Olympic and World champions descended on the city of Lublin in eastern Poland for six days of rapid racing at the 2025 European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships and those watching were treated to an astounding, record-breaking, event.
While a host of swimmers helped ‘light up Lublin’ Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands shone brightest, with six gold medals, as well as a silver and bronze.
However, perhaps even more impressive was the fact those performances also included European records across five individual events, four of which had previously been split between legendary duo Katinka Hosszu (HUN) and Sarah Sjöström (SWE).
While Steenbergen was the standout swimmer, she was far from the only athlete to deliver eye-catching performances in Poland, with Martine Damborg (DEN), Isabel Gose (GER), Katarzyna Wasick (POL), Maxime Grousset (FRA) and Noe Ponti (SUI) all staring.
In addition to senior European and junior World, as well as European records being broken, the Italian line-up of Leonardo Deplano, Lorenzo Zazzeri, Silvia di Pietro and Sara Curtis were also able to celebrate setting a new senior World record in the Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Relay.
Here World Aquatics speaks with some of the major medal-winners for their reflections on a record-breaking European Short Course Swimming Championships.
Marrit Steenbergen Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
After claiming her first 100m Freestyle World championship title at Doha 2024 the Dutch sprinter admitted she often feels like an ‘outsider’ among the best swimmers on the planet.
Even after defending her title at Singapore 2025, with an impressive victory over Olympic gold medallist Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS), Steenbergen confessed to some lingering feeling of doubt, but her latest record-breaking successes have helped to shift her mindset.
“It’s a little less (pressure) on the European stage as the American and Australian girls aren’t here, but I gained a lot of confidence from the World Cups and I kept getting better and I tried to take that into the Europeans,” she tells World Aquatics.
“It (success) just kept going throughout the week so I didn’t feel like an imposter here.”
Reflecting on her six European short course titles and five individual European record swims, Steenbergen admitted the 50m Backstroke landmark time, in the lead-off leg of the Netherland’s 4x50m Medley Relay line-up, was the biggest surprise.
However, the swimmer also confesses she was not particularly expecting any.
“I think the momentum was key, but mostly 200m Free and 200m IM I really surprised myself,” she insists.
“100m Free is kind of my baby, so I wanted that to go well and it’s the one I train the most for, so although it’s not that I was specifically expecting a European record, if one was to come I thought it would be in the 100m free.
“When they came in the 200m Free and 200m IM I was like ‘what the hell’ I didn’t expect to be that fast and all five it’s incredible!”
Denmark Discovers Blume’s Heir in Martine Damborg
After staring at the European Junior Championships in July, where she won the 50m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly titles on the same night, Martine Damborg was essentially targeting a key learning experience from the senior championships in Lublin.
It quickly became far more, with the Dain breaking the 50m Butterfly European Junior record three-times en-route to defeating World medallists Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL) and Beryl Gastaldello (FRA) in the final.
If that was a surprise, she then produced arguably an even bigger shock in the 100m Butterfly final, by claiming her second title and breaking another European Junior record in a strong field.
The 18-year-old then received her gold medal from her nation’s history-making Olympic champion Pernille Blume, who was an Athlete Ambassador at the event and also part of European Aquatics’ commentary team.
“It meant so much to me, she’s an amazing person, such a big legend for Danish swimming and she knows how it feels so it was great to also have some advice from her,” said Damborg.
“The last two days (after winning her first European victory) were so tough for me because it’s a really big thing to win a gold medal here and I honestly didn’t expect it to be so difficult with all of the emotions.
Damborg continued; “It’s great to do this at such a young age and that will give me a lot of confidence for training in the years ahead and I really appreciate all of the congratulations.”
Ponti vs Grousset Provides High Drama and High Entertainment
Two of the biggest ‘frenemies’ on the swimming circuit went head-to-head in three finals at the 2025 European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships.
Noe Ponti struck the first blow with victory in the 50m Butterfly, which saw Grousset finish third, with the Swiss star then edging his French rival into second, by just 1-100th of a second, in the 100m Individual Medley.
