Paris 2026: Men’s diving preview
At last year’s European Aquatics Diving Championships in Antalya Oleksii Sereda earned victory in the 10m platform, mixed team and 10m synchro in partnership with the then 15-year-old Mark Hrytsenko. Sereda, who at 13 became the youngest European diving champion when he won the 10m title at the 2019 home Championships in Kyiv, now has 11 European medals – eight of them gold. And he will be expecting more in Paris. Since winning his third European 10m platform title Sereda – still only 20 – has earned world silver and a fourth continental gold in this event looks very likely. He will face the respective 2025 silver and bronze medallists, Ole Rosler of Germany and Austria’s Anton Knoll. But he will also have to take on new European rivals this time in the form of Great Britain’s Paris 2024 bronze medallist Noah Williams and Neutral Athlete B Ruslan Ternovoi, European 10m platform bronze medallist in 2019. Ternovoi won world silver last year in the 10m synchro with Nikita Shleikher and they will form a strong challenge to the Ukrainian pairing. Germany’s Moritz Wesemann won 1m springboard gold and 3m bronze in Antalya, He goes again in both and will also defend the 3m synchro title he won with Timo Barthel. Luis Avila Sanchez partnered Lena Hentschel to deprive Italy’s soon-to-be world champions Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro of the mixed 3m synchro title by just 0.02 of a point. Sanchez and Hentschel will defend their title. While Santoro will team up Pellacani again he has targets in individual competition where he is entered in the 1m and 3m springboard. His colleague Lorenzo Marsaglia will also challenge strongly in the 1m, where he won silver last year, as well as competing in the 3m synchro alongside Giovanni Tocci, with whom he finished second in Antalya. Poland’s Andrzej Rzeszutek will defend the 3m title he won on the final day of last year’s Championships. Meanwhile Ukraine’s Danylo Konovalov will seek to match or better his 1m bronze from last year. While Pellacani and Santoro look favourites for the mixed 3m synchro, Great Britain look capable of dominating the other synchro events given the concentration of talent they are fielding. On the men’s side they have Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher, who won Olympic and then world bronze in the 3m synchro. The hosts, back in the running for European honours, will look to the man who won European 3m springboard gold at the 2024 Championships in Belgrade, Gwendal Bisch, to achieve further success. They will also be hoping for a medal from the 2024 3m synchro champions Jules Bouyer and Alexis Jandard, who will be seeking to regain their title. Diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will take place from July 31 to August 6. Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results. Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Paris 2026: Women’s diving preview
Italy’s Chiara Pellacani will compete at Paris 2026 seeking – with amply justified confidence – to add to her total of 19 European diving medals. Still only 23, Pellacani was voted European Aquatics’ female diver of 2025 after her blaze of glory at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, where she earned 1m and 3m bronze – her first individual world medals – and combined with Matteo Santoro to win the 3m mixed synchro. Earlier in the year she won her first European 1m springboard title in Antalya. But Pellacani’s path to the top step of the podium will not be simple given the presence of the Swiss athlete who won European 3m gold last year, Michelle Heimberg. Heimberg, who took six months off to re-assess her life after narrowly missing qualification for Paris 2024, returned with added momentum in Antalya, where she also secured 1m springboard bronze. Her impending contests with Pellacani promise to be among the highlights of Paris 2026. Other strong contenders include Armenia’s Alexandra Bibikina, 3m silver medallist at Antalya 2025, Sweden’s Elna Widerstrom, the 2024 European 1m champion who won silver last time round, and Germany’s 3m bronze medallist of last year Lena Hentschel. Great Britain will also challenge strongly for Also in the mix for women’s springboard medals. Paris 2024 bronze medallist in the 3m synchro, Yasmin Harper goes in the 3m and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, a Paris 2024 bronze medallist in the 10m synchro, who returned to competition this season after a year off and who will compete in the 1m springboard. Meanwhile Desharne Bent-Ashmeil, who won 3m gold at the 2024 Europeans, will challenge in both the 1m and 3m. Not present in Antalya but making their return here will be the presence of Neutral Athletes B – which will add an intriguing new dimension to competition. They will be represented in the 3m by Nadezhda Trifonova, this year’s European junior silver medallist and 3m synchro gold medallist, who will turn18 on August 1. Italy’s Sarah Jodoin Di Maria will defend her 10m platform title from the 2025 silver and bronze medallists, Pauline Pfeif of Germany and Dutch diver Else Praasterink. Lois Toulson, who partnered Spendolini-Sirieix at the last Olympics, will be a strong medal contender, as will her team-mate Maisie Bond. Spain will be looking for success through Ana Carvajal, who also be defending the 10m synchro title with Valeria Antolino. It will be interesting to see how 16-year-old NAB Aleksandra Kedrina steps up to senior level after retaining her European junior 10m title this year. She and Anna Konanykhina will also be strong contenders in the 10m syncho having placed second at last year’s Diving Super cup and having won this year’s European junior title. Ukraine meanwhile will be hoping for further success from Kseniia Bochuk and Diana Karnafel, 2024 world junior champions in the 3m synchro, who won European junior 3m synchro silver in 2025 and then senior European gold in Antalya. Diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will take place from July 31 to August 6. Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results. Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Paris 2026: Olympic Aquatic Centre set for “another historic moment” with start of European Aquatics Championships
