Ponti and Grousset on collision course in men’s events at Lublin 2025

The convergence of Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and Maxime Grousset of France promises to be one of the highlights of the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships which start in Lublin on Tuesday (December 2).

Ponti has been a short course sensation in the last two years and he will have every reason to be confident about his defence of the 50m, 100m and 200m butterfly titles he won at the last edition of these Championships in Otopeni two years ago.

On that occasion he set a national record of 21.79 in the 50m butterfly and a European record of 48.47 in the 100m butterfly.

By the end of last year his record in the 25m pool was even more formidable. In the course of 2024 set five short course world records and earned three golds at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest.

Ponti, who turned 24 in June, set two 50m butterfly short course world records shortly before competing in the Hungarian capital, where he was named as male swimmer of the event.

He improved his 50m butterfly short course records in the semi-finals and final, clocking 21.43 and 21.32.

He then added the 100m butterfly title, lowering the world record to 47.71 in the final, before earning a third gold in the 100m medley, where he set a Championship record of 50.33.

In the 50m pool, however, Ponti’s high ambitions were not fully realised. A 100m bronze medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Games, he narrowly failed to add another Olympic medal at the Paris 2024 Games, finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the 100m and 200m butterfly.

At this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore Ponti made the podium in both the 100m and 200m butterfly, taking silver. On both occasions, however, Grousset finished ahead of him, setting a French record of 22.48m in the 100m event and a European record of 49.62 in the 200m butterfly.

The two men are also set to meet in the 100m medley, where the Swiss athlete took silver at Otopeni 2023 before winning in Budapest in a Championship and national record of 50.33.

Will Ponti’s affinity with short course tip the scales in his favour this coming week? Fasten your seat belts…

Grousset, meanwhile, will also be defending the 100m freestyle tittle and seeking rewards in the 50m freestyle. He tops the rankings in both events.

Ponti’s triple gold in Otopeni was matched by Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, who won the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, setting an 800m world record of 7:20.46 in the process.

Wiffen is defending all three titles in what will be his competitive comeback after he dropped out of the Singapore World Championships in order to have an appendix operation.

Rivals are ready to move in across the distances, with Britain’s Duncan Scott and Lucas Henceaux of Belgium looming large in the 400m. And with Germany’s world champion and record holder Lukas Martens also in the frame.

The 800m and 1500m freestyle are similarly stacked. In the 800m Hungary’s world short course champion Zalan Sarkany will be eager for another title, and Germany’s Florian Wellbrock, a four-times world open water swimming gold medallist this year, seeking pool success in both distances.

Also in the swim are Turkiye’s prodigious 18-year-old European and world junior champion Kuzey Tuncelli and Hungary’s David Betlehem.

France’s Mewen Tomac will defend his 100m and 200m backstroke titles –  but in both cases he will have Italy’s Paris 2024 100m backstroke champion Thomas Ceccon to deal with.

Dutch swimmer Caspar Corbeau, who became the first swimmer to better 2.00 in the 200m breaststroke when he clocked 1.:59.52 at the World Cup in Toronto in October, will challenge for that title and the 50m breaststroke.

In the shorter distance he faces the challenge of Italy’s world champion Simone Cerasuolu; in the longer distance he takes on Spain’s Carles Coll Marti, who won the world short course title last December.

Italy’s Alberto Razzetti will defend his 400m medley title as well as contesting the 200m medley. He tops the rankings in both.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics

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