\t\t\t\t\t2026 European Swimming Championships<\/p>\n
By The Numbers \u2013 Men\u2019s 800 Freestyle<\/p>\n
At this point, a German swimmer having a historic swim in a mid-distance or distance freestyle event feels almost like an annual tradition. This year, it was Schwimmclub Magdeburg\u2019s Johannes Liebmann<\/a> <\/strong>who turned heads, another off the production line that has produced Lukas M<\/strong>\u00e4rtens <\/strong>and Oliver Klemet<\/a><\/strong>. At 19-years-old, Liebmann blew away the field at April\u2019s Malmsten Swim Open, powering to a European record of 7:37.94. The swim shattered his previous personal best of 7:50.86 and put him sixth on an all-time performer ranking that has been constantly evolving \u2013 six of the top ten swimmers have hit their mark in the last three years.<\/p>\n Liebmann & Co. <\/strong><\/p>\n Over the last five years, Germany has built a powerful distance freestyle crew. Liebmann\u2019s stunning 7:37.94 swim took over the European and German records from his countrymate Sven Schwarz<\/a><\/strong>, who set both marks at 7:38.12 last May. Further, it made him the fourth German swimmer to break the 800 freestyle national record in the past four years (Florian Wellbrock<\/strong> and M\u00e4rtens were the other two).<\/p>\n This German distance crew has been one of the large contingents helping push the men\u2019s global distance renaissance forward. The group becomes even more powerful at the continental level, and would be a real threat to sweep the podium at the upcoming European Championships if not for the two swimmer per country limit in the final.<\/p>\n Schwarz, 24, still sits seventh on the all-time rankings with his lifetime best. He\u2019s third in the world this year after putting up a 7:41.14 at the German Championships, edging out M\u00e4rtens by .17 seconds, 7:41.14 to 7:41.31, the same order they finished as they won silver and bronze at the 2025 World Championships. Schwarz was off his lifetime best in the final, but still dipped back under the 7:40 mark with a 7:39.96 for his first senior World Championship medal. He has won medals at the short-course meters European Championships (double bronze in the 800\/1500 freestyle at the 2021 edition) but is looking for his first long-course European Championships medals next week.<\/p>\n M\u00e4rtens, the 400 freestyle world record holder, is a medal favorite in this race on paper. He owns the fourth-fastest time in the world this season (7:41.31) and owns a 7:39.10 lifetime best that ranks 12th all-time. However, as reported by the German Swimming Federation<\/a> (DSV), M\u00e4rtens \u00a0revealed at the German Sprint and Individual Medley Championships last week he plans to skip the 800 freestyle and focus on the 200 freestyle instead. M\u00e4rtens brought up the country\u2019s 800 freestyle depth as one of the reasons he was prioritizing the 200 freestyle. The two-swimmer per country limit in the final is a challenge for Germany in this event; Liebmann, Schwarz, M\u00e4rtens, and Oliver Klemet<\/a> <\/strong>are all good enough to reach the final, meaning the 800 freestyle prelims would be extremely high stakes. Not only would they have to place top eight, they\u2019d need to be one of the top two Germans.<\/p>\n Even with M\u00e4rtens skipping the 800 freestyle, that pressure won\u2019t be entirely off. Klemet will almost certainly be behind the blocks for the 800 freestyle and could also medal in this event. Klemet, the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 10km open water, is the third-fastest European swimmer in the 800 freestyle this season. He swam 7:45.66 this spring, which puts him eighth-fastest in the world this season post-U.S. Nationals. The time was just 1.05 seconds off his lifetime best, an impressive feat considering he broke his arm last fall after the 2025 World Championships.<\/p>\n At a European Championship without the two-swimmer per country limit, this German distance contingent would be a threat to sweep the 800 freestyle podium. That\u2019s an impossibility for now, so expect the German swimmers to push pace in prelims. Whichever two make it through to the final will be heavy medal favorites.<\/p>\n Olympic Finalists Check In<\/strong><\/p>\n Italy\u2019s Luca De Tullio<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>knows all too well about that limit. He was on the wrong side of that line at the 2022 European Championships. Despite touching eighth overall in prelims, he was the fourth-fastest Italian as Gregorio Paltrinieri<\/strong><\/a>, Lorenzo Galossi<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>and Gabriele Detti<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>all finished ahead of him.<\/p>\n Four years later, the 22-year-old is the highest ranked non-German European in the 800 freestyle this season. He clocked a 7:47.60 at the Italian Championships that makes him the fifth-fastest European for 2025-26. De Tullio has been as fast as 7:44.07, which he swam to qualify for the Paris Olympic final where he ultimately finished seventh. Based on the season rankings, he\u2019s poised to move up from that placement as he returns to Paris for these European Championships.<\/p>\n De Tullio is the only Italian currently ranked in the 800 freestyle global top 25 this season. When the Italian roster for the 2026 European Championships was announced, Paltrinieri was only named to the open water team, though the federation stipulated he could be named to the pool swimming roster at a later date. He swam a 7:57.54 800 freestyle split at the Italian Championships this spring.<\/p>\n Of course, Daniel Wiffen<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>remembers the Paris Olympic 800 freestyle final most fondly of all the competitors here. He won the 800 freestyle Olympic gold two years ago, setting an Olympic and then-European record with a 7:38.19, which currently ranks as the eighth-fastest performance in history.<\/p>\n This spring, Wiffen relocated his training base from California to Ireland. He\u2019s been quieter in competition this year; his season-best is a 7:48.82 from July\u2019s Commonwealth Games, where he finished fourth behind an Australian podium sweep. It\u2019s no doubt been a tumultuous year for Wiffen, but there\u2019s also the possibility he\u2019s more focused on European Championships than Commonwealth Games. He could have a substantial drop in him between the two championships. Even if that does not turn out to be the case, it would be a shock to see Wiffen miss this final.