Two years after the Olympic Aquatic Centre hosted Paris 2024 competition the vice-president of the French Swimming Federation, Lazreg Benelhadj, is anticipating another “historic moment” when the European Aquatics Championships start at the same venue tomorrow. Speaking at a press conference within the Centre attended by world and Olympic medallists and leading officials including the European Aquatics secretary general Noam Zwi, Benelhadj announced: “We have worked towards these Championships since the Olympics were completed in 2024. “Today we are one day away from another historic moment. All is ready and this beautiful centre is ready too. “We welcomed the world for the Paris 2024 Games. Now we are ready to welcome Europe. “We are proud to share this moment with you. “Tomorrow we will write history together.” Zwi thanked the organising committee, volunteers and sponsors for their “huge work” in preparing for the impending Championships. “Just two years ago this magnificent centre hosted the Olympc Games. Now we are about to compete in the same place. The Olympic legacy means creating opportunities and inspiring the next generation. “At these Championships we will be able to feature five events at the same time – swimming, diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming and high diving. This will be a real showcase of all our talents. “This year we are especially proud to reach an important milestone because for the first time in these Championships we will be including para-swimming. We believe our sport is strongest when it is inclusive and open to all. “Alongside the Championships we will be hosting the Swim Safe Conference, bringing together experts and educators in a mission to enable more children to develop life-saving water skills. “We will also start the celebration of our Centenary next year starting with the launch at a Gala dinner in the Champs Elysees on August 8.” Italian diver Chiara Pellacani, who will defend her 1m springboard title here, reflected on the positive experience she had had in this Centre while competing at the Paris 2024 Games. “Coming here after two years feels amazing because I had some of the best memories here in this pool,” said the athlete voted as European Aquatics female diver of 2025 after winning two individual world bronze medals and earning world gold in the 3m synchro with Matteo Santoro. “I had such a great time during the Olympics, so I have positive feelings about being here. “I love the pool, the boards are amazing so I am very excited to be here to compete. “Our goal is definitely to get the 3m synchro title back! We had an amazing season last year so we are excited. And I’m looking forward to all my other events. “I will have my parents and a few friends here to watch me. I remember at the Olympics it was very important for me to have them here with me and they will be back to watch me dive. I enjoy it so much when I can share all this with them.” Pellacani’s team mate Lucrezia Ruggiero, who has won three European gold medals in artistic swimming, told European Aquatics: “I love Paris. My first time here was for the Olympics so for sure the city has a magical place in my heart. “I’m happy to be here again because for me the Paris Olympics was half a beautiful experience and half not because my partner got sick before the competition so I didn’t compete in the duet. “So it’s like a double emotion. But I’m very happy to be here and I love this swimming pool.” France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier, who earned open water swimming bronze in the Seine at the Paris 2024 Games, said: “I’m very excited to be back swimming in the Seine and representing my country. “I finished third here at the Olympics and now I want my revenge – now I have a second chance for a gold medal here. “I have had to reorganise my training because I have a baby now. But I will be arriving here to compete in good shape.” Great Britain’s 20-year-old artistic swimmer Ranjuo Tomblin, seeking a third consecutive European solo gold here, added: “The facilities are absolutely amazing. This pool holds so many memories from the Olympic Games, so it’s very special to be able to come back here to compete. “I’ll be doing four different routines this week, and I’ll obviously be hoping to do my best in all of them. “I’ve had such an amazing season so far in the World Cup, and I want to keep going on with that momentum.” Quentin Gesell, Vice President sports delegate for the Métropole du Grand Paris, commented: “The Aquatic Centre was a legacy from the Games and now it is being used for other fantastic events. “We have worked to get the Centre ready again for high-level competition, transforming the site in order to allow for 5,000 spectators. The arena will become a cauldron of light from tomorrow onwards.” Alex Jandard, Diving Ambassador for Paris 2026 and entered for the 3m springboard and 3m synchro here, commented: “This is a great opportunity to show what France can do with sports. We were aiming for a super competition here after the Olympics and this is the case now, so we are very proud.” Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results. Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Paris 2026 New Wave: Ukraine’s Hrytsenko bouncing into medal contention at EA Championships
