Paris 2026: Record-breaking social numbers for European Aquatics Championships
The European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 proved massively effective in terms of engaging with its followers. During the Championships, which ran from July 31 to August 16, a total of 95,218,228 views were recorded across European Aquatics-owned channels. The comparative figure for the last European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade two years ago was 27,000,000 – representing an overall increase of more than 250%. One of the highest-viewed pieces of original content from Paris 2026 was a fun TikTok with David Popovici which has over 1 million views on TikTok alone. This shows that European Aquatics have invested in new forms of media engagement and not just relying on event clips and highlights to generate attention. France Télévisions has reported surpassing 35 million total viewers across linear channels (France 2, France 3) and digital platforms during their coverage of aquatics events at the Olympic Aquatics Centre and river Seine. The pan-European TV ratings are currently being finalised by our broadcast partner EBU. An EA survey of the period from July 20 to August 19 this year recorded a total reach of 42 million, of which 12 million was through social media and 30 million through non-social media. There were a total of 136,000 social media interactions and 130,000 social media reactions (eg likes). The executive summary reads: “The monitoring period for Paris 2026 saw a significant surge in activity, with total mentions reaching 3.1k (916% increase) and a remarkable total reach of 41.8M (2478% increase). “Social media engagement skyrocketed, with 136.1k interactions (4932% increase), driven by 129.8k reactions, 1.8k comments, and 4.6k shares. “Positive sentiment dominated with 767 mentions (2031% increase), while negative mentions remained low at 41. “Key events included a spike on 2026-08-03 due to coverage of Neutral Athletes B winning gold and Ranjuo Tomblin’s victory in artistic swimming. “On August 9 NAB Nelli Chukanivska’s gold in women’s high diving drove a reach of 3.2M. “On August 12 mentions peaked with posts about Mona McSharry’s silver and Ellen Walshe’s gold for Ireland in swimming, alongside Italy’s Sara Curtis setting a world record in the 50m backstroke. “Finally, on August 15, Germany’s Johannes Liebmann broke the men’s 1500m freestyle world record, contributing to a reach of 4.4M. “The majority of mentions came from news (47.5%), X (13.9%), Instagram (9.9%), and other social platforms (8.5%). “The top authors by share of voice included olympics on Instagram (10.5%, 1.3M reach), Bismillah on Facebook (7.7%, 946.2k reach), and RTEsport on X (5.5%, 674.9k reach).” Of the respondees, most were within the 25-34 age range, with the 19-24 and 45-54 age ranges featuring as next largest. In terms of gender, the respondents were almost equally male and female.
Paris 2026: Latest European Aquatics Championships set new benchmark for success on all fronts
Paris 2026 was a major success for European Aquatics and a new benchmark for the organisation of our flagship Championships, which involved 1,268 athletes – including, for the first time, para swimmers – and 615 volunteers. Diving, artistic swimming and swimming took place in the Paris 2024 legacy venue of the Olympic Aquatic Centre, while open water swimming and high diving took place at the River Seine. There was strong home support in both venues, which offered high-quality sports presentation resulting in significant spectator experiences. Organisers reported more than 100,000 tickets sold, with the Olympic Aquatic Centre being sold out for evening sessions and close to sold out for morning sessions. International media coverage was substantial and extended beyond specialist aquatics media. Reuters covered major sporting stories and world records; Associated Press and The Times focused on high diving in the Seine and the transformation of Paris’s river into a sporting environment, following through with swimming coverage. L’Équipe provided extensive coverage across the disciplines; and Eurovision Sport provided live and on-demand distribution, including a dedicated UK partnership with Aquatics GB. Home athletes rose to expectations, especially in the swimming, where France finished sixth in the medal table with six golds in a total of 14. The fact that two of those golds were secured by the French sporting icon Leon Marchand, four-times Paris 2024 gold medallist, guaranteed the Championships made headline news around the world. Marchand was able to compete despite having to reduce his schedule as he carried a lingering hip adductor injury into competition. But the 24-year-old Texas-bases swimmer went above and beyond by helping the hosts earn silver and bronze in the men’s 4x200m freestyle and men’s 4x100m medley respectively. Two 19-year-olds also accrued worldwide exposure with world record performances. Germany’s Johannes Liebmann, who won the men’s 800m freestyle in a European record of 7:37.59, completed the double by taking almost four seconds off the men’s 1500m freestyle world record in 13:26.79. And Sara Curtis of Italy posted successive world records in winning her first European title in the 50m backstroke, clocking 26.62 in the semi-final and 36.56 in the final. A total of 33 records were set