European Championships, Day Two Finals: Marrit Steenbergen Showcases Excellence with Gold, CR & Historic Relay Split
Marrit Steenbergen showcased her sustained quality with victory in the 100 free on day two of finals at the European Championships in Paris.
The Netherlands swimmer reclaimed the title she first won at Roma 2022 with her third championship record in as many races as she dipped through the 52 barrier once more. She then went on to do the fastest split by a woman in history when she anchored the Netherlands to mixed medley relay silver in 50.87.
Katie Shanahan broke the British record that had stood since the supersuit era of 2009 en-route to the 200 back title.
Egor Kornev took the 50 fly crown, 0.02 ahead of home favourite Maxime Grousset. Grousset returned for the final event of the session where he steered France into first position with a shuddering fly leg with the quartet taking the title as Mary-Ambre Moluh broke the continental 100 back record on lead-off.
Simona Quadarella won her fourth 800 free gold while Italian teammate Nicolo Martinenghi clinched his second 100m breaststroke gold.
Women’s 200m Backstroke
Katie Shanahan became the second British woman to win the title when she upgraded her 2022 silver to gold in Paris.
Second at the first turn, Shanahan dominated thereafter to take the title in a British record of 2:06.13, cutting 0.53 from Gemma Spofforth’s 2009 standard.
Camila Rebelo was second in 2:07.62 – two years after she became the first Portuguese European champion in the pool – with France’s Pauline Mahieu third in 2:08.63.
Lizzie Simmonds won Great Britain’s solitary gold in the event at Budapest 2010 when she led home Spofforth for a British 1-2.
However, Shanahan now joins her as a European champion, four years after silver behind Margherita Panziera at Roma 2022, as she adds European gold to the Commonwealth silver she won last month in Glasgow.
Shanahan turned down the chance to go on TV show Love Island last year to focus on her swimming career and has since amassed a medal haul.
“I’m so happy with that,” she beamed. “I feel like for the past few Europeans I’ve always been silver. So, to finally get that gold, it’s so special. I think it might take a while to sink in.”
She added: “I think in the past I’ve kind of got caught up in what everyone is doing around me and based my race on where other people are in the race and where I am. But tonight I knew I was in really good shape and I was really confident going in. So I knew my race plan and I just didn’t really want anyone else to get in the way of that. And I knew that after 50, if I was ahead, I would have been able to kind of command the race. And I think that’s something that really helped.”
Men’s 50m Butterfly
Egor Kornev blazed his way to the 50 fly title in Paris, 0.02 ahead of home favourite Maxime Grousset.
Kornev, of the Neutral Athlete B squad, stopped the clock at 22.52 with Grousset going 22.54 and Grigori Pekarski taking bronze from lane one in 22.68.
Kornev had rattled Andrii Govorov’s 22.27 WR in the semis in 22.36 but neither he nor Grousset looked likely to take ownership of the standard held by the Ukrainian since 2018.
Thomas Ceccon missed the podium by 0.04 while 2025 world silver medallist Noè Ponti – who qualified third in 22.53 – was eighth in 22.91.
Women’s 100 Freestyle
Marrit Steenbergen pulled away on the second 50 to win the 100 free in a Dutch 1-2.
The two-time world champion was second at halfway, 0.02 behind Italian Sara Curtis, but a 26.80 second 50 steered her into the wall in 51.90 as she claimed her third championship record in as many races. It was her seventh European title in al and came four years after she won the title at Roma 2022.
Teammate Milou van Wijk was second in 52.71, 0.01 ahead of Curtis who took her first continental long-course medal in 52.72.
Steenbergen is the sixth Dutchwoman to have won the title three of the last four crowns being placed on Netherlands’ heads – Steenbergen in 2022 and 2026 and Femke Heemskerk in 2021.
Speaking before the mixed medley relay final, she said: ”I’m super happy to win here and my time is okay too. In the final, it’s all about winning. I felt good. I don’t think it was a perfect race and you need that to swim a world record. I still swam a 51. The first 50 metres didn’t go the way I wanted. There was a lot of pressure on the final, everyone expected me to win and then you have to do it. I am very happy that it worked out and that I was able to win here.”
It was a maiden individual medal for Van Wijk who said: “I gave everything, especially the last 15 metres where I had a hard time. I saw that I was a bit ahead and went all out for a podium place. It’s very important for my career. It’s a mental step. I just finished fourth and fifth a number of times, so I can enjoy winning an individual medal.”
Men’s 100m Breaststroke
Nicolo Martinenghi came through on the second 50 to clinch the European title for the second time, four years after glory in front of a home crowd in Rome.
The Olympic champion was third at halfway but he moved through to win in 58.58 ahead of Ivan Kozhakin (58.68) with Simone Cerasuolo making it an Italy 1-3 in 58.90.
“I have no words,” said Martinenghi. “I deserve it, I deserve it so much. Today was a race of heart, desire and redemption.”
Defending champion Melvin Imoudu was fourth (59.05) while Adam Ramsay-Peaty had too much ground to make up after the start and was fifth in 59.10, 0.01 ahead of British teammate Filip Nowacki (59.11).
Ramsay-Peaty arrived in Paris towing 16 golds in 16 European Championship races, five years after completing the quadruple-quadruple at the Budapest edition in May 2021, shortly before he became Olympic champion for the second time.
The 31-year-old had qualified third for the final but he had far too much ground to make up from the start. He cut a composed figure in the mixed zone, in contrast to the emotion of the Commonwealth Games where bronze was followed by tears.
He gave a raw assessment of where his career stands at the moment and added: “I thought we executed, you know, the best we could. The car just isn’t as fast. It’s almost like, you know, I’m driving the car really well. It’s just the speed isn’t there and we’ve just got to look at why.”
