Courtesy: European Aquatics
The spotlight returns to European artistic swimming as the continent’s best converge in Madeira for the European Aquatics Artistic Swimming Championships Funchal 2025, which are being held from June 2 to 5 at the Penteada Olympic Swimming Pools complex.
This landmark edition – the first stand-alone championship since the event’s evolution from the European Cup – features 136 athletes from 21 nations and has one of the most competitive fields in recent years.
With full-strength squads from Ukraine, France, and Israel back in the mix after a pared-down 2024 edition, and with the presence of Olympic-level lineups from powerhouses like Spain, Italy and Austria, as well as the return of numerous reigning European champions from Greece and Great Britain, the battle for European titles is set to intensify across all 11 events.
Spain appears as a top contender, having dominated the World Cup circuit so far under new head coach Andrea Fuentes, who led Team USA to an Olympic silver medal in Paris.
Spain also enters as the reigning European champion in the mixed duet technical, mixed duet free, men’s solo technical and team technical.
With all eight Paris Olympic bronze medallists back, and bolstered by stand-out returning champions and up-and-coming talents, this nation is undoubtedly one of the strongest.
“Our goal as a team is always to compete at the highest level, and we’re working very hard to do that here,” Fuentes told European Aquatics.
“We’re striving to be leaders in artistic impression, to execute cleanly, and to swim with the kind of routines that protect our athletes in terms of difficulty and time spent underwater.
“Personally, I’m so happy to be back at the European Championships after some time away. There’s a special joy and energy to competing in Europe, and we’re very excited to feel that sense of community and connection with our European friends.
“We have the added challenge of debuting a brand-new acrobatic routine, so it’s a big moment for us. It’s especially exciting to present it for the first time at these European Championships.”
Italy is the only other nation set to appear across all 11 events. The Italians earned medals in all three team events at the 2024 European Championships in Belgrade, although they had with a younger squad then. With its top athletes now back in the mix, the nation is surely a very strong podium contender in most events.
Greece, meanwhile, is the defending champion in team free, but has decided to skip this event in Funchal. Under new coach Meng Chen, the Greeks will nonetheless aim to replicate their team medal success from Belgrade in the team technical and acrobatic events,
Ukraine, world silver medallists last year in the team acrobatic, remains formidable in that event and will seek to re-establish itself as podium regular at the continental level with a renewed squad.
Finally, France, fourth at its home Games last summer, should never be counted out, also boasting a renewed roster. Like Greece, France will focus only on the team technical and acrobatic events.
The women’s solos will feature some of Europe’s finest, with several seasoned athletes and rising stars battling it out. All three medalists from Belgrade 2024 return, although only Germany’s double silver medallist Klara Bleyer will compete in both the free and technical events.
Vasiliki Alexandri of Austria, reigning two-time European champion and European Aquatics Best Female Artistic Swimmer of 2024, has chosen to concentrate solely on the solo technical. There she will face tough competition not just fromBleyer but also Italy’s Enrica Piccoli, Ukraine’s Daria Moshynska and Spain’s Iris Tio Casas, who is seeking her first European solo medal after a world bronze in 2023.
In the women’s solo free, expect additional podium challenges from 2024 European bronze medalist Marloes Steenbeekof the Netherlands, who recently won the U.S. Collegiate national solo title in her freshman season, and Zoi Karangelou of Greece, the reigning world junior champion.
Georgia’s Maria Alavidze is also one to watch, fresh off a historic silver at the last World Cup, as well as San Marino’s Jasmine Verbena, coming off two gold medals at the Games of Small States of Europe which ended yesterday (May 31).
On the men’s side, Spain’s Dennis Gonzalez Boneu will defend his solo technical title, while Great Britain’s Ranjuo Tomblin, reigning European champion in solo free, also returns. Making his solo debut at a senior European Championships is Italy’s Filippo Pelati, reigning two-time European junior champion, who will be aiming to make an immediate impact.
With none of the top three women’s duets from last year returning, the fight for the medals in those events is bound to be thrilling.
Austria’s Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri, the 2023 European champions who missed last year’s competition due to illness, are back and clearly hungry for success after a disappointing fourth-place in the Olympic Games that left them questioning their future in the sport.
Under new head coach Takako Nakajima and fresh from a gold-winning performance in the latest World Cup, the triplet sisters – along with Vasiliki they were born on September 15, 1997 in Marousi, Greece – will only focus on the duet technical, leaving even more room for surprises in the duet free.
Spain has introduced two new pairings over the season and both have greatly impressed on the World Cup circuit, positioning themselves as strong medal contenders in Funchal.
France will field its Olympic duet, while Italy and Ukraine also bring competitive pairs. Germany’s new duet could also turn heads and potentially cause some upsets.
In the mixed duet, Spain enters again as a clear favourite, particularly in the free routine. In their first season together, Gonzalez Boneu and Tio Casas are arguably delivering some of the most memorable performances time and time again. Their routine is a must-watch, especially as they have already collected five perfect 10s in artistic impression this year and remain undefeated so far.
Italy will nonetheless look to challenge with a revamped pair of Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero, with the nation aiming to build on its two silver medals from Belgrade.
Great Britain is expected to field a strong mixed duet as well, with an exciting new pairing of Olympic silver medalist Isabelle Thorpe and Tomblin drawing significant interest ahead of their debut.
With most of Europe’s top athletes in attendance and a full slate of events, the European Aquatics Artistic Swimming Championships Funchal 2025 are set to be one of the most dynamic and complete continental meets in recent memory.
It would be interesting to see a list of all the events