LEN European Aquatics Championships explained

European Aquatics Championships
Status:	active
Genre:	sporting event
Date:	mid-year
Frequency:	biennial
Country:	varying

The European Aquatics Championships is the continental Aquatics championship for Europe, which is organised by LEN—the governing body for aquatics in Europe. The Championships are currently held every two years (in even years); and since 2022, they have included 5 aquatics disciplines: Swimming (long course/50m pool), Diving, Synchronised swimming, Open water swimming and High diving. Prior to 1999, the championships also included Water polo, which beginning in 1999 LEN split-off into a separate championships. The open water events are not held during the Olympic year.

The Championships are generally held over a two-week time-period in mid-to-late Summer; however, in the most recent Summer Olympics years (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020), the Championships were moved to the Spring to be moved away from the Summer Olympic Games.

The swimming portion of these championships is considered one of the pre-eminent swimming competitions in the world. Note however that LEN also conducts an annual short-course (25 meters) swimming championship, which is a completely separate and a completely distinct event (typically held in early December).

Championships

Historically, the Championships were first held in 1926, and included water polo prior to 1999 when the discipline was moved to the European Water Polo Championship. From 1973-1999 Europeans were held in years without a Summer Olympics or World Championships, save 1979 (1973 being the inception year of the World Championships; and 1999 being the last year before Worlds moved from even-years between Summer Olympics to every-odd year beginning in 2001). Women were first allowed to participate at the second Championships in 1927^[1]

Number	Year	width=100	Host city	Country	Events	Dates	First in the Medal Table	Second in the Medal Table	Third in the Medal Table
1				9	18–22 August 1926			Hungary
2				16	31 August – 4 September 1927
3				16	23–30 August 1931
4				16	12–19 August 1934			Hungary
5				16	6–13 August 1938
6				16	10–14 September 1947			Hungary
7				16	20–27 August 1950
8				18	31 August – 5 September 1954
9				20	31 August – 6 September 1958
10				23	18–25 August 1962
11				23	20–27 August 1966
12				34	5–13 September 1970
13				37	18–25 August 1974
14				37	14–21 August 1977
15				37	4–12 September 1981
16				38	22–27 August 1983
17				39	4–11 August 1985 12–18 August 1985
18				41	16–23 August 1987
19				43	15–20 August 1989
20				47	18–25 August 1991 14–15 September 1991
21				47	3–8 August 1993 28–29 August 1993
22				47	22–27 August 1995
23				51	19–24 August 1997
24				55	26 July – 1 August 1999
25				55	3–9 July 2000
26				57	29 July – 4 August 2002
27				58	5–16 May 2004
28				58	26 July – 6 August 2006
29				54	13–24 March 2008
30				61	4–15 August 2010
31				55	15–27 May 2012
32				64	13–24 August 2014
33				64	9–22 May 2016
34				72	2–12 August 2018
35				73	10–23 May 2021
36				77	11–21 August 2022
37				74	10–23 June 2024
38					25 July – 8 August 2026

Medal tables (1926–2024)

Updated after the 2024 European Aquatics Championships.

Overall

Note: The table includes medals won in swimming (since 1926), diving (since 1926), synchronized swimming (since 1974), open water swimming (since 1991), high diving (since 2022) and water polo since 1926 until and including 1997 when the discipline was part of the event. From 1999 the water polo event was separated and got its own independent tournament as European Water Polo Championship.

As of 2024, Albania, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia and San Marino have yet to win a medal.

Water polo (1926–1997)

Multiple medalists in swimming (long course)

These table shows swimmers who have won at least 7 gold medals at the European Championships. Update after the 2024 European Aquatics Championships.^{[3] [4]}

Men

	Swimmer	Country				Total
1			21	3	2	26
2	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			16	0	0	16
3			14	4	5	23
4			13	4	2	19
5			10	5	4	19
6			10	3	0	13
7			9	5	5	19
8			9	1	0	10
9	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			8	2	0	10
10			8	0	0	8
11	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			7	4	0	11
12			7	3	3	13
13	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			7	2	3	12

Women

	Swimmer	Country				Total
1			18	3	0	21
2	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			17	7	4	28
3	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			15	6	4	25
4			11	2	0	13
5			10	7	4	21
6			10	3	4	17
7			10	2	4	16
8			9	4	4	17
9			9	4	0	13
9			9	4	0	13
11	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			9	3	4	16
12			9	1	3	13
13			9	1	1	11
14			9	1	0	10
15	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			8	1	1	10
16	Federica Pellegrini		7	6	7	20
17	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			7	4	2	13
18			7	3	8	18
19			7	3	0	10
20	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			7	2	4	13
20			7	2	4	13
22	align=left bgcolor=lightblue			7	2	0	9
22			7	2	0	9

Championships records

See main article: List of European Championships records in swimming.

See also

• List of European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (men)
• List of European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming (women)
• List of European Aquatics Championships medalists in open water swimming
• List of European Aquatics Championships medalists in artistic swimming
• European Short Course Swimming Championships

External links

• • Swim Rankings results
• The event at SVT's open archive

Notes and References

1. http://www.europeanchampionships.org/Budapest_2006/press/25.07.06%20-%20Budapest%20hosts%20its%20third%20European%20Championships.pdf European Championships
2. Web site: LEN European Championships aquatic finalists - All time medals tables. len.eu. 203. 15 August 2022.
3. Web site: EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS AQUATIC FINALISTS 1926 – 2016 – by Kelvin Juba. len.eu. 22 May 2021.
4. Web site: Female swimmer with the most medals in the history of Euro Aquatics Championships. Swimming Stats. 23 May 2021.