Ukraine’s 16-year-old Mark Hrytsenko already has a European gold after partnering Oleksii Sereda to men’s 10m synchro gold in Antalya last summer. But this former European junior trampoline champion has ambitions rising higher and higher as he approaches his third European Championships, where he will compete in the 10m as well as defending the 10m synchro title In the space of the last year you have successfully bridged the gap from junior to senior competition in earning European 10m synchro gold with Oleksii. What were the most challenging elements of this transition? The most challenging part was creating a new programme and increasing the degree of difficulty of my dives. Senior competitions require greater consistency, confidence and precision, so this transition became a great challenge for me. The challenge itself worked for me making me better, so I managed in a short time to get the standard to compete on equal in seniors Who has most helped you in this process – how good has it been to work with Oleksii, who made a similar journey to you as a talented young teenager? My coaches helped me the most, as well as all the people who contributed to my results. I am very grateful to everyone who supported me on this journey. Oleksii and I are constantly working on our synchronised dives to improve them not only technically, therefore it is important for us to feel each other and work as a one unity to keep moving our team forward. Most divers progress from junior diving. You have come from being European junior champion in trampoline! How has this helped you and why did you switch sports? I would not say that I completely changed apparatus. I simply started to focus more on Platform. At my first European Juniors, I competed in both springboard and platform events (in the last came second). Later, I realised that I felt better and currently have more advantage on platform. Springboard experience helped me a lot —giving it a strong foundation, coordination, awareness in the air and confidence in performing difficult elements/ How difficult has it been for you to train and travel in recent years? The war has impacted steady preparation process, very difficult to say it is going normally. We are trying very hard and have in Kyiv all necessary in our home good pool Liko, but country is under a constant threat of missile attacks and Kyiv too. Blackouts, sleepless nights, freezing winter because of the heating stations strikes. Even in order to get to any European competitions, we spend several days on the road, to cross the border to reach the nearest airport outside Ukraine (the sky over Ukraine is closed) whereas it used to be a few hours only to fly from Kyiv to any city before. What are your ambitions now for Paris 2026 – and beyond? In 2026, I want to show a strong result and present my new programme. My goal is to keep progressing, become more competitive and continue to win medals in international top majors, so that my family, my coaches and Ukraine can be proud of me. Will you be able to have friends/family watching you in Paris? I would really like my family to be in Paris and support me there. It would mean a lot to me. But I do not know yet whether they will be able to come… My people and friends surely will be cheering me up and our team watching on TV, and that’s backing is empowering Have you have already visited Paris? Are there any particular places/sights you have enjoyed, and do you plan to see any in particular this summer? I first visited Paris in May 2024 during the Paris Diving Open It was an Olympic year, so there was hardly any time to explore the city. Of everything I managed to see, was the Eiffel Tower. Bbut the atmosphere Paris of its small Parisian streets with happily walking people left the remarkable impression on me. They have a unique charm that is hard to describe. Paris is truly a beautiful city with a rich history, and I would love to learn more about it. I really hope to visit the Louvre and am looking forward to having some free time during the European Championships to finally see it. Diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will run from July 31 to August 6. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Paris 2026: Six European Aquatics Championships storylines to watch for in diving and high diving
