Singapore 2025: European male swimmers home in on medals as Marchand sticks to medley racing

Europe’s male swimmers, who won 11 of the 14 individual titles on offer at the Paris 2024 Olympics, will seek to make a similar impact when the swimming programme starts tomorrow at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Leon Marchand, who became the French poster boy for the Games in securing four titles last summer, has signalled his intention to concentrate on just two of his Paris events – the 200m and 400m individual medley races, in which he will be clear favourite.

The 23-year-old US-based athlete will also involve himself in the relays.

Meanwhile the Swiss swimmer who ended 2024 with a flourish, 24-year-old Noe Ponti, will be seeking his first long course world title after securing three world short course titles in Budapest last December, in the 50m and 100m butterfly and the 100m medley. He set four successive world records in the 50m butterfly and also broke the 100m butterfly world record in his final.

Ponti, who has been in sharp form this season, has his clearest opportunity in the 50m butterfly, but he will face strong opposition from Canada’s Ilya Kharun and Maxime Grousset of France, who will also be a strong rival in the 100m butterfly.

There is huge interest in the men’s 100m and 200m freestyle events, where Romania’s 20-year-old David Popovici, Olympic champion in the latter event, has served notice of his ambitions with his performance at last month’s European Aquatics U23 Championships in Samorin.

There he produced the second fastest 100m swim in history when he recorded 46.71, just 0.31 off the world record set by his Chinese contemporary Pan Zhanle in winning the Olympic title in Paris. The Romanian completed his final 50m in a staggering 23.98 – the first time anyone has managed that in less than 24 seconds.

Popovici went on to win the 200m freestyle title in 1:43.64, the world’s leading time this year.

Pan Zhanle will still be favoured to retain the 100m title however, and Kyle Chalmers of Australia will be another strong contender. In the 200m Popovici will face the two men who took silver and bronze behind him in Paris, Matt Richards of Great Britain – who missed gold by just 0.02 – and bronze medallist Luke Hobson of the United States.

Richards’ team-mate Ben Proud will have big chances in the 50m freestyle, in which he earned Olympic silver last summer.

Germany’s Lukas Martens will have an outstanding chance of gold in the 400m freestyle having lowered the world record to 3:39.96 earlier this year, becoming the first swimmer to better 3:40.

The 800m freestyle will seek Ireland’s Paris 2024 champion Daniel Wiffen taking on the German who bettered the European record of 7:38.19 he set in winning Olympic gold, Sven Schwarz, who recorded  7:38.12 in May.

Bobby Finke of the United States will also be a potent challenger in the 800m – where he took Paris 2024 silver – and the 1500m, where he won Olympic gold. In the latter event he will come under pressure from Germany’s in-form Florian Wellbrock, who won the world 5km and 10km open water titles in Singapore last week.

Italy’s Olympic 100m backstroke champion Thomas Ceccon will face the challenge of NAB athlete Kliment Kolesnikov, who has recorded the fastest time this year, 52.04.

Hungary’s Hubert Kos, the Paris 2024 200m backstroke champion, will seek to replicate his gold-medal performance in this event at the 2023 World Championships, having won short course world gold in Budapest last December.

The men’s 50m and 100m breaststroke races will lack Britain’s multiple world and Olympic champion Adam Peaty and the American with whom he finished joint second in the Paris 2024 100m final, Bobby Fink.

The Italian who won that title by 0.02, Nicolo Martinenghi, will be present – and one of his strongest rivals will be team-mate Ludovico Viberti, who leads this year’s world rankings over 50m with 26.27.

With Sweden’s double Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom taking time out, the strongest European challenger in the women’s races appears to be Lithuania’s Ruita Meiluyte, who will seek a fourth consecutive title in the 50m breaststroke.

Great Britain’s Angharad Evans has medal chances in the 200m breaststroke.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics

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