2025 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 2-7, 2025
- Lublin, Poland
- SCM (25 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Recaps:
MEN’S 400 IM – PRELIMS
- WR: 3:54.81 – Daiya Seto, JPN (2019)
- WJR: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin, RSF (2021)
- ER: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin, RSF (2021)
- EJR: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin, RSF (2021)
- CR: 3:57.01 – Alberto Razzetti, ITA (2023)
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Jakub Bursa (CZE) – 4:04.68 Q
- Lucas Henveaux (BEL) – 4:05.04 Q
- Diego Mira Albaladejo (ESP) – 4:05.25 Q
- Alberto Razzetti (ITA) – 4:05.29 Q
- Max Litchfield (GBR) – 4:05.47 Q
- Cedric Buessing (GER) – 4:05.91 Q
- Zalan Sarkany (HUN) – 4:06.98 Q
- Thomas Jansen (NED) – 4:07.73 Q
The top two seeds for tonight’s men’s 400 IM final both shattered their national records. Jakub Bursa made his first final in Lublin as the fastest qualifier in 4:04.68, while Lucas Henveaux took 3.52 seconds off his Belgian record in 4:05.04.
Bursa took the win in the first of the circle seeded heats, getting out in 1:59.53 and closing in 2:05.15. His previous record stood at 4:07.27, set at the Slovak cup last December.
This is the second Czech record of the meet for the 22-year-old Slavic Liberec swimmer. He took six tenths off his own mark in the 200 IM heats to clock 1:54.79, before adding slightly in the semi-finals to place 9th in 1:55.01. That was also under his old record.
See below for Bursa’s splits in both his former and new 400 IM record.
Split Comparison
| Split | 2024 Slovak Cup – final | 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims |
| 100 | 57.15 | 56.45 |
| 200 | 2:00.79 (1:03.64) | 1:59.53 (1:03.08) |
| 300 | 3:09.49 (1:08.70) | 3:07.61 (1:08.08) |
| 400 | 4:07.27 (57.78) | 4:04.68 (57.01) |
He was faster on every split today, taking around six or seven tenths off on each leg. That bodes well for his final swim tonight, where he will aim to win Czechia’s second medal of the meet after Jan Cejka’s 200 back bronze.
Bursa now clocks in as the 10th fastest man in the world this season.
2025-2026 SCM Men 400 IM
Casas
3:56.13
| 2 | Carson FOSTER | USA | 3:58.18 | 10/19 |
| 3 | Alberto Razzetti | ITA | 3:58.79 | 12/07 |
| 4 | Kaito Tatsumi | JPN | 4:00.59 | 10/18 |
| 5 | Raito Numata | JPN | 4:00.93 | 10/18 |
| 6 | Tomoyuki Matsushita | JPN | 4:01.82 | 10/12 |
| 7 | Max Litchfield | GBR | 4:02.87 | 10/25 |
| 8 | Brendon SMITH | AUS | 4:03.10 | 10/25 |
| 9 | Cedric Bussing | GER | 4:03.51 | 12/07 |
| 10 | Lewis Clareburt | NZL | 4:03.66 | 10/12 |
| 11 | Lucas HENVEAUX | BEL | 4:03.89 | 12/07 |
| 12 | Jakub Bursa | CZE | 4:04.68 | 12/07 |
| 13 | Diego MIRA ALBALADEJO | ESP | 4:04.83 | 11/13 |
| 14 | Maksim Stupin | RUS | 4:04.91 | 11/11 |
| 15 | Darius Stefan Coman | ROU | 4:05.03 | 11/13 |
This was the first of two Czech records in this morning’s prelims session. The men’s 4x50medley relay team smashed the previous mark by over two and a half seconds to qualify second for tonight’s final. The previous mark was set by the bronze medal-winning team back in Chartres in 2012.
| Split | 2012 European Short Course Championships – final | 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims |
| Backstroke | Martin Badura – 24.51 | Miroslav Knedla – 22.87 |
| Breaststroke | Petr Bartunek – 26.70 | Matej Zabojnik – 26.29 |
| Butterfly | Michael Ledl – 22.97 | Daniel Gracik – 22.38 |
| Freestyle | Tomas Plevko – 21.20 | Jan Foltyn – 20.99 |
| Total | 1:35.18 | 1:32.53 |
All four of this morning’s swimmers have set individual Czech records at this meet as well.
| Swimmer | Record 1 | Record 2 | Record 3 |
| Miroslav Knedla | 100 back (heats) – 49.99. | 100 back (final) – 49.80 | 100 IM (final) – 51.71 |
| Matej Zabojnik | 100 breast (semi-final) – 57.38 | 200 breast (hets) – 2:04.57 | |
| Daniel Gracik | 50 fly (semi-final) – 22.38 | ||
| Jan Foltyn | 50 free (heats) – 21.35 |
Back with the 400 IM, Henveaux placed just behind Bursa in his heat to set his second Belgian 400 IM record of the season. He was 4:08.56 at the World Cup stop in Westminster back in October, and has now hacked more than five seconds off the national record this season.
He turned in an identical 1:59.53 to Bursa at the halfway point, but had a comparatively slower breaststroke and faster freestyle leg. His final 100 of 55.89 was the fastest in the field and one of only two under 57 seconds.
He now ranks 14th in the world rankings for this season, and has rounded into fantastic form in Lublin.
Earlier in the week, he missed the podium in the 400 free and 200 free, where he was the defending European short course bronze medalist and defending World short course bronze medalist respectively. He claimed silver in the 800 free in a huge new national record last night though, and is now a podium contender in this event.
Compared to his previous record, Henveaux was out a little slower but closed far quicker. He was down on his record pace at halfway here, 1.48 seconds ahead after the breaststroke and then 3.52 seconds ahead at the finish.
Split Comparison
| Split | 2025 World Cup – Westmont | 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims |
| 100 | 55.42 | 55.35 |
| 200 | 1:59.28 (1:03.86) | 1:59.53 (1:04.18) |
| 300 | 3:10.65 (1:11.37) | 3:09.15 (1:09.62) |
| 400 | 4:08.56 (57.91) | 4:05.04 (55.89) |
Belgium have had a quietly successful meet here, with four silver medals courtesy of Henveaux (800 free), Florine Gaspard (100 breast) Roos Vanotterdijk (50 fly, 100 IM).
That is one fewer than their most successful championships ever, which was back in 2015. Pieter Timmers took silver in the 100/200 freestyles and was joined by Glenn Surgeloose winning bronze in the latter, while Fanny Lecluyse took bronze in the 50 breast and gold in the 200 breast – one of only three Belgian European Short Course titles.