Pellacani pushing for more gold Chiara Pellacani became the first person to win five diving medals at a single European Aquatics Championships, doing so on in her home city of Rome in 2022. That total of European medals has since grown to 19, including eight golds. And as she heads towards Paris 2026 in search of more Pellacani, now 23, can reflect with huge satisfaction upon 2025, when she was voted EA’s female diver of the year. After winning her first European 1m springboard title in Antalya she secured her first world individual medals, taking bronze in the women’s 1m and 3m springboard, and earning Italy’s first world diving gold in 10 years when she and Matteo Santoro combined victoriously in the mixed 3m synchro. Look out for further accomplishments in Paris… Great Britain synched for success While Pellacani and Santoro look favourites for the mixed 3m synchro, Great Britain look capable of dominating the other synchro events given the concentration of talent they are fielding. Their 15-strong team includes Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen, who won Paris 2024 bronze and 2025 world silver in the 3m synchro as well as Paris 2024 women’s 10m synchro bronze medallists Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Louis Tolson. On the men’s side they have Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher, who won Olympic and then world bronze in the 3m synchro. Ukraine defending highest diving position Ukraine topped the medals table with five golds at last year’s European Diving Championships in Antalya, with Oleksii Sereda achieving victory in the 10m platform, mixed team and 10m synchro in partnership with the then 15-year-old Mark Hrytsenko. Sereda, who at 13 became the youngest European diving champion when he won the 10m title at the 2019 home Championships in Kyiv, now has 11 European medals – eight of them gold. He wants more… Heimberg hoping for more happy returns One poor dive cost Switzerland’s Michelle Heimberg a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics. She took six months off to re-assess her life before deciding to return to the sport. Last summer in Antalya she earned 3m springboard gold and 1m springboard bronze, bringing her total of European medals to two gold, three silver and three bronze. Her impending contests with Pellacani promise to be among the highlights of Paris 2026. Hunt relishing high diving showcase With high diving not being part of the Olympics, double world champion Gary Hunt – who represented France in the 10m synchro at Paris 2024 – is welcoming the opportunity to showcase his speciality in the French capital. Speaking at last week’s Paris 2026 press conference at the Eiffel Tower he told European Aquatics: “It’s a great opportunity to represent my sport – my speciality in high diving. It’s going to be a lot of fun diving into the River Seine. “It’s particularly interesting because the dives will be from 20 metres, so it will be a surprise for many and interesting to see how everyone performs with a different set of dives than we’re used to at 27 metres. But that will make it exciting.” Heslop back and in form after 2025 injury break Great Britain’s Aidan Heslop heads into the European Aquatics Championships 2026 on the back of an incredible career comeback. The 24-year-old high diving world champion from 2024 was forced to withdraw from the 2025 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series opener after being diagnosed with a herniated disc in his lumbar spine that was impinging on his sciatic nerve. At the time, Heslop admitted he couldn’t even touch his toes, let alone high dive, and treatment involved medication and a cortisone injection as he faced an uncertain recovery timeline that ultimately kept him out for the rest of 2025. But he will arrive in the French capital top of the overall World Cup standings and favourite for gold. Mike Rowbottom and Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
Return to Paris: Ukraine’s Oleksii Sereda battling adversity as he seeks more European gold
Ukraine’s Oleksii Sereda was 13 when he became the youngest European champion in diving at the home 2019 Championships in Kyiv. Now 20, Sereda has gone on to win seven more European titles – as well as amassing three silvers and two bronzes at the World Championships. He is looking for further success in the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 at the Olympic venue where he finished eighth in the 10m platform and fifth in the 10m syncho two years ago. Looking back now on your Paris 2024 experiences, how do you reflect upon them and which do you most clearly recall? I really liked the Olympic Village – its atmosphere and the vibe, seeing so many athletes including global stars around. That is what I remembered the most – there was a very friendly and special spirit there, and it was really cool. How different as an athlete and a person do you think you are heading into Paris 2026 compared to Paris 2024? I have become more experienced and more mentally resilient. I feel I have become more mature both as an athlete and as a person. After two more European golds and individual world silver in 2025, how energised do you feel about trying to add to your collection of European titles this year? I feel very enthusiastic and motivated. I hope this year I also will be able to win as many gold medals as possible which will prove to me that I’m on the right track to progress in competition performance. What are your ambitions for Paris 2026 and beyond? In Paris I want to win gold medals, to perform in a well-deserving way and to prepare well for the Olympic Games. And there in Los Angeles I want to go forward myself to fight for medals How difficult has it been for you to train and live safely over the past year – and how strong do you think this adversity has made you and your team-mates? To say it is “difficult” or “very difficult” can’t fully explain what it means in reality. We live four years under shelling, missiles and drone raids, lack of sleep and threats of strikes. It is hard both physically and mentally but we have to do what we can to keep ordinary training routine despite what is around. In reality, it is extremely challenging when you wake up one winter morning and outside is -20C, no heating, no