A host of Europe’s top artistic swimmers from 22 nations will contest 11 medal-events during five days of competition in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
For many, the biennial multi-sport continental championships will represent a crucial step in their preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Belgrade 2024 runs from 10-23 June, with artistic swimming taking place in the Sports Centre Milan Gale Muškatirović from the 10th to 14th.
Team Events – Tech, Free and Acrobatic:
Most nations who have secured a berth in the team competition for Paris 2024 have opted to continue their preparations for the Olympic Games in their respective homelands, but Spain is a noticeable exception, at least in one of the events.
Their full-strength squad, including duet Iris Tio Casas and Alisa Ozhogina, will line up in the Team Technical competition, making it a must-watch pre-Olympic performance.
The defending European champions will be tough to beat in that discipline, but the others – Free and Acrobatic – look wide open with several countries, including Italy, using the opportunity to test out new line-ups and give younger athletes senior competition experience
The inclusion of men within the team event is a relatively new concept in the sport and for most nations the change in regulations came too late in the Olympic cycle to integrate into plans for Paris 2024.
However, with many of the line-ups competing at Belgrade 2024 already looking to the Los Angeles Games in 2028, we are likely to see more male artistic swimmers feature than in previous editions of the European Championships.
Serbia’s Ivan Martinovic will make history for his nation in this competition when he competes in the Team Technical event.
Women’s Solo – Tech and Free:
All three of the athletes who filled the podium places at last month’s Artistic Swimming World Cup in Paris will be in action on the opening day of competition in Serbia.
Vasiliki Alexandri has solidified her position as the rising force in women’s solo events from Europe with recent World Cup successes, but German teenager Klara Bleyer is gradually increasing her degree of difficulty and likely to challenge for multiple honours too.
Marloes Steenbeek of the Netherlands was part of the duet line-up at last year’s European Games, but with the nation reuniting the de Brouwer sisters in 2024 – and for the Olympics– Steenbeek has added the solo discipline to her programme in order to find a new motivation.
She claimed double bronze at the second leg of the Artistic Swimming World Cup in France last month and will be aiming to add to the historic European Games Duet Tech silver she helped secure for the Netherlands in Poland last year.
With Solo Tech world champion Evangelia Platanioti of Greece opting to focus on the duet disciplines in Belgrade, 19-year-old Zoi Karangelou will have the opportunity to compete for her nation for the first time in a senior competition outside of a team discipline.
Also keep an eye out for Jasmine Verbena of San Marino, who is the only athlete from her nation competing at Belgrade 2024.
Men’s Solo – Tech and Free:
Arguably the strongest-ever European field of male solo swimmers will line-up for Belgrade 2024, demonstrating the continued progress of the discipline, which made its debut at the Roma 2022 European Championships.
The duel between four-time world champion Giorgio Minisini of Italy and Spanish star Dennis Gonzalez Boneu will undoubtedly be one of the major highlights during the Technical event.
Minisini took Solo Free gold ahead of his rival at the Doha Worlds earlier this year but has endured an injury-hit 12 months.
After the disappointment of being overlooked for a historic appearance at the Paris 2024 Games, he will be looking to return to the form that saw him claim victory in the two solo events at the Europeans in his home nation two years ago.
Gonzalez Boneu, winning of gold at the 2023 Worlds, has recently returned to action after rehabilitating a shoulder injury.
Filippo Pelati was a star of last year’s European Junior Artistic Swimming Championships – and not just based on his performances in the water. The young Italian made headlines around the world after dropping his phone in the pool en-route to the medal podium, a clip which has been viewed tens-of-millions of times worldwide.
Renaud Barrel, 36, is more than twice the age of the youngest competitor – 17-year-old David Martinez Delgado of Sweden – but it still a relative novice at this level of competition having only made his debut
Competing is about more than just medals for the Belgian though, who is challenging perceptions in the sport and hoping to inspire young people around the world through his endeavours.
Women’s Duet – Tech and Free:
2023 breakthrough duet Anna-Maria and Erini-Marina Alexandri – who won maiden World and European titles last year – were set to be the star attractions in this event, but illness forced the Austrian pair to pull out on the eve of the competition.
In their absence British pair Izzy Thorpe and Kate Shortman could be in line to secure their nation’s first-ever European title in the sport after winning the recent Olympic test event.
However, Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer of the Netherlands are also a formidable duet and finished ahead of Thorpe and Shortman in the Duet Free at the 2024 Worlds in Doha.
Evangelia Platanioti and Sofia Evangelia Malkogeorgou of Greece, four-time solo World championship medallists, are among the others with eyes on the podium prizes.
Mixed Duet – Tech and Free:
In the absence of Giorgio Minisini and his traditional mixed duet partner Lucreza Ruggiero, Spanish duo Dennis Gonzalez Boneu and Emma Garcia will be the likely contenders for gold.
Beatrice Crass and Ranjuo Tomblin of Great Britain claimed two surprise third-place finishes at last year’s European Games and will now be expected to maintain their continental medal-winning run.
Italian’s Filippo Pelati and Sarah Rizea have enjoyed a successful debut season on the senior circuit, though, with bronze and silver World Cup honours secured during 2024 so far.
Serbia’s best hope of a place on the podium could come in this discipline, with Ivan Martinovic – who became the nation’s first-ever artistic swimming medallist with solo bronze at Roma 2022 – lining up alongside Jelena Kontić.
The pair, partners in and out of the water, were fourth in the Free event at the 2023 European Games in Poland.