Otopeni 2025: Juska and Tuncelli are golden on day 3 of the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships
European swimmers once again stepped up to the top of the podium on day three at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships as Lithuania’s Tajus Juska and Turkiye’s Kuzey Tuncelli claimed the men’s 100m butterfly and 800m freestyle titles respectively. Juska, 16, added world junior gold to the European junior version he won in Samorin […]
Five biggest talking points of 2023 (women)
As 2023 comes to a close, we select the five biggest talking points among European women this year. Sarah Sjöström Sarah Sjöström is the embodiment of sustained excellence and astonishing longevity and versatility. She is also an athlete who consistently rewrites the history books. That continued at the 2023 World Championships when the Swede joined […]
Otopeni 2023: Video Judging implemented for the first time
European Aquatics authorised its first-ever use of Video Judging at the European Short Course Championships in Otopeni to ensure fairness for the athletes. More than 20 underwater cameras were used together with others above water level. There were 18 disqualifications across the six-day meet, including a number of world-leading athletes, and 14 overturned reports. In […]
Otopeni 2023: Ranking the six top performances
With the European Short Course Swimming Championships having concluded, we recap six of the most impressive performances in Otopeni. DANIEL WIFFEN: 800m FREESTYLE While Leon Marchand (400IM) and Qin Haiyang (200m breaststroke) broke men’s world records in the long-course pool in 2023, no swimmer – male or female – had set a new short-course standard. […]
Otopeni 2023: Five talking points
With the 2023 European Short-Course Championships having concluded in Otopeni, we’ve selected five talking points following the six-day meet. THE HOSTS OF PARIS 2024 With the Games just eight months away, the hosts sent a strong team to Otopeni featuring swimmers who have topped Olympic, world and European podiums. France finished third in the medal […]
David Popovici – Otopeni 2023 a “huge step forward” for Romanian swimming
By Nick Hope Aquatics correspondent in Bucharest A sell-out crowd witnessed a phenomenal final night of swimming success as Otopeni 2023 concluded with not only a world record-breaking victory for Daniel Wiffen, but a much-celebrated podium finish for home nation favourite David Popovici. The Romanian freestyler announced his arrival with a series of astounding breakthrough performances in 2022 […]
Otopeni 2023: Daniel Wiffen downs the oldest world record in the 800m freestyle as the European Short Course Championships conclude
Daniel Wiffen crushed the 800m freestyle short-course World record in the final individual race of the European Short Course Championships in Otopeni. The Irish swimmer stopped the clock at seven minutes 20.46 seconds to slice 2.96secs off Grant Hackett’s record that had stood since July 2008. It was the longest-standing global standard in the books […]
Otopeni 2023: Noe Ponti completes historic butterfly treble
Noe Ponti became the first swimmer to do the butterfly clean sweep when he added the 50m to his 100 and 200m titles on the penultimate day of the European Short Course Championships in Otopeni. Kira Toussaint made it three in a row in the 100m backstroke, a day after winning three straight 50 back […]
Otopeni 2023: Kira Toussaint makes it three in a row with 50m backstroke gold
Kira Toussaint won her third straight 50m backstroke title as the Dutch women won two gold medals on day four of the European Short Course Championships in Otopeni. Netherlands teammate Tes Schouten claimed her first international crown in the 200m breaststroke to add to bronze over 100m. France had a golden night in the pool […]
Otopeni 2023: Ben Proud roars to European 50m freestyle record of 20.18
Ben Proud became the second-fastest man in history when he set a European short-course 50m freestyle record of 20.18 seconds in Otopeni. The Briton was just 0.02secs outside Caeleb Dressel’s 20.16 world record as he took 0.08secs from the European standard of 20.26 held by Florent Manaudou since December 2014. It was the second European […]