electricity, no possibility to warm up or cook the meal. Only the generator keeps the pool alive – and you wait for the spring as never before. It is difficult for athletes from other countries, who do not face this, it’s hard to fully understand. But even so we continue to train to raise the Ukrainian flag in competitions. In this way we are telling about Ukrainians, bringing some positive to ordinary people and those who keep the front line and rear safe, ensuring for us athletes the opportunity to compete and for Ukraine its independence and the hope of living in peace. How significant will the Paris 2026 Championships be for you in terms of a marker on the route to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics? The European Championships are an important competition for me. This is an opportunity to gain valuable experience and to contend with top athletes. Competitions like this help me better understand my level and keep moving towards the main goal. Did you have much chance to experience Paris as a city in 2024? Any particular places/scenes that resonated strongly? What will be on your city wishlist this summer? In 2024 I scarcely had a chance to see anything in Paris because I was fully focused on the Olympic Games. But recently our team had a training camp in Paris and this time I had a bit more time to enjoy this beautiful city, to discover its history and be inspired by its atmosphere. Of course I visited the Eiffel Tower and took a boat trip on the Seine. During the European Championships I hope I will be able to find time to explore even more of Paris for myself. These are wonderful memories that stay with you forever. Diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will take place at the Olympic Aquatics Center from July 31 to August 6. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Return to Paris: Pellacani planning golden moments in the French capital
Italy’s Chiara Pellacani, named best women’s diver in the 2025 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards, is heading towards Paris 2026 boosted by historic recent achievement in individual and mixed competition. At last year’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore the 23-year-old from Rome combined with Matteo Santoro in the 3m synchro to earn Italy’s first world diving gold since 2015. It was the culmination of ambition for a pair who had been mixed 3m synchro silver medallists at the World Aquatics Championships in 2022 and 2024 and bronze medallists in 2023. Pellacani, who had previously earned four world medals in synchro events, also made an individual breakthrough in Singapore as she won bronze medals in the 1m and 3m springboard. Earlier in the year Pellacani had achieved success at the European Aquatics Diving Championships in Antalya, where she won the 1m springboard title and she and Santoro took 3m synchro silver. She has mixed memories of her last competition in the Olympic Aquatics Center having finished fourth in the women’s 3m and – with Elena Bertocci – the 3m syncho springboard events at the Paris 2024 Games. Looking back now on your Paris 2024 experiences, which do you most clearly recall? What I remember the most are all the emotions. Everything felt bigger than usual, like walking into the venue, hearing the crowd, and sharing those moments with my team and family. I also remember that there was a mix of excitement and pressure every single day. It was very intense, but also beautiful at the same time. What do you remember of the Olympic atmosphere and the city? Did it feel different to other competitions? Yes, definitely. The Olympics feel completely different from any other competition because you can feel how important that moment is for everyone there. The atmosphere in Paris was amazing, so exciting and also emotional. I think the city made it even more special because everywhere you went you could feel the Olympic spirit. When you were walking around you could see the Olympic rings all over the city. Fourth place is tough. How different as an athlete and a person do you think you are heading into Paris 2026 compared to Paris 2024? For me the fourth place was hard to accept at first but now looking back at it I think it helped me grow a lot as a person and as an athlete. I think I learned more about myself, about how to handle pressure and difficult moments. Now I definitely feel more mature, more confident and also more motivated. Experiences like that can be very hard to handle and it’s also hard to keep going from there. But with the right support and help you can win and start becoming even more motivated. How inspirational were your experiences last year when you and Matteo won world gold and you won first world individual medals? I think the World Championships in Singapore gave me a lot of confidence. Winning world gold with Matteo and my first individual world medals showed me that me and my team are working in the right way. It made me realise what my potential is and I can’t wait for more. You’ve been winning European golds since 2018. What are your personal ambitions for Paris 2026? My goal for Paris 2026 is to win as many gold medals as possible. I will be competing in five events. But also, even more than that I want to enjoy every single moment of this competition. It will be a lot of fun and my family will be there. How significant will the Paris 2026 Championships be for you in terms of a marker on the route to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics? I think every big competition on the way to Los Angeles