Germany’s Florian Wellbrock and Hungary’s Bettina Fabian, who between them collected five medals across the open water swimming programme at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, received their awards on 7 August during the knockout sprint medal ceremony for being voted European Aquatics men’s and women’s open water swimmers of 2025.
Wellbrock finished his Championships with three gold medals, while Fabian closed hers out with a silver and a bronze. The presentations were made in-front of the Eiffel Tower as the medal ceremony took place.
Wellbrock claimed 48.67% of the vote in the 2025 Athlete of the Year Awards to finish well clear of a field stacked with Olympic and world medallists, honoured for a near-perfect campaign in which he swept all three men’s individual events at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore – the 5km, 10km and 3km knockout sprint – before anchoring Germany’s quartet to gold in the mixed team relay.
That dominance carried the vote even though he had opted not to defend his crown at the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships in Stari Grad the previous year. Runner-up in the vote, David Betlehem of Hungary, who polled 21.44%, had enjoyed his own breakthrough season, taking 3km knockout sprint silver and team bronze in Singapore before adding European silver in the 5km and a further bronze in the knockout sprint.
Fabian’s award recognised a 2025 season in which the 21-year-old established herself as one of the sharpest short-distance specialists in the sport, topping a competitive five-strong shortlist with 30.51% of the vote. Joint bronze in the 3km knockout sprint and a further bronze in the team event at the World Championships in Singapore, allied to a brace of European titles at Stari Grad, showed how the expanded knockout sprint formats have reshaped the demands of the discipline.
She had edged out Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci in the vote, who collected 28.69% after a prolific year that brought four World Championship silvers and the overall World Aquatics Open Water Cup title.
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
