Close-ups: our swimmers set ambitious goals for the European Championships in Paris

The European Aquatics Championships are nearing the equator. The synchronized swimmers have already completed their performance, and the program for divers, open water swimmers, and high divers will end this week. However, the main fight for victory in the overall standings will begin on Monday, August 10, when the swimming pool competition starts. In this sport, more than half of the sets of Water Euro awards will be played — 47 out of 80. Andrey Shishin, the head coach of the Russian national swimming team, outlined a plan for the tournament — to win 20 medals. Whether this is a lot or a little, and how many of them can become gold, is in the Izvestia material.

Team perspectives

The 20-award plan is ambitious, of course, but it's close to reality. The last time we competed at the European Championships was in Budapest in 2021. Then 22 medals were won.: 9 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals. In the swimming competition, we lost only to the British team, which had 26 awards, including 11 gold.

— The current medal plan is ambitious. No one has voiced this yet. We want Russian swimming to be ahead of the rest of the planet. Therefore, we set maximum goals. I see that our athletes are very eager for victories, competitions and a return to the European arena," Sergei Fesikov, head of the swimming Directorate of the Russian Aquatics Federation, Olympic medalist, told Izvestia.

20 medals is the level of the second overall place. However, depending on the number of gold pieces whose price is higher, it can be either the first or the third position. In Budapest 2021, for example, Italians collected the most (27), but they ended up third. If there are 10 or more wins, then this is practically a guarantee of first place in the swimming competition.

Relay races can make a significant contribution to the Russian national team's piggy bank. Last summer, at the World Championships in Singapore, we won two of the three gold medals in the team disciplines. Sergey Fesikov said that now in Paris, Russian swimmers can pick up awards in each of the relay races.

There will be a total of nine team races at the Euro — three men's, three women's and three mixed. If you look back at the last World Cup, then in France you can aim for four gold medals. In Singapore, we won the combined 4x100m relay races for men and mixed teams. They were the best among the European teams in two more finals: only the USA passed ahead in the 4x100 m freestyle relay, and they finished fourth in the women's 4x100 m combined, losing to the Americans, Australians and Chinese.

But we can't even count on a bronze medal in all relay races. For example, Russians have not participated in the women's 4x200 m crawl at big starts for a long time, and now the juniors will swim for the team together with Daria Klepikova. Nevertheless, the national team is capable of winning 6-7 medals in nine team races in the swimming competition.

Above the bar

In individual competitions, looking at the results this season, there are more expectations for medals from men, including gold.

We have the highest chance of winning the 50 m backstroke. In Singapore 2025, Kliment Kolesnikov became the best at this distance, while Pavel Samusenko took second place. These two practically occupied the top 10 best results of this season: Kliment's time was 1st, 3rd and 6th; Pavel's time was 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th. There are no other Europeans in the top 10.

Egor Kornev will surely help the national team fulfill the plan. At the last Russian championship, which was a selection for the Euro, he broke five national records in four days of the tournament: twice in the 50 and 100 m freestyle, as well as in the fifty-meter butterfly. In these three disciplines, Kornev is among the leaders in the ratings of the best swimmers in the Old World.

Potentially, if it turns out to repeat and improve the Kazan results in Paris, and the rivals do not make a serious leap, we can hope for three gold medals from Egor. He is second only to Australian Cameron McEvoy in the fifty-kopeck crawl, and has the first time in the world in the 100 m freestyle and 50 m butterfly.

We have the second place among the Europeans in the top results of the season in the men's breaststroke and complex. Breaststroker Ivan Kozhakin is still inferior to Italian Simone Cerazuolo, but in the 50 m he loses only 0.01 seconds in absentia.

Of course, the best results of the season in the world can be deceptive and do not give any guarantees for the Euro. Nevertheless, if we look at them, the picture looks favorable for us. Currently, 12 men are in the top 3 in Europe.

Women are more modest. In many disciplines, Russians are not even close to the top three, as there are no top results of the season. Evgenia Chikunova is the closest to this in the 200 m breaststroke crown. At the World Championships a year ago, she lost to American Kate Douglas, and according to the results of the current season, she is inferior to British Angharad Evans.

In Singapore 2025, Chikunova was the only girl who put a personal medal in the national team's piggy bank, but in Paris 2026 we should have more winners. We are in the top 3 in Europe for women in six more disciplines.

— Yes, we had a huge international break, which we managed to overcome thanks to the work of Dmitry Mazepin, Chairman of the Federation, and his team, — Andrey Shishin, coach of the Russian national swimming team, emphasized in an interview with Izvestia. — We have started our journey to regain our leading positions, step by step we are going to the top. I want the team to capture the incredible number of medals that we had in our best years and strive for 20 medals. Athletes see that in the world ranking we have 12 people in the medal table. We must achieve our goal in this drive.

With a favorable outcome, you can get around 25 awards, with 8-9 gold ones. The task announced by the coaching staff definitely does not look impossible.