is very important. Paris 2026 will be another chance to grow, gain some more experience and understand where I can still improve. LA 2028 is definitely in my mind so every step before then matters. Were you able to have friends and family watching you in Paris two years ago? If so, how special was that and will it happen again this summer? Yes, having my family there meant a lot to me. In moments like the Olympics sharing the experience with the people you love makes it even more special. Their support helps me so much and I am so happy they will be there this summer too Did you have much chance to experience Paris as a city in 2024? Any particular places/scenes that resonated strongly? What will be on your city wishlist this summer? I was able to visit a little bit during the Olympics even if it wasn’t much, but even just walking around a little in the city was special. Seeing the Eiffel Tower with the Olympic atmosphere around it is something I will always remember. This summer I would love to enjoy the city a bit more, to spend more time outside the competition venue and experience more of the Paris lifestyle. I would love to visit authentic places that are not too touristy – maybe the French divers could help me with that! Diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will take place at the Olympic Aquatics Center from July 31 to August 6. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026: second bulletin with competition updates now available
European Aquatics has published the second official information bulletin for the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, providing national federations and delegations with key operational details as preparations gather pace for the continental showcase in Paris this summer. The newly released bulletin contains updated information on the competition programmes for swimming, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving. No changes have currently been made to the para swimming schedule which will run in parallel with the swimming taking place at the Centre Aquatique Olympique Métropole du Grand Paris from August 10 to 16. The overall document offers an overview of the organisational framework for the Championships, outlining practical information on venues, accommodation, transport, accreditation and key contacts for the five disciplines that will feature at the event. The also provides discipline-specific contact points within both European Aquatics and the Local Organising Committee. Accommodation arrangements mean that delegations competing in swimming, diving and artistic swimming will be based in official hotels located approximately 1.8 to 1.9 kilometres from the competition venue, with regular shuttle services operating between hotels and the venue and a walking time of around 15 to 17 minutes. Accommodation packages will include full board catering with breakfast, lunch and dinner, alongside transport services for training and competition, as well as airport and railway station transfers. Delegations competing in open water swimming and high diving will be accommodated significantly closer to their competition venue, with hotels located just 500 metres away, allowing athletes and team officials convenient access throughout the Championships. The bulletin also outlines several key operational tools that will be used throughout the event. The Sportity platform will serve as the main channel for the distribution of official communications and competition updates to teams, while the official event website and social media channels will provide regular information for athletes, federations and fans as the event approaches. Additional sections cover practical matters including visa requirements for entry into France, delegation services, ticketing information and the accreditation process for participating teams and media. These early guidelines are designed to ensure that all federations have the information needed to begin organising their participation well in advance of the Championships. The bulletin is available to view here: https://europeanaquatics.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/EAC-Paris-2026-Info-Bulletin-2-1.pdf Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Media accreditation is now open for European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026
European Aquatics is pleased to announce that media accreditation registrations for the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will officially open today, 25 May. The accreditation process is dedicated to representatives of the media, including journalists, photographers, television crews, radio broadcasters and social media influencers wishing to cover the Championships. The European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will bring together Europe’s top aquatic athletes across multiple disciplines in one of the continent’s major sporting events of the year, with extensive media operations planned throughout the competition. All interested media representatives are invited to complete their registration through the official accreditation platform here. Media representatives are also strongly encouraged to consult the official Media Guide for further information regarding accreditation categories, venue maps, official events, mixed zones, competition schedules, media services and operational procedures. Media Guide:[HERE] European Aquatics looks forward to welcoming media professionals from across Europe and beyond to Paris for comprehensive coverage of the Championships.
