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