during the swimming competition, and one was equalled. Men’s and women’s para swimming in the 50m and 100m freestyle was incorporated in the main programme over the closing weekend – a landmark inclusion – and the performances received widespread appreciation and support. Continuing the ongoing work of the European Aquatics Academy, expert-led coaching clinics were held during the Championships for swimming, artistic swimming, diving, high diving and open water swimming. Paris 2026 featured a well attended and highly successful two-day European Aquatics Swim Safe Conference involving experts, partners and leading administrators which stressed the vital challenge of ensuring more children were taught to swim and to understand wider water safety. There were also a series of searching analyses on the challenges of gaining funding for safety projects, as well as a number of contributions highlighting the smart technology breakthroughs involving swimming pool regeneration and AI safety features. The European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 event also incorporated a tangible legacy programme, including swimming opportunities for children and permanent learn-to-swim capacity at the Olympic Aquatics Centre. The breadth and quality of legacy and inclusion initiatives at Paris 2026 were marked on the concluding day of the Championships by the award of a State Equality (Terrain d’Egalite) label testifying to its certification by the French national standards organisation Association Francaise de Normalisation (AFNOR). The award was conferred on the French Swimming Federation (FFN) by Marina Ferrari, Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Life. A social ticketing system was established enabling the distribution of about 6,000 tickets to audiences from disadvantaged backgrounds. An accessibility policy was developed for disabled people focusing in particular on the inclusion of para-swimming events, digital accessibility, and the conditions for welcoming event spectators. The fight against discrimination with specific work around combating LGBTphobia in collaboration with the FIER Foundation. A WeCare Team of over 100 volunteers out of the 600 at the event was specially trained to welcome people with disabilities. Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
Paris 2026: Chukanivska and Preda claim high diving titles as fans flock to the Seine in the heat
The high diving competition at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 reached its conclusion on Saturday, with Ukraine’s Nelli Chukanivska and Romania’s Catalin Preda taking the women’s and men’s 20m platform titles respectively, in front of hundreds of fans who lined the banks of the Seine in baking heat to watch the action unfold. Having opened their account with rounds one and two on Friday, the divers returned to the purpose-built platform on Saturday for the third and fourth rounds, with medals on the line in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Women’s 20m platform Chukanivska set the tone from the very first round on Friday, topping the standings after a back 1 somersault pike (202B) and an inward 3 somersaults 1/2 twist tuck (5461C) combination that yielded 152.30 points. She never relinquished top spot across the remaining two rounds, adding a forward 2 somersaults 1 1/2 twists free (5143D) in round three and rounding out her card with an armstand back 2 1/2 somersaults pike (625B) in the fourth and final round, scoring a huge 98.00 for the dive to secure the gold medal with a total of 324.70. The importance of the final dive seemed not to trouble the 19-year-old, who has only been on the senior high diving circuit for a matter of months. She kept her cool and sent the crowd on the Seine into raptures with the dive. Italy’s Elisa Cosetti pushed Chukanivska throughout the competition, sitting in second place from round two onwards. Her final-round inward 3 somersaults 1/2 twist tuck (5461c) scored 87.40, enough to hold off a late charge from Germany’s Maike Elena Halbisch, who produced on the highest degree of difficulty dive of the round – an armstand back 3 1/2 somersaults tuck (627c) rated at 5.0 – to move up to bronze. Switzerland’s Morgane Herculano, who had held third after round two, slipped to fourth by the finish. Men’s 20m platform The men’s event told a story of shifting fortunes across the four rounds. Italy’s Andrea Barnaba set an early marker on Friday, leading after rounds one and two after a huge a forward 4 somersaults 1/2 twist pike (5181b) that scored 118.80 on the second round, ahead of Spain’s Carlos Gimeno and Romania’s Constantin Popovici. Saturday brought a change at the top, with Gimeno edging ahead of Barnaba by the narrowest of margins, just 0.20 of a point, after round three, while Romania’s Catalin Preda climbed into medal contention in third. It was the final round that decided the gold, and Preda produced the dive of the competition to do it. His back 4 somersaults pike (208b) rated at a degree of difficulty of 5.2, drew scores as high as 10 from the judges and was worth 145.60 points, launching him from third to first and giving Romania the title with a total of 411.60. It meant a lot to the Romanian, who went around on the back of the transport jetski to celebrate with the fans when the result was announced. Barnaba held on for silver despite dropping his final dive’s difficulty back to 4.9, finishing on 386.00, while France’s Gary Hunt produced a strong back 4 somersaults tuck (208c) of his own in the last round to move into the bronze medal position, capping the competition with a total of 382.50. Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results. Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport. Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
