LEN, the governing body for 6 aquatic disciplines in Europe, has announced the results of its voting for 2018 European Aquatics Athletes of the Year.
Swimming
Men: Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) • Women: Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
Diving
Men: Jack Laugher (GBR) • Women: Celine van Duijn (NED)
Artistic swimming
Women: Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS) • Men: Giorgio Minisini (ITA)
Open water swimming
Men: Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) • Women: Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED)
Water polo
Men: Filip Filipovic (SRB) • Women: Sabrina van der Sloot (NED)
At the top of the pile are Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjostrom and Russian swimmer Kliment Kolesnikov, who won the female award and male award, respectively. LEN’s awards mirrored the Swammy Award winners for European Swimmers of the Year.
See Also:
- 2018 Swammy Awards: Female European Swimmer of the Year
- 2018 Swammy Awards: Male European Swimmer of the Year
For Sjostrom, this is her 2nd-straight award, coming in a year where she wonn 4 individual gold medals at the 2018 European Championnshipss: winning the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly.
This is Kolesnikov’s first LEN award (one of 4 first-time winners among the 10 named by LEN.
“European athletes enjoyed another outstanding year and offered superb performances wherever they competed” LEN president Paolo Barelli said. “For European Aquatics certainly the European Championships were the absolute highlights of the year and the results achieved in Glasgow had a big impact on our prestigious awards. Let me congratulate all winners and all the others appearing on the shortlists, they deserve every credit for their determination and excellence. LEN shall maintain to keep the athletes in its focus and to create the best racing environment any time, anywhere at our events.”
The awards were given after a vote by national federations and members of various LEN committees and panels. This year’s votes were so tight in some races that a single vote decided the winner of the awards in men’s artistic swimming and women’s water polo.
Voting
Ranks
Swimming, men
- Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) 44.0%
- Adam Peaty (GBR) 36.0%
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR) 8.0%
- Andriy Govorov (UKR) 6.7%
- Florian Wellbrock (GER) 4.0%
- Jeremy Desplanches (SUI) 1.3%
Swimming, women
- Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 45.3%
- Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 28.0%
- Simona Quadarella (ITA) 10.7%
- Charlotte Bonnet (FRA) 8.0%
- Yulia Efimova (RUS) 8.0%
Diving, men
- Jack Laugher (GBR) 49.3%
- Aleksandr Bondar (RUS) 40.6%
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (RUS) 4.3%
- Nikita Shleikher (RUS) 4.3%
- Ilya Zakharov (RUS) 1.4%
Diving, women
- Celine van Duijn (NED) 24.3%
- Elena Bertocchi (ITA) 20.0%
- Grace Reid (GBR) 18.6%
- Tina Punzel (GER) 18.6%
- Yulia Timoshinina (RUS) 18.6%
Artistic (Synchronised) Swimming, Women
- Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS) 63.8%
- Linda Cerruti (ITA) 21.7%
- Yelizaveta Yakhno (UKR) 14.5%
- Artistic (Synchronised) Swimming, Men
- Giorgio Minisini (ITA) 47.7%
- Aleksandr Maltsev (RUS) 46.2%
- Pau Ribes (ESP) 6.2%
Open water swimming, men
- Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) 47.2%
- Ferry Weertman (NED) 40.3%
- Matteo Furlan (ITA) 9.7%
- Kiril Belyaev (RUS) 1.4%
- Axel Reymond (FRA) 1.4%
Open water swimming, women
- Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) 73.6%
- Arianna Bridi (ITA) 11.1%
- Rachele Bruni (ITA) 6.9%
- Leonie Beck (GER) 5.6%
- Lara Grangeon (FRA) 2.8%
Water polo, men
- Filip Filipovic (SRB) 46.3%
- Dani Lopez (ESP) 17.9%
- Ioannis Fountoulis (GRE) 16.4%
- Aleksandar Ivovic (MNE) 13.4%
- Andro Buslje (CRO) 6.0%
Water polo, women
- Sabrina van der Sloot (NED) 33.8%
- Laura Aarts (NED) 32.3%
- Ekaterina Prokofyeva (RUS) 13.8%
- Beatriz Ortiz (ESP) 12.3%
- Alexandra Asimaki (GRE) 7.7%
LEN AWARDS – ALL-TIME WINNERS’ LIST
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)
- 2014: Florent Manaudou (France)
- 2015: Laszlo Cseh (Hungary)
- 2016: Adam Peaty (Great Britain)
- 2017: Adam Peaty (Great Britain)
- 2018: Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia)
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)
- 2014: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
- 2015: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
- 2016: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
- 2017: Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden)
- 2018: Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden)
DIVING
Men
- 2008: Dmitry Sautin (Russia)
- 2009: Tom Daley (Great Britain)
- 2010: Illya Kvasha (Ukraine)
- 2011: Sascha Klein (Germany)
- 2012: Ilya Zakharov (Russia)
- 2013: Patrick Hausding (Germany)
- 2014: Patrick Hausding (Germany)
- 2015: Tom Daley (Great Britain)
- 2016: Jack Laugher (Great Britain)
- 2017: Tom Daley (Great Britain)
- 2018: Jack Laugher (Great Britain)
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)
- 2014: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)
- 2015: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)
- 2016: Tania Cagnotto (Italy)
- 2017: Nadezhda Bazina (Russia)
- 2018: Celine van Duijn (Netherlands)
SYNCHRO
Women
- 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)
- 2014: Ona Carbonell (Spain)
- 2015: Svetlana Romashina (Russia)
- 2016: Natalia Ishchenko (Russia)
- 2017: Svetlana Kolesnichenko (Russia)
- 2018: Svetlana Kolesnichenko (Russia)
Men
- 2017: Giorgio Minisini (Italy)
- 2018: Giorgio Minisini (Italy)
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)
- 2014: Thomas Lurz (Germany)
- 2015: Ferry Weertman (Netherlands)
- 2016: Ferry Weertman (Netherlands)
- 2017: Marc-Antoine Olivier (France)
- 2018: Kristof Rasovszky (Hungary)
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)
- 2014: Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands)
- 2015: Aurelie Muller (France)
- 2016: Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands)
- 2017: Aurelie Muller (France)
- 2018: Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands)
WATER POLO
Men
- 2008: Peter Biros (Hungary)
- 2009: Filip Filipovic (Serbia)
- 2010: Vanja Udovicic (Serbia)
- 2011: Stefano Tempesti (Italy)
- 2012: Miho Boskovic (Croatia)
- 2013: Denes Varga (Hungary)
- 2014: Filip Filipovic (Serbia)
- 2015: Dusko Pijetlovic (Serbia)
- 2016: Filip Filipovic (Serbia)
- 2017: Marko Bijac (Croatia)
- 2018: Filip Filipovic (Serbia)
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)
- 2014: Maria Garcia (Spain)
- 2015: Roberta Bianconi (Italy)
- 2016: Roberta Bianconi (Italy)
- 2017: Laura Ester (Spain)
- 2018: Sabrina van der Sloot (Netherlands)
Kolesnikov is a star . We should save greenhouse gas & just give him the whole pile of awards now.
interesting seeing “Water Polo” under Sarah Sjostrom’s in the thumbnail pic of this article >_<