2025 Swammy Awards: European Coach of the Year – Fred Vergnoux

See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here.

In what was a unique circumstance, Fred Vergnoux coached the most dominant swimmer in the world to the best year of her career in 2025, earning him the Swammy Award for European Coach of the Year.

Vergnoux, a French native and the head coach of CN Antibes, hosted Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh for a three-week altitude training camp in January, and given how much she took to the new environment, and how she was in the midst of making a coaching change at home, McIntosh ended up spending the entire lead-up to the World Championships with Vergnoux.

In February, McIntosh announced plans to move on from her longtime coach Brent Arckey, who guided her from her Olympic debut in Tokyo at the age of 14 to a dominant three-gold-medal performance at the Paris Olympics last summer, at the end of the season. She hinted that she had an interest in joining Bob Bowman and the University of Texas pro group, which was confirmed in May, but in the interim leading up to the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, McIntosh would stay with Vergnoux, and the decision proved to pay dividends.

Vergnoux, primarily known as a distance coach, appeared to make an immediate impact on McIntosh, as in mid-February at the Southern Zone Sectionals, she clocked 8:09.86 in the 800 freestyle, joining Katie Ledecky as just the second woman in history under the 8:10 barrier while lowering her own Commonwealth and Canadian Record of 8:11.39 in the process.

She then lit up the Pro Swim Series stop in Westmont in March, setting a new U.S. Open Record with the 4th-fastest swim ever in the 400 IM (4:26.98), a new PSS Record with the 8th-fastest swim ever in the 200 fly (2:04.00), and also winning the 200 IM (2:07.42).

After earning a pair of runner-up finishes in the 400 free (3:58.28) and 200 back (2:06.82) at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim at the beginning of May, McIntosh delivered one of the best single-meet performances we’ve ever seen at the Canadian Trials in June.

Still 18 at the time, McIntosh dropped a stunning time in the 400 free on the opening day of the meet, clocking 3:54.18 to shatter Ariarne Titmus‘ world record of 3:55.38 and knock nearly two seconds off her own previous best time and former world record of 3:56.08, set in 2023.

Just one night later, McIntosh incredibly produced a time of 8:05.07 in the 800 free, chopping nearly five seconds off her best time to pull within 95 one-hundredths of the newly minted world record set by Ledecky just one month earlier in Fort Lauderdale (8:04.12). In the third-fastest swim of all-time, McIntosh was less than three-tenths shy of Ledecky’s previous world record of 8:04.79, which had been on the books for nearly nine years.

While taking a massive leap forward under Vergnoux in distance free, McIntosh also continued to evolve in her other events.

Over the next three days, she broke Katinka Hosszu‘s decade-old world record in the 200 IM (2:05.70), produced the second-fastest swim ever and established a new textile world record in the 200 fly (2:02.26), and then capped the meet off by smashing her own world record in the 400 IM by over seven-tenths in 4:23.65.

At the 2025 World Championships, McIntosh had a historic performance, winning four individual gold medals to become just the second woman to accomplish the feat, alongside Ledecky, while McIntosh’s five individual medals also made her the second woman to do so at a single World Championships, joining Sarah Sjostrom.

McIntosh claimed gold in the women’s 400 free (3:56.26), 200 fly (2:01.99), 200 IM (2:06.69) and 400 IM (4:25.78), with her performance in the 200 fly marking a new textile world record, Commonwealth and Canadian Record, and coming within 18 one-hundredths of the vaunted super-suited world record of 2:01.81 set by Liu Zige in 2009.

In the highly anticipated showdown between McIntosh and Ledecky in the 800 free, it was ultimately Ledecky who came out on top, clocking 8:05.62 while Australian Lani Pallister claimed the silver medal in a time of 8:05.98.

McIntosh ended up settling for bronze in a time of 8:07.29, adding just over two seconds from her best time while gaining some valuable experience in the high-stakes final.

Vergnoux, who prior to the meet had said he believed McIntosh was capable of breaking eight minutes, said she didn’t execute the 800 final the way they had planned.

“(We wanted) the opposite of what happened,” Vergnoux said, according to The Toronto Star. “We knew the race would go out 4:01, and the race went 4:01, but the idea was for McIntosh to be faster than that, and then to make them suffer, you know?”

McIntosh herself said she “didn’t stay in the moment” and was overthinking during the race.

However, in what was her first major long course final in the 800 free, McIntosh gained critical experience, and now, with three sub-8:10 swims under her belt, something only Ledecky (13) and Pallister (1) have ever done, the progress she made over the year working under Vergnoux is evident.

“When we talk with Summer, we don’t talk about any limits,” Vergnoux said in an interview prior to the World Championships with CBC Sports host Brittany Maclean. “And that’s something that I really enjoy with her. We have a very high level of expectation, we expect a lot more.”