Paris 2026: high diving preview
15 men and 8 women are gearing up to take to the 20m platform on the Pont de Bir-Hakeim bridge in the French capital for the start of the high diving competition at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, which begin on 7 August and finish the following day. Romania’s Constantin Popovici arrives as one of the men to beat. The Bucharest diver was voted the 2025 European Men’s High Diver of the Year after a season that included a bronze medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, and a runner-up finish in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, with 48 points to Gary Hunt’s title-winning 54. Popovici, who won the inaugural European high diving title in Rome in 2022 before adding the world crown in Fukuoka the following year, has carried that form straight into 2026: he opened the World Series season with victory in Copenhagen and Mostar. He also collected bronze at the second stop of the High Diving World Cup in Porto Flavia. One stop remains in the Red Bull Series, in Polignano a Mare on 27 September, where he still has a shot to climb further up the rankings. He arrives in Paris as one of the central stars, and he will have his eyes on the gold medal. He will not have it easy, though. Spain’s Carlos Gimeno pushed Popovici and the rest of the world close in Singapore, taking silver behind USA’s James Lichtenstein after a stunning 143.10-point dive put him in control heading into the final round, and he finished third overall in the 2025 World Series on 46 points. Italy’s Andrea Barnaba, who finished third in the European high diver of the year voting, and Romania’s Catalin-Petru Preda, who produced the highest-scoring dive of the entire Singapore final and also took the opening 2026 World Cup stop in Fort Lauderdale, add further strength in depth from the continent’s leading nations. Gary Hunt will also be one to watch. The Frenchman, competing with the home crowd behind him, remains the most decorated diver in the sport’s history, with two world titles and a record haul of Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series crowns to his name. Now representing France after his long career for Great Britain, the 42-year-old has shown consistently that he can still rise to the occasion, and a home crowd on the Seine will only sharpen his motivation as he chases the podium again after finishing fifth at Porto Flavia in July. Germany’s Manuel Halbisch, Hungary’s Viktor Renato Dobra, Belgium’s Lander Roels, Denmark’s Frederik Brink Dalgaard and Switzerland’s trio of Matthias Appenzeller, Jean-David Duval and Pierrick Schafer complete a men’s field that stretches nine nations deep, while Neutral Athlete B Pavel Istomin, at 17 the youngest name on the entry list, will look to make an early mark on the senior stage. In the women’s competition, the Netherlands’ Ginni van Katwijk heads into Paris as the reigning European high diver of the year after a 2025 season that made her Europe’s leading light on the global stage. Van Katwijk, 41, finished sixth at the World Championships in Singapore, the best result of any European diver. Switzerland’s Morgane Herculano, runner-up in the same end-of-year voting, led the European charge in Porto Flavia last month with an eighth-place finish. A 23-time Swiss national champion on springboard before her switch to the tower, Herculano’s rapid progress since her 2024 high diving debut makes her one of the form athletes heading into the Championships, and she makes the journey to Paris with high aspirations. Germany send a strong pair in Iris Schmidbauer, the 2022 European champion, who opened the 2026 High Diving World Cup season with victory at Fort Lauderdale, and Maike Halbisch, who at just 20 already holds the record for the hardest dive completed in a women’s competition after her 5.0 degree-of-difficulty leap at last year’s World Cup stop in Italy and has since made her Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series debut as a wildcard in the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also to watch are Italy’s Elisa Cosetti, a European bronze medallist in 2022 who has been a model of consistency ever since, and Ukraine’s Nelli Chukanivska, whose recent impressive performances at the World Series marked her out as one of the breakthrough performers of the European season. Denmark’s Annika Bornebusch completes a women’s field of eight. High diving at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 will take place on the River Seine from 7-8 August, with the first two rounds on the first day, and the final two rounds on the second. Click here for the event page, which includes all start lists and results. Click here to watch all of the action on Eurovision Sport. Stephen Stanley 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: 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
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.
