Romania’s David Popovici has been named the best male swimmer in the 2025 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards, narrowly edging France’s Leon Marchand after another remarkable season.
Romania’s David Popovici has been named the best male swimmer in the 2025 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards, securing 37.94% of the vote. He held off the challenge of 2024 winner Leon Marchand, who received 31.52% after a golden season that included a world record.
Popovici, who turned 21 last September, repeated his 2022 world double in the 100m and 200m freestyle, lowering his European record in the 100m to 46.51—just 0.11 off the World Record. Earlier in the summer, at the European Aquatics U23 Championships in Samorin, he had already set a European record of 46.71 en route to a 100/200m freestyle double.
Marchand, 23, returned to racing in spectacular fashion at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. He broke Ryan Lochte’s 200m individual medley world record by 1.31 seconds, clocking 1:52.69 in the semi-finals. Marchand went on to win gold in the 200m IM (1:53.68) and the 400m medley (4:04.73), marking his seventh individual world title. Thirty minutes later, he split 58.44 on the breaststroke leg of the 4x100m medley relay to help France claim silver in a national record of 3:27.96. He was subsequently named the best male swimmer of the Championships.
Hungary’s Hubert Kos took third place with 16.57% of the vote after another outstanding season. He added the world 200m backstroke title to his Olympic crown with a European record of 1:53.19 and won bronze in the 200m IM. Kos also excelled in short course racing, setting world records in the 100m (48.16) and 200m (1:45.12) backstroke on his way to winning the overall men’s World Aquatics Swimming World Cup title with a perfect record.
Germany’s Lukas Maertens finished fourth after winning the world 400m freestyle title three months after becoming the first swimmer to break 3:40 with a world record of 3:39.96, lowering Paul Biedermann’s 2009 mark by 0.11.
France’s 26-year-old Maxime Grousset was fifth in the vote. He won the men’s 50m and 100m butterfly world titles in Singapore, setting a national record of 22.48 in the 50m and a European record of 49.62 in the 100m. He also helped France win silver in the 4x100m medley relay (3:27.96, national record) and mixed 4x100m freestyle relay (3:21.35, national record). Grousset extended his season at the European Aquatics Short Course Championships in Lublin, losing twice to Switzerland’s Noe Ponti before edging him by 0.01 in the 100m butterfly and adding a second title in the 100m freestyle.