<\/p>\n The Two-Swimmer Per Country Limit Rears Its Head (Again) <\/strong><\/p>\n Germany is the most obvious example of a country that will run headlong into the final limit. But it isn\u2019t the only country affected\u2014Hungary will also likely bump against that barrier. Hungary\u2019s top three distance swimmers David Betlehem<\/a>, Kristof Rasovszky<\/a>, <\/strong>and Zal\u00e1n S\u00e1rk\u00e1ny <\/strong>have all broke 7:50 already this season. In fact, the three swimmers\u2019 season-bests are separated by only 1.36 seconds.<\/p>\n The 22-year-old Betlehem owns the fastest season-best of the three, with his 7:48.08 checking in .01 seconds ahead of Kristof Rasovszky<\/a><\/strong> as he out-dueled him at the 2026 Hungarian Championships. Both are open water specialists\u2014with Olympic medals to show for it\u2014and so far, all their medals on the senior professional swimming stage have come from that discipline.<\/p>\n Rasovszky has the fastest lifetime best of these three Hungarians, he owns the national record with the 7:44.42 he swam for fifth at the 2024 World Championships. Betlehem\u2019s lifetime best is a 7:47.02 from the 2023 World Championships, while S\u00e1rk\u00e1ny\u2019s best sits at 7:48.66 from last year. S\u00e1rk\u00e1ny, the reigning bronze medalist in this event, has been as fast as 7:49.44 which he swam to finish behind Betlehem and Rasovszky at Hungarian Championships. He was fresh off an NCAA season though, and a training block focused fully on long-course could see him improve both his season and lifetime marks.<\/p>\n More Contenders<\/strong><\/p>\n Sweden\u2019s Victor Johansson<\/a> <\/strong>has the fastest lifetime best of the swimmers we\u2019ve yet to mention. Johansson has been a finalist at the 2024 and 2025 World Championships, breaking through in a crowded field. He set his lifetime best (and national record) during prelims of the 2025 World Championships, swimming 7:44.81. Though this field is stacked, it is less packed than a World Championships, so another finals appearance from Johansson, who owns a 7:49.43 season-best, would not be a surprise.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also Turkey\u2019s Kuzey Tuncelli<\/a> <\/strong>to keep an eye on. He\u2019s the defending European champion in the 1500 freestyle\u2014so far, that event has proven to be his sweet spot, but he\u2019s also a finals threat at this distance. He took sixth in this event at the 2024 European Championships, then matched that at the 2025 World Championships. His swim in Singapore was a lifetime best 7:45.13, which marked yet another national record for him. Watch for him to make a big drop from his current season best, a 7:53.35 from May.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Savely Luzin<\/a> <\/strong>approached the 7:50 mark this season at Russian Championships (7:50.89) but did not make the country\u2019s roster for European Championships making junior Gregorii Vekovishchev<\/strong> the fastest Russian in this race this season who will be in attendance (7:52.23). With that, some other names watch include Bulgaria\u2019s Petar Mitsin<\/a><\/strong>, Greece\u2019s Dimitrios Markos<\/a>, <\/strong>Poland\u2019s Krysztof Chmielewski<\/a><\/strong>, and Belgium\u2019s Lucas Henveaux<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n Markos and Chmielewski placed 2nd and 4th, respectively, at the 2024 European Championships in a sparser field than normal but Chmielewski, a Worlds medalist in the 200 butterfly, may opt to place his focus elsewhere. Similarly, Henveaux is the Belgian record holder in this event but certainly this season seems to be prioritizing shorter distances\u2014his season best is a 7:55.57. Markos has been as fast as 7:52.45 this season; like Tuncelli, that leaves him needing to make a significant drop from his season best to make the final.<\/p>\n SwimSwam Picks <\/strong><\/p>\n Dark Horse: Sacha Velly<\/a> (FRA) <\/p>\n As for the host team, neither of France\u2019s mainstay distance swimmers Damien Joly<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>or David Aubry<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>are on the roster for these European Championships. If there is a French representative in this race, it will likely be Sacha Velly<\/a><\/strong>, who split 7:53.68 at French Nationals on the way to his 14:51.23 in the 1500 freestyle. It\u2019s not a guarantee that he\u2019ll race, but given his lifetime best performance in the 1500 freestyle, it\u2019s an intriguing thought experiment to think what he could put down when racing for the 800 freestyle time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 European Swimming Championships By The Numbers \u2013 Men\u2019s 800 Freestyle World Record: 7:32.12 \u2013 Zhang Lin, China…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1128204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[307052,34692,307053,260686,307054,2000,299,307055,1824,307056,307057,33786,307058,307059,94835,307060,307061,307062,307063,33787,33788,273248,260692,307064,34693,307065,307066],"class_list":["post-1128203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-damien-joly","tag-daniel-wiffen","tag-david-aubry","tag-david-betlehem","tag-dimitrios-markos","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-gabriele-detti","tag-germany","tag-gregorii-vekovishchev","tag-gregorio-paltrinieri","tag-johannes-liebmann","tag-kristof-rasovszky","tag-krysztof-chmielewski","tag-kuzey-tuncelli","tag-lorenzo-galossi","tag-luca-de-tullio","tag-lucas-henveaux","tag-lucas-henvevaux","tag-lukas-martens","tag-oliver-klemet","tag-petar-mitsin","tag-sacha-velly","tag-savely-luzin","tag-sven-schwarz","tag-victor-johansson","tag-zalan-sarkany"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1128203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1128203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1128204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1128203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1128203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1128203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}