Detailed schedule announced for European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026
The detailed schedule has been announced for the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026, which will take place from Friday, July 31 to Sunday, August 16. The 38th edition of these Championships will come to a close with a starburst of nine straight finals on the last evening of swimming competition in the Centre Aquatique Olympique built for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Home fans will be hoping that this concluding programme could offer home idol Leon Marchand, who won four golds and a bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the opportunity of a spectacular finale. It includes the men’s 200m individual medley – one of his four Games golds and the event in which he set a world record of 1:52.69 last summer en route to a third world title. And it finishes with the men’s 4x100m medley, in which he helped France earn bronze on the last day of the Olympic programme. Marchand, who earned a third world 400m individual title in Singapore last year, would have the chance to earn a European version on the opening day of the swimming programme (August 10). Should he choose to compete in the two other individual events in which he won gold – the 200m breaststroke and the 200m butterfly – he would have the opportunity to do so on August 13 and 15 respectively. While the 23-year-old Texas-based athlete has won five Olympic medals and nine world medals – of which seven were gold – he has yet to earn a senior European medal… Day 12 (August 11) gives Dutch athlete Marrit Steenbergen, named best women’s swimmer in the EA Awards for 2025 – when she retained her world 100m freestyle title before winning six titles at the EA Short Course Swimming Championships – the chance to earn a second European 100m freestyle gold after her previous win in 2022. There will be much anticipation also for the performances by Romania’s David Popovici in the men’s 100m and 200m freestyle, which have finals on August 12 and 14 respectively. The 21-year-old earned Olympic 100m bronze and 200m gold before retaining his world titles at both distances last summer – a performance that earned him the title of best men’s swimmer in the EA 2025 Awards. The second staging of this event in the French capital – which hosted the third edition in 1931 – will begin with artistic swimming and diving, which will run concurrently from Day 1 of the Championships on July 31 to August 5, with diving going on for one more day. Within the artistic swimming programme Day 4 of the Championships on Monday, August 3 will be the busiest, featuring the men’s solo free, women’s solo free and team free finals. Day 2 could yield one of the highlights of the Championships if Spain’s Iris Tio Casas and Dennis Gonzalez – respective women’s and men’s artistic swimmers of 2025 in the EA Awards – defend their title in the mixed duet free, in which they also won world gold last year. The second final on the night, the duet free, could see a re-run of last year’s world final, where Tio Casas and Lilou Lluis beat Italy’s Enrica Piccoli and Lucrezia Ruggiero to gold in Singapore. Day 3 could turn out to be memorable for Italy’s EA women’s diver of the year for 2025, Chiara Pellacani as it features finals in the mixed 3m synchro – in which she and Matteo Santoro won world gold last year – and the women’s 1m springboard, where she would be defending champion. Meanwhile the men’s EA diver of the year for 2025, Ukraine’s Oleksii Sereda, will have to wait until the final day of diving on Day 6 (August 5) to seek a fourth European title in the men’s 10m platform, where he also won world silver last year. Also featuring on that evening will be the women’s 3m springboard, where Pellacani may seek to earn a third European title after her victories in 2022 and 2023 – although Switzerland’s defending champion Michelle Heimberg may have something to say about that.. Open water swimming, which starts in the River Seine on August 4 and concludes on August 8, could see Florian Wellbrock playing the same dominant role as he assumed at last year’s World Aquatics Championships, where he won all three available individual golds and helped Germany win the team event. Notes for Wellbrock’s calendar would be as follows: men’s 10km on August 4; men’s 5km on August 5; August 6, feet up, it’s a rest day; August 7 men’s 3km knockout; August 8 mixed relays. Top women performers such as Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci, who won three individual world silvers last year, and Hungary’s EA women’s open swimmer of 2025 Bettina Fabian will follow the same pathway as men’s and women’s events run in parallel. Meanwhile there are high expectations for EA’s high diving athletes of 2025, Romania’s Constantin Popovici and Ginni Van Katwijk of The Netherlands in the respective men’s and women’s events. Dates to be confirmed. Full schedule available here: https://europeanaquatics.org/paris-2026/schedule-and-results/ Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
D-200 press conference for European Aquatics Championships – Paris 2026 will confirm new wave of ticket sales
European Aquatics and the Fédération Française de Natation (FFN) are pleased to announce that a press conference will take place on 21 January 2026 at the Centre Aquatique Olympique in Paris, marking D-200 to the start of the European Aquatics Championships – Paris 2026. The press conference will bring together leading figures of French and European Aquatics. Athletes will be represented by Olympic champion Florent Manaudou and Olympic bronze medallist and European Champion Charlotte Bonnet. Also present will be Antonio Silva, the President of European Aquatics, Gilles Sezionale, President of the Fédération Française de Natation and European Aquatics Vice-President, and Patrick Ollier, President of the Métropole du Grand Paris. This milestone event will provide an important update on the preparations for the Championships and will also be the occasion to officially announce the next wave of ticket sales which will take place on 23 January. Fans and members of the public are encouraged to stay tuned for further information regarding ticket availability. Further details about the press conference and the upcoming ticket sales will be shared in the coming weeks as excitement continues to build towards one of the flagship events on the European aquatics calendar. The official ticketing page for the European Aquatics Championships – Paris 2026 is available here:https://sites.weezevent.com/european-aquatics-championships-2026/index.html A detailed ticket pricing table for the European Aquatics Championships – Paris 2026 can be consulted here: https://www.ffnatation.fr/sites/default/files/2025-12/2026%20TICKET%20PRICING%20TABLE%20-%20EAC2026.pdf In addition, the official competition programme is accessible via the following link:https://www.ffnatation.fr/sites/default/files/2025-12/PROGRAMME%20CE26%20ENG%20VF_0.pdf