Ponti completed a clean-sweep of the Butterfly titles at Otopeni 2023 and was aiming to claim a four-strong individual gold medal haul from the 2025 edition, but Grousset rallied and gained revenge on his 100m IM defeat – winning the 100m Butterfly by 1-100th from Ponti.
Two-time World champion Grousset would also add the 100m Freestyle title and a 50m Free silver to his collection before the end of the competition, while Ponti fought hard to hold off the charge of Polish twins Krzysztof and Michal Chmielewski, to defend his 200m Fly crown.
“Inside the pool yes maybe he’s my enemy, but outside of it he’s my friend and like a brother,” Ponti tells World Aquatics. Grousset added; “We push one another and we’re happy for one another’s success.”
Wasick Wows with Landmark Polish Podium
Katarzyna Wasick was the only member of the Polish team who competed at the last edition of the European Short Course Championships to take place in her homeland – Szczecin 2011.
There she claimed a bronze as part of Poland’s women’s 4x50m Medley Relay team, but in the years since – which also included a brief period of retirement – she had never topped the podium individually at a major championships.
That long wait finally ended in Lublin, with the 33-year-old delivering a masterclass 50m Freestyle performance to land that maiden crown and Poland’s first gold of the event, on the final night. Not too long afterwards, team-mate Justina Kozan then claimed the 400m IM title.
“It’s so hard to explain, winning my first individual hold medal at home in front of my family and my people is incredible and I’m so happy,” said Wasick, who hopes her nation’s success helps inspire the next generation of Polish swimmers to push for the podium themselves.
“Winning four medals on the last day of the Europeans, having kids here and hearing the national anthem, I think that’s huge and if we can inspire one kid to pick up swimming we’ll be very happy about it.”
Gose Goes Golden AGAIN for Germany
Since claiming her first senior title – 400m gold at the Roma 2022 European Long Course Championship – Isabel Gose has been gradually building momentum, with three wider World podium places at Doha 2024, before claiming Olympic 1500m bronze at Paris 2024.
She rounded off a stunning year with her first World Short Course victory in the 1500m and despite taking time off during 2025, the Germany produced two commanding performances across the 400m and 800m Freestyle events, to claim two further career-firsts.
“I’m always nervous before a race, wondering why I do this, but no I really enjoy it and leaving Lubin with two gold medals makes me really happy,” Gose told European Aquatics.
Young Stars Shine Brightest on Biggest Stage
While many of the established names further endorsed their elite status, Damborg was far from the only teenage talent to light up Lublin during the European Short Course Championships.
18-year-old Eneli Jefimova further extended her record-breaking Estonian medal-haul at senior continental championships by defending the 100m title she won in 2023, but also adding a maiden 50m crown in the process. With the latter coming in a new Championship record time of 28.81 seconds.
Sara Curtis (ITA) rounded off her junior career with three European junior titles in 2024 and marked her first full season as a senior with her first individual title, in the 50m Backstroke.
The sprinter also placed second in the 50m Freestyle and third in the 100m Free finals.
Men’s distance swimming is far from short of established talent, but there are also younger athletes like Johannes Liebmann, who are keen to become contenders.
The 18-year-old, who unsurprisingly cites Olympic champion and countryman Florian Wellbrock as his idol, smashed the 400m Freestyle and 800m Freestyle World Junior records during a stunning competition and is a certain one-to-watch in the years ahead.
As is Ireland’s fellow 18-year-old John Shortt, who after becoming a two-time World junior champion earlier this year has now landed a first senior title.
It came in the 200m Backstroke, which not only saw him hold off defending champion Mewen Tomac of France, but also set a new World Junior Record of 1:47.89.
In addition to the one new World Record there were six World Junior Records, eight European records, 11 European Junior Records and 17 Championship Records set during Lublin 2025.
The next major competition for the majority of the continent’s best swimmers will see them return to the host city of the 2024 Olympic Games, Paris, for the 2026 European Aquatics Championships, from 31 July to 16 August.