Leon Marchand and Sarah Sjostrom have been named the Best Swimmers in the 2024 European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards. This is one of many accolades Marchand has garnered for his historic season while Sjostrom’s award highlights how long she’s remained at the top of the sport–this is her sixth time winning the honor.
In many ways, Marchand was the face of swimming in 2024. He headlined France’s expectations for the nation’s success at its Olympic Games and he delivered, winning four individual golds, all in Olympic record time, and a relay bronze in front of a home crowd. He was chosen to extinguish the Olympic Cauldron at the Closing Ceremony because of his success.
Marchand first took to the pool on Day Two of the action in La Defense Arena, winning gold in his signature event, the 400 IM. It was the first of many medals for the 22-year-old. On the fifth day of the Games, he completed his much-discussed dirty double, winning gold in the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke in the same session. He is the first swimmer since Kornelia Ender in 1976 to achieve the feat, though it looked for much of the 200 fly—his first event of the night—that he wouldn’t get the chance to go for the double. His late comeback against world record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristof Milak sent the crowd into chaos, which was repeated later that session when he won the 200 breaststroke after leading from start to finish.
Marchand closed his individual program in the 200 IM, where he stormed to the win in an Olympic record just six-hundredths off Ryan Lochte’s world record. He was back on deck for the men’s 4×100 medley relay with Yohan Ndoye-Brouard, Maxime Grousset, and Florent Manaudou. The four surprised by winning bronze in a national record time, adding more Olympic hardware to Marchand’s collection.
After the Olympics, Marchand won the men’s overall prize at the 2024 World Cup, earning Triple Crowns in the 100 IM, 200 IM, and 400 IM. He broke the second world record of his career at the final stop in Singapore, cracking Lochte’s world record and the European and World Cup records he swam earlier in the tour with a 1:48.88.
The European men had a strong showing at the Paris Olympics, winning every individual gold medal through the first four days of the Games. As such, the rest of the swimmers in the top five also earned Olympic gold. David Popovici finished second, Thomas Ceccon third, Kristof Milak fourth, and Daniel Wiffen fifth.
Sjostrom, 31, produced one of the surprises of the Olympics, winning the women’s 100 freestyle gold from lane seven. Even though she’s the world record holder in the race, she was a surprise entrant as she’s focused on the 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly at this stage of her career. Sjostrom wasn’t sure she would swim the event, but she did and earned her first Olympic title in the event and second overall.
It was less of a surprise to see her dominate the women’s 50 freestyle but that’s exactly what she did. After setting an Olympic record of 23.66 in the semifinals, she secured her sweep of the sprint freestyles with a 23.71. This was also her first time winning Olympic gold in the event and her week in Paris solidified her legacy as one of the sport’s greatest sprinters.
Earlier in the year, Sjostrom attended the 2024 long-course World Championships, where she won the 50 freestyle and 50 butterfly. Her two wins in Doha extended her lead as the most decorated swimmer at the long-course World Championships in history, as she surpassed Michael Phelps in 2023.
Germany’s Isabel Gose took second place in the voting. Gose won Olympic bronze in the 1500 freestyle, her first Olympic medal, in a German record of 15:41.16. She wasn’t the only distance swimmer to crack the top five; Olympic medalist Anastasia Kirpichnikova finished fourth, behind Anastasia Gorbenko. Tes Schouten rounded out the top five.