Two years after Olympic dream disappeared, Heimberg set for first Paris visit as defending European champion
Michelle Heimberg once hoped to see Paris for the first time while competing at the Olympics. One bad dive at the Swiss trials ended that ambition, setting her on a path that led away from the sport – and back again. Two years after failing to earn a place at the Paris 2024 Games Heimberg has now booked that first visit to the French capital, where she will compete at this summer’s European Aquatics Championships as defending champion in the women’s 3m springboard. “2024 was a challenging year,” she told European Aquatics. “We had the qualification in mid-February where I missed out on qualifying for the Olympics. My family were there and it was kind of devastating. It was like – ‘OK, so what should I do with my life now?’ “I had done everything heading to those Olympics. And one dive meant I missed them. “It was really hard. So I asked myself: ‘Who am I and what should I do next?’ Because the dream was gone. “It made me look at everything in my life. I had been doing everything for diving and I just realised it can’t be this way. Because if I define myself only as an athlete I end up with the really hard times I had after failing in the qualification. “So that’s why I decided to take six months completely off from diving. “In the first place it was just to recover from what happened but also I needed to know if I wanted to come back to diving, to give it everything I had. Because if I do something I want to do it 110 per cent and not just for fun – although having fun in sport is very important. “In this time I really enjoyed myself, I suddenly had time for my friends, and I discovered who I am besides being a diver. I also discovered there are so many more things in life than diving. To be a diver is a real privilege in life, but it’s not everything. “But in end I knew I wanted to come back because I hadn’t achieved everything I wanted at that point. “When I got back I was really enjoying diving again. And I think that’s what helped in the 2025 season because I had seen diving again as a privilege and for the first time I was doing it for myself and no one else. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it again, I’ll go for Los Angeles. But this time I’m going to do it for myself and no one else. “Because, especially in Switzerland where we pay everything on our own – if our coach comes with us we have to pay for them too – it gets hard to still see you are doing it for yourself. You get sponsors, and sometimes you feel that you have to dive and perform because people believe in you and you have to do it for them. “But you have to change it so that it is a case of people supporting you if they want to and because they see how much joy you have in what you do. “This helped me a lot, having to switch my approach and saying: ‘OK, they support me because they want to and I don’t owe them anything. I do it for myself because I have fun doing it.’ “It was a gradual process for me, which I worked out with input from a sports psychologist. But that switch in approach helped me a lot in the 2025 season and also going onwards to Paris and Los Angeles.” Now 25, Heimberg – who lives in a small village between Berne, where she trains, and Zurich – has been diving in earnest since she was 12 after an eight-year career as a gymnast had been ended by fractured kneecaps in 2011 and 2012. Sporting challenges clearly go with the territory as far as this athlete is concerned. Within five years she had won her first major international medal, taking 3m springboard silver at the 2017 European Championships in Kyiv. Since then she has collected seven more European medals, winning 1m gold and 3m bronze at the 2023 European Games and reversing those results at last year’s European Diving Championships in Antalya. She also finished sixth in the 2022 world 3m final, a year after reaching the final at her first Olympics in Tokyo. Not only has Heimberg altered her approach to diving, but she has also created a new work/sport balance in her life. Last September, after completing a degree in Communication Science at the University of Zurich, she began working part-time for her regional sports federation. “I wanted something for my brain,” she said, “something else. Because I feel like if I’m too much into diving the whole time it’s hard. If you have a bad preparation you can find yourself going back home and questioning everything. “But also I do it for the financial side – it calms a bit, because it is a regular monthly income. It’s also about preparing for the life after diving.” Not surprisingly, Heimberg is heading for Paris with high hopes. “I’m really looking forward to going to Paris because I missed it two years ago and now just to be able to go back and kind of write my own story with the place is something I am really looking forward to. “At this point in my career I am really trying to enjoy the competitions because I know I won’t be diving until I am 40 years old. I know I probably have a couple of years still to go but I know it’s not going to last forever. “it’s also a different approach going to the Europeans, knowing I can be confident because I know when it counted in the last year I was able to deliver at the Europeans. “So I’m really looking forward to going to Paris, writing my own stories and