European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships Stari Grad 2025

• May 28-31, 2025
• Stari Grad, Croatia
• Meet Central
• Entry List
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap

After Hungary did an event sweep on the first day of the 2025 European Open Water Championships, it was Italy’s turn to sweep on day 2. In the 5k race, Gregorio Paltrinieri and Ginevra Taddeucci topped the podium.

Women’s Recap

For Taddeucci, this race became her first individual gold at a major international event.

Taddeucci has been a consistent presence on open water podiums these past few years, including a 2024 Olympic bronze and a silver medal in the 10k competition on day 1. Today, the 28-year-old Florence native added a gold to her haul, turning in a time of 59:51.95.

Viktoria Mihalyvari, day 1’s 10k champion, traded places with Taddeucci today and picked up the silver medal. A newbie to open water swimming, Mihalyvari achieved this in her second time ever swimming the race competitively. She was two second behind Taddeucci, clocking a time of 59:53.94

Maria de Valdes brought home Spain its first medal of the meet. It marks the 26-year-old de Valdes’ first piece of hardware since she picked up a silver medal in the 10k at the 2024 World Championships in Doha. On the second lap, she briefly passed Taddeucci, blocking her from a start-to-finish lead. In the end, though, de Valdes finished in third with a time of 59:55.03.

Germany’s Celine Rieder, who holds a European Championships medal in the 1500, was shut out of adding an open water to a collection by less than half a second. Bettina Fabian, who was 5th in the 10k, did not swim despite being on the entry sheet.

Men’s Recap

The top end of the men’s race largely took place between Paltrinieri, the eventual champion, the Hungarian duo of David Betlehem and Kristof Rasovszky, and Frenchman Sacha Velly. On the first lap of the four-lap race, Betlehem, the defending champion in this event, led the pack with Velly in second. The next lap, Paltrinieri pulled ahead with Velly holding second.

Rasovszky, who won the 10k the previous day, assumed the lead position on the third lap. In the end, Paltrinieri and Betlehem charged ahead of the rest on the last lap. Paltrinieri held off the Hungarian by two-and-a-half seconds, clocking 52:05.79. It marks his third win in this event, following 2020 and 2022, as well as his fourth European Open Water Championships in a row winning an event. Last year, he was victorious in the 10k.

Betlehem stopped the clock with five seconds between him and Rasovszky, the bronze medalist. The former turned in a 52:08.07, while the latter went 52:13.57. For Rasovszky, it’s his first European medal in the race since 2018.

A 20-year-old Velly, who has two World Junior golds to his name, proved himself on the senior international stage by placing himself in fourth and holding his own against three of the biggest names in open water swimming.

Women’s top 5

1. Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA)
2. Viktoria Mihalyvari (HUN)
3. Maria de Valdes (ESP)
4. Celine Rieder (GER)
5. Paula Otero (ESP)

Men’s Top 5

1. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA)
2. David Betlehem (HUN)
3. Kristof Rasovszky (HUN)
4. Sacha Velly (FRA)
5. Logan Fontaine (FRA)