European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards 2025: Marrit Steenbergen voted best women’s swimmer
Marrit Steenbergen has been named best women’s swimmer in the 2025 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards after an extraordinary season of success spanning long course and short course competition.
The 25-year-old Dutch athlete, who earned 36.29% of the total vote, began her year in Singapore by retaining the 100m freestyle title she had won in Doha the previous year.
She clocked 52.55 to hold off the challenge of Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, who recorded 52.67, and Torri Huske of the United States, who finished in 52.89.
She then helped The Netherlands to bronze in the women’s 4x100m freestyle before moving onwards to an astonishing performance at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships Lublin 2025.
Steenbergen was the star turn in Lublin as she won five golds and set five European records.
She began day 3 by winning the women’s 100m medley in 56.26, eclipsing the European mark of 56.41 set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in 2017.
Ten minutes after her medal ceremony she added 200m freestyle gold in 1:50.33 – beating the 2017 mark of 1:50.43 established by Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrum, who won her sixth EA female swimmer of the year award in 2024.
Two days later Steenbergen accomplished another golden double. First she won the 200m medley in 2:01.83, bettering the 2:01.86 set by Hosszu in 2014 and just 0.20 shy of the world record recorded by Gretchen Walsh of the United States in December 2024.
She then took the 100m title in 50.42, beating Sjostrum’s 2017 European mark of 50.58.
On the final day she powered her team towards victory in the 4x50m medley with an opening backstroke leg in 25.47 – taking 0.02 off the European record set in opening individual race of the final session by Italy’s Curtis.
Steenbergen had also set a Championship 50m backstroke record of 25.64 in the morning’s heats.
Speaking at the pre-event press conference in Lublin, she had said she was “curious” to know what she could do in short course.
Reflecting on her overall performance, Steenbergen concluded: “I think the only words I have overall are ‘what the hell?’ I don’t really know what happened!”
Second place, with an overall share of 24.48%, went to Italy’s Simona Quadarella.
In defence of her world 800m and 1500m freestyle titles in Singapore, the 27-year-old from Rome finished fourth at the shorter distance in a European record of 8:12.81 and earned 1500m silver behind Paris 2024 champion Katy Ledecky of the United States in a European record of 15:31.79.
Quadarella earned further honours in Lublin, where she challenged strongly to take 400m and 800m freestyle silver behind Germany’s Isabel Gose before winning 1500m gold in 15:29.93.
A voting share of 16.34% secured third place for Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, who interrupted Sjostrum’s winning run by taking this award in 2022.
Meilutyte won the world 50m breaststroke title for a fourth consecutive time in Singapore, clocking 29.55 to hold off China’s Olympic 100m breaststroke silver medallist and world champion Tang Qiantang, who had taken 50m silver behind her at the 2024 edition.
The 28-year-old from Kaunas added another medal to her vast collection in Lublin when she earned 50m breaststroke silver behind Estonia’s 18-year-old Eneli Jefimova.
Fourth place, with a share of 15.23%, went to Germany’s Anna Elendt, who went one better than the world 100m breaststroke silver she earned in 2022 as she won gold in Singapore.
The 26-year-old from Dreieich secured her first international title in a national record of 1:05.19 ahead of Kate Douglass of the United States and Tang Qianting.
She finished the year with a second title as she won the European short course 200m in 2:18.16.
Meanwhile there was acknowledgement of Belgium’s rising talent Roos Vanotterdijk. The 20-year-old earned 7.66% of vote after a breakthrough year that demonstrated her virtuosity across different disciplines and at different levels.
She began by winning three golds at the second European Aquatics U23 Championships in Samorin – in the 50m backstroke and the 50m and 100m butterfly – as well as silvers in the 50m freestyle and the 100m backstroke.
The reigning European 100m butterfly champion then became a regular visitor to the podium in senior swimming as she earned her first two world medals – 100m butterfly silver and 50m butterfly bronze – in Singapore before adding two silvers at the European Aquatics Short Course Swimming Championships, in the same two events.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
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