The 2026 edition of the AP Race London International saw some of Europe’s leading swimmers lay down strong markers for the season, not least the event’s co-founder Adam Peaty, who won the 50m and 100m breaststroke double.
Meanwhile Marrit Steenbergen of The Netherlands and Hungary’s Olympic 100m butterfly champion Kristof Milak sparkled in Monaco at the first of the three legs of his year’s Mare Nostrum tour.
Steenbergen, who last summer retained her world 100m freestyle title in Singapore, lowered her Dutch 100m freestyle record from 52.26 to 52.13.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, winner of the 200m freestyle in Monaco, was second in 52.67.
The men’s 100m butterfly win went to Milak in 50.66 – not far off the 50.22 he set at the national championships which tops this year’s world list.
Switzerland’s Noe Ponti was second in 51.11, with France’s world champion Maxime Grousset third in 51.49.
In the women’s 50 butterfly, Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk broke the 26-second barrier by touching in 25.75, well ahead of the 26.18 of France’s Melanie Henique.
Peaty, Britain’s 31-year-old multiple world and Olympic champion won the 50m and 100m at the London Aquatics Centre in 26.79 and 59.15 respectively.
The London Aquatics Centre – which staged London 2012 competition – will soon become part of Peaty’s new training regime as he is moving down from the Midlands and will split his time between this venue and one in Kensington as he prepares for Paris 2026 – and for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics beyond.
“We just got to that point where I feel like I really outgrew where I was,” Peaty told Olympics.com. “I’ve been training in the Midlands for 15 years-plus. I’ve spent my whole life there and I wanted a different challenge.
“I am working under Lisa Bates on a different training model,” he added. “I am doing a lot more metres again now. My metres have pretty much doubled since before the British trials. It’s been a high load and we’ve had some great outputs. It’s all really positive.”
Meanwhile German athletes demonstrated their strength in distance events as 19-year-old Johannes Liebmann, who last month lowered the European 800m freestyle record to 7:37.94, won in London in 7:44.12
He finished ahead of American Ryan Erisman on 7:45.42) and his German training partners Oliver Klemet on 7:47.87, and Florian Wellbrock on 7:55.26.
Liebmann had already won the 1500m in 14:45.56, with Wellbrock second in 14:50.58 and Klemet third on 14:53.43.
Klemet had earlier won the 400m freestyle in 3:44.01 from Ryan Erisman of the United States, who clocked 3:44.03.
Meanwhile another member of Bernd Berkhahn’s Magdeburg training group, Isabel Gose, completed a clean sweep in the women’s 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle.
Her compatriot Angelina Kohler won the 50m and 100m butterfly, clocking 57.00 in the latter event ahead of Slovakia’s Tamara Potocka on 57.32.
Britain’s 18-year-old European and world junior champion Filip Nowacki won the 200m breaststroke in 2:08.85, ahead of Canada’sOliver Dawson on2:08.93 – a rivalry likely to be replayed at this year’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Nowacki’s 16-year-old compatriot Amalie Smith, the European junior 200m and 400m individual medley champion, lowered her personal best to 4:35.18 in winning at the longer distance before setting a European junior record of 2;10.32 in the 200m, where she was joint winner with American teenager Audrey Derivaux.
Britain’s Matt Richards won the 200 freestyle in 1:47.13, with second place in 1:47.33 going to Germany’s Jarno Baschnitt and James Guy finishing third in 1:47.43.
Home swimmer Oliver Morgan was the only athlete to break the 54-second barrier in the men’s 100 backstroke, winning in 53.81.
Another Briton, Angharad Evans – currently fastest in the world in the 200m breaststroke with her 2:19.70 at last month’s British Championships – won over that distance in 2:21.81, finishing more than five seconds clear of Germany’s Lena Ludwig.
She also won the 100m breaststroke, recording 1:05.13 to finish clear of Estonia’ s Eneli Jefimova, second in 1:06.37.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
