Agnel and Hosszu LEN European Swimmers of the Year

France’s Yannick Agnel and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu have been voted as the European Swimming Federation’s (LEN) European Swimmers of the Year.

The awards are voted on by members of the LEN member countries, members of the LEN Bureau, Committee members, clubs, coaches, referees, and journalists, and the results were landslide victories for the two winners.

Others earning honors:

• Open Water Swimming/Male – Thomas Lurz (Germany)

• Open Water Swimming/Female – Martina Grimaldi (Italy)

• Synchronized Swimming/Female – Svetlana Romashina (Russia)

• Diving/Male – Patrick Hausding

• Diving/Female – Tania Cagnotto

• Water Polo/Male – Denes Varga

• Water Polo/Women – Jennifer Pareja

Agnel’s honor comes on the back of winning a pair of World Championships in Barcelona: the 200 meter free individually, and as a part of France’s 400 free relay. His success came despite some bit of turmoil in his run-up to the World Championships that involved him transitioning to train with American-based coach Bob Bowman.

Hosszu’s year has been one for the ages. She took World Championships in the 200 and 400 IM’s, to go with a bronze in the 200 fly, in long course; she won 5 total medals at the year-ending Short Course World Championships in 2012 (including golds in the 100 IM and 200 fly); won her 2nd-straight FINA World Cup Series title; raked in what is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000,000 in prize money, World Record bonuses, and appearance fees, broke three World Records, and got married to boot.

In open water, the obvious choice was Germany’s Thomas Lurz, who won both the 5km team and 25km race, and added a silver in the 10km and a bronze in the 5km. He was the only swimmer in the entire field to medal in all three individual open water races, let alone all four, and brought his career FINA World Championship gold medal total to 7.

Italy’s Martina Grimaldi got the women’s open water award after taking the 25km title in Barcelona by a fingernail (a tenth – the smallest measured time in open water) over Germany’s Angela Maurer.

Full voting results are below, followed by historical results:

LEN Awards 2013

Swimming, men:

Yannick Agnel – France 54,3%

Daniel Gyurta – Hungary 21,4%

Jeremy Stravius – France 15,7%

Camille Lacourt – France 7,1%

Vladimir Morozov – Russia 1,4%

Swimming, women:

Katinka Hosszu – Hungary 62,0%

Yulia Efimova – Russia 16,9%

Ruta Meilutyte – Lithuania 14,1%

Ranomi Kromowidjojo – Netherlands 5,6%

Rikke Moller Pedersen – Denmark 1,4%

Diving, men:

Patrick Hausding – Germany 55,7%

Sascha Klein – Germany 27,1%

Evgeny Kuznetsov – Russia 8,6%

Oleksandr Bondar – Ukraine 4,3%

Ilya Zakharov – Russia 4,3%

Diving, women:

Tania Cagnotto – Italy 84,3%

Yulia Koltunova – Russia 4,3%

Iulia Prokopchuk – Ukraine 4,3%

Tina Punzel – Germany 4,3%

Nadezhda Bazina – Russia 2,9%

Synchronised swimming:

Svetlana Romashina – Russia 47,1%

Svetlana Kolesnichenko – Russia 25,0%

Ona Carbonell – Spain 20,6%

Lolita Ananasova – Ukraine 7,4%

Margalida Crespi – Spain 0,0%

Open water swimming, men:

Thomas Lurz – Germany 77,1%

Spyridon Gianniotis – Greece 20,0%

Brian Ryckeman – Belgium 2,9%

Christian Reichert – Germany 0,0%

Andreas Waschburger – Germany 0,0%

Open water swimming, women:

Martina Grimaldi – Italy 62,9%

Kalliopi Araouzou – Greece 12,9%

Angela Maurer – Germany 12,9%

Olga Kozydub – Russia 5,7%

Anna Olasz – Hungary 5,7%

Water Polo, men:

Denes Varga – Hungary 36,1%

Viktor Nagy – Hungary 33,3%

Vanja Udovicic – Serbia 15,3%

Aleksandar Ivovic – Montenegro 12,5%

Sandro Sukno – Croatia 2,8%

Water Polo, women:

Jennifer Pareja – Spain 50,7%

Laura Ester – Spain 35,2%

Alexandra Antonova – Russia 5,6%

Gabriella Szucs – Hungary 5,6%

Ekaterina Prokofyeva – Russia 2,8%

Winners of LEN Awards, 2008-2013

SWIMMING

Men

2008: Alain Bernard (France)

2009: Paul Biedermann (Germany)

2010: Camille Lacourt (France)

2011: Alexander Dale Oen (Norway)

2012: Yannick Agnel (France)

2013: Yannick Agnel (France)

Women

2008: Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain)

2009: Britta Steffen (Germany)

2010: Therese Alshammar (Sweden)

2011: Federica Pellegrini (Italy)

2012: Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands)

2013: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)

DIVING

Men

2008: Dmitry Sautin (Russia)

2009: Thomas Daley (Great Britain)

2010: Illya Kvasha (Ukraine)

2011: Sascha Klein (Germany)

2012: Ilya Zakharov (Russia)

2013: Patrick Hausding (Germany)

Women

2008: Yulia Pakhalina (Russia)

2009: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)

2010: Christin Steuer (Germany)

2011: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)

2012: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)

2013: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)

SYNCHRO

2008: Anastasia Davydova, Anastasia Ermakova (Russia)

2009: Natalia Ishchenko (Russia)

2010: Natalia Ishchenko (Russia)

2011: Natalia Ishchenko, Svetlana Romashina (Russia)

2012: Natalia Ishchenko (Russia)

2013: Svetlana Romashina (Russia)

OPEN WATER

Men

2008: Maarten van der Weijden (Netherlands)

2009: Thomas Lurz (Germany)

2010: Valerio Cleri (Italy)

2011: Thomas Lurz (Germany)

2012: Thomas Lurz (Germany)

2013: Thomas Lurz (Germany)

Women

2008: Larisa Ilchenko (Russia)

2009: Angela Maurer (Germany)

2010: Linsy Heister (Netherlands)

2011: Keri-Anne Payne (Great Britain)

2012: Eva Risztov (Hungary)

2013: Martina Grimaldi (Italy)

WATER POLO

Men

2008: Péter Biros (Hungary)

2009: Filip Filipovic (Serbia)

2010: Vanja Udovicic (Serbia)

2011: Stefano Tempesti (Italy)

2012: Miho Boskovic (Croatia)

2013: Dénes Varga (Hungary)

Women

2008: Danielle De Bruijn (Netherlands)

2009: Iefke van Belkum (Netherlands)

2010: Sofia Konukh (Russia)

2011: Alexandra Asimaki (Greece)

2012: Anni Espar (Spain)

2013: Jennifer Pareja (Spain)