatics Championships medals.

Having been away from long course competition between the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Edinburgh International in March this year, the Briton is now ranked fourth-fastest European in the 50m breaststroke and third fastest in the 100m breaststroke thanks to his 26.64 and 58.97 clockings at the Aquatics GB Championships in April.

But at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow the 31-year-old’s his ambitions took a dent as he was clearly dissatisfied with bronze in each event as he clocked 26.94 and 59.65. Which Ramsay-Peaty will turn up in Paris?

Romania’s Popovici set to power on in 200m freestyle

Romania’s Paris 2024 200m freestyle champion David Popovici tops this year’s world rankings for that event with the 1:44.48 he clocked at the Sette Colli meeting in Rome on June 28.

The 21-year-old from Bucharest looks odds-on to win a third consecutive European title in this event.

But he will not be able to relax given the quality of the rest of a field which will include Britain’s Matt Richards, who finished just 0.02 behind him in the Paris 2024 final and is second fastest European this year on 1:44.77.

Also in contention will be James Guy, who has combined with Richards in world and Olympic 4x200m freestyle victories, Italy’s Carlos D’Ambrosio and Germany’s Lukas Martens.

World and European records in danger

A number of world and European records could be in for a rattling – or even a battering – in Paris.

Most obviously the women’s 100m freestyle, where Marrit Steenbergen of The Netherlands set a world record of 51.68 at the Sette Colli International in Rome, surpassing the mark of 51.71 set by Sweden’s Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom at the 2017 World Championships.

There has been discussion too about the prospects of Great Britain’s world and Olympic 4x200m champions having a serious go at the world record of 6:58.55 set by the United States at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.

New wave of young talent in Paris

Some of the world’s finest young swimmers are heading for the Olympic Aquatic Centre next week.

Sara Curtis of Italy, John Shortt of Ireland, Jonas Liebmann of Germany and Martine Damborg of Denmark share an age – 19 – and enormous talent.

Curtis emerged from junior competition last year as she won seven medals, including three golds, at the European Aquatics Indoor Championships in Lublin, setting a European short course record  in the 50m backstroke, albeit one that was swiftly broken.

In June she set a European long course record at the Sette Colli International in Rome as she clocked 27.07 for the women’s 50m backstroke, taking 0.03 off the European mark set in 2021 by Kira Touissant of The Netherlands.

Last year Shortt won European junior 100m backstroke gold before doing the 100/200m backstroke double at the World Junior Championships and then earning his first senior international championship medal when he won EA Indoor Championship gold in the 200m backstroke in Lublin in a world junior, national and Championship record.

Liebmann lowered the European men’s 800m freestyle record to 7:37.94 in April at the Malmsten Swim Open in Stockholm.

A four-times medallist at the 2024 European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Vilnius, he set three world junior records – one at 400m, two over 800m – at last December’s EA Short Course Championships in Lublin, where he finished fourth in the 800m final.

He will seek his first senior European long-course medal in Paris as part of a strong German distance swimming team.

Damborg, who turned 19 on May 7, finished 2025 by becoming Denmark’s first gold medallist at the European Aquatics Short Course Championships since 2013 as she won the 50m and 100m butterfly titles in Lublin.

Earlier in a year where she set four European junior records she had earned 50m and 100m butterfly gold at the EA Junior Swimming Championships in Samorin and world junior 50m butterfly bronze at Otopeni.

Also look out for Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki. Only 18, he won the 100/200m breaststroke double at last year’s European and world junior championships.

Nowacki made history for Jersey last month in earning their first Commonwealth swimming medal, silver in the 100m breaststroke, before becoming their first Commonwealth swimming champion when he won the 200m breaststroke.

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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics