2024 European Aquatics Championships – Open Water
- June 12-15, 2024
- Belgrade, Serbia
- Results & Recaps
The open water portion of the 2024 European Aquatics Championships came to a close today in Belgrade, Serbia. The first half of the meet featured the 10k and 5k, while the back half saw the 25k and mixed 4×1500 relay event.
Italy claimed the team trophy after collecting three gold medals, four silver, and two bronze over the course of the competition. Germany took 2nd, while Hungary rounded out the podium in 3rd.
Medal Table
- Italy: 3-4-1
- Germany: 2-1-0
- Hungary: 2-0-2
- France: 0-2-2
- Spain: 0-1-1
Italy completed a sweep of the 25k titles after Dario Verani and Barbara Pozzobon both took 1st in their respective events. The event, which is now only contested at the European Aquatic Championships, had fourteen entrants total, with eleven of them finishing.
On the men’s side, Verani held his position in the main pack of six heading into the final lap, then separated himself near the end for a final time of 5:08:50.9. Fellow Italian Matteo Furlan was just behind his teammate in 2nd (5:08:56.6), while France’s Axel Reymond picked up bronze (5:09:00.5).
Pozzobon, the silver medalist in the 10k, was the only woman in the field to keep up with the men. By staying close to the men, she built a significant gap between her competitors heading into the final two laps and ultimately reached the finish at 5:25:37.7. The next closest finisher was Germany’s Lea Boy (5:28:39.6), followed by Candela Sanchez of Spain (5:29:15.2).
The final day of the competition featured the mixed 4×1500 relay event. Hungary’s team of David Betlehem, Kristof Rasovszky, Mira Szimcsak, and Bettina Fabian topped the field by over twenty seconds, posting a combined time of 1:06:07.7.
Hungary trailed Italy and Spain (who also had their women in the first two legs) by about five seconds going into the back half, but Betlehem built a significant advantage for Rasovszky heading into the final leg. The Italian team of Giulia Gabbrielleschi, Ginevra Taddeucci, Marcelo Guidi, and Andrea Filadelli turned in a 1:06:28.6 for 2nd, while France’s quartet of Caroline Jouisse, Oceane Cassignol, Sascha Velly and Marc-Antoine Olivier secured bronze (1:06:51.7).
The 2024 European Aquatics Championships will continue in the pool on June 17th.