After her post-World Championship break, McIntosh made the move to join Bowman at the University of Texas in the fall.

Although we typically don’t factor in open water results with our awards outside of the specific OW Swammys, it’s also notable that Vergnoux coached Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier to bronze medals in the men’s 5km and the inaugural 3km knockout sprint event at the 2025 World Championships.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Adrian Radulescu (ROU) – Radulescu coached David Popovici to a phenomenal year in 2025, reclaiming the throne in the men’s 100 freestyle while defending his spot atop the rest of the world in the 200 free. Popovici produced the three fastest swims of his career in the 100 free in 2025, starting with the European U23 Championships in late June, when he put up a time of 46.71 to set a new European Record with the #2 performance of all-time. One month later at the World Championships, Popovici won gold in the 100 free in dominant fashion, clocking 46.51 in the final to reset his European Record with the second-fastest swim ever and pull within 11 one-hundredths of Pan Zhanle‘s world record (46.40). Popovici also swam a time of 46.84 in the semis, giving him three swims in 2025 faster than his best time entering the year (46.86). A few days earlier in the 200 free, Popovici ran down Luke Hobson on the last 50 to win gold in a time of 1:43.53, the fourth-fastest swim of his career after he clocked 1:43.64 at the U23 Euros.
• Bernd Berkhahn (GER) – Berkhahn spearheaded a banner year for the German distance scene in 2025, headlined by Lukas Märtens breaking the historic world record in the men’s 400 freestyle in a time of 3:39.96. After that performance in April, Märtens backed it up by winning the world title in the event, clocking 3:42.35 to edge out Sam Short (3:42.37) in Singapore. Berkhahn had two swimmers on the podium at the Worlds in the men’s 800 free, with Sven Schwarz (7:39.96) snagging silver in front of Märtens (7:40.19) after setting a new European Record of 7:38.12 earlier in the year. Schwarz then had a breakthrough swim in the 1500 free at Worlds, winning silver in a massive personal best of 14:35.69. In open water, Berkhahn coached Florian Wellbrock to a sweep of the men’s 5km, 10km and 3km knockout sprint events at Worlds, while another one of Berkhahn swimmers, Australian Moesha Johnson, won gold in the women’s 5km and 10km. Germany also won the open water relay event to give them six of seven open water titles. Closing out the year at SC Euros, Isabel Gose set a pair of European Records en route to gold in the women’s 400 free (3:54.33) and 800 free (8:01.90).
• Michel Chrétien (FRA) – Chrétien guided Maxime Grousset to a standout year that included winning a pair of world titles in Singapore, rewriting the record books in the sprint fly events. Early in the meet, Grousset won gold in the 50 fly in a time of 22.48, lowering his month-old French Record (22.70) while climbing to #4 all-time in the event. Later in the meet, Grousset unleashed the third-fastest swim in history in the 100 fly, clocking 49.62 to break Kristof Milak‘s European Record of 49.68 while smashing his own French Record of 50.11 to climb to #2 all-time behind Caeleb Dressel (49.45). Grousset also won silver on the French men’s 4×100 medley relay after tying himself for the second-fastest fly split ever in 49.27, added a bronze on the mixed 4×100 free relay, and placed 7th individually in the 100 free (47.59) after nearing 2024 PB of 47.33 in the semis (47.39). Grousset then closed out the year by racking up six medals at the European SC Championships, claiming individual titles in the 100 free (45.17) and 100 fly (48.10), setting a new French Record in the latter. Chrétien also coached Yohann Ndoye-Brouard to a breakout year, winning bronze medals at the World Championships in the men’s 100 back (51.92) and 200 back (1:54.62), setting new French Records in both (1:54.47 in the semis of the 200 back). Ndoye-Brouard also led off the French men’s medley relay that won silver at Worlds and established a new National Record in 3:27.96.
• Philippe Lucas (FRA) – Lucas is responsible for the incredible rise of Ahmed Jaouadi, who followed up his breakthrough 2024 by delivering a dominant performance at the 2025 World Championships, sweeping the men’s 800 and 1500 freestyle. Jaouadi first clocked 7:36.88 in the final of the 800 free, establishing a new textile world record with the third-fastest swim in history, shattering his previous best time of 7:42.07, and winning gold by more than three seconds. On the final day of the meet in the 1500 free, Jaouadi came through in the clutch down the stretch to top German Sven Schwarz (14:35.69) and American Bobby Finke (14:36.60) in a time of 14:34.41, moving him up to #6 all-time while dropping nearly nine seconds from his old PB of 14:43.35. Another one of Lucas’ pupils, Anastasiya Kirpichnikova, earned a finals appearance at Worlds in the women’s 1500 free, placing 5th while also taking 11th in the 800 and 19th in the 400.