European S/C Championships, Day 3 Finals: Marrit Steenbergen Sets ERs in 100 IM, 200 Free
The finals of the 100 individual medley at the 2025 European Short-Course Championships didn’t disappoint Thursday, as an opener to the third night of the meet.
Marrit Steenbergen set the European record in winning the women’s race, while Noe Ponti outdueled Maxime Grousset by .01 seconds in setting a meet record in an engaging dual between the two stars.
Steenbergen wasn’t done, coming back later in the session to grab another gold and another European mark in the 200 freestyle.
All the action from Lublin, Poland:
Women’s 100 IM final
Marrit Steenbergen took control in backstroke and never let it go. She finished in 56.26, downing the European and meet records, both held by Katinka Hosszu. The retired Hungarian star set the European mark in 2017 at 56.51. Her meet mark dates to this meet in 2015.
The medal is Steenbergen’s third of the meet, her second gold and first individual medal. She’s up to 20 career Euros medals (12 long-course, eight short-course).
Roos Vanotterdijk finished second in 56.80 for her second medal of the meet. Vanotterdijk passed Anastasia Gorbenko for silver on the freestyle leg coming home. The Israeli finished third in 57.17, four tenths up on Beryl Gastaldello of France.
Men’s 100 IM final
What a difference two years makes for Noe Ponti in this race. Not just the upgrade from the silver that he won in 2023 in Otopeni but the time, more than a second quicker this time around.
Ponti led at each wall and held off the push from Maxime Grousset by .01 seconds, the Swiss swimmer winning in 50.52. It’s a meet record, downing the ancient standard of Peter Mankoc set at 50.76 in 2009.
Ponti had gone 51.62 in 2023 to finish two tenths back of Bernhard Reishammer. But he’s much quicker two years later.
Grousset was seventh at the midpoint but rallied to second with a devastating 14.15 split in breaststroke. He came home .06 quicker than Ponti, but he needed that extra hundredth.
It’s another Austrian medal in this event, with Heiko Gigler third in 51.60. He edged countryman Luka Mladenovic by .03 for the honor.
Men’s 1500 freestyle final
Daniel Wiffen needed a final-100 spurt to get to the wall first, his time 14:13.96 surging him past Zalan Sarkany for the win.
The Hungarian, who was the top seed in prelims, was first to the wall at each touch from 25 meters to 1,425. But Wiffen split 27.17 in the penultimate 50 to Sarkany’s 28.32. Wiffen poured it on, coming home in 25.95 to Sarkany’s 27.47.
Sarkany got silver in 14:15.51. Florian Wellbrock of Germany was comfortably third for the last 1,000 or so meters, taking bronze in 14:19.26. David Betlehem charged late (25.76 on the final 50 to Wellbrock’s 26.71), but he still had nearly a half-second to bridge in getting fourth in 14:19.65.
Poland’s Bartosz Kapala finished fifth in 14:26.44, nine tenths up on Victor Johansson. Sacha Velly of France was seventh in 14:35.20. Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkey was a distant eighth in 14:43.60.
Women’s 200 breaststroke semifinals
Ireland’s Ellie McCartney led the way in 2:18.81 to grab the top seed in the finals. She is .03 seconds up on Great Britain’s Angharad Evans. Anna Elendt drew the third seed in 2:19.50, while Roos Vanotterdijk is chasing another medal in fourth in 2:19.90.
Among those missing out is 100 breast winner Eneli Jefimova of Estonia, who improved from her outside lane in semis but still finished 10th in 2:23.10.
Men’s 200 breaststroke semifinals
Carles Coll Marti is the top seed out of semis, but the man to beat is the reigning champion and 100 breast winner. Coll Marti led the way at 2:01.91, .02 ahead of Caspar Corbeau, the Dutchman doing little to dispel his standing as favorite. Third went to Jeremias Pock of Germany in 2:03.06, with Luka Mladenovic vying for another medal in fourth.
At the other end of the finals spectrum, reigning bronze medalist Arno Kamminga squeaked into the final in eighth place in 2:04.46. He did so at the expense of Nicolo Martinenghi, who is ninth.
Women’s 100 backstroke semifinals
Lauren Cox led the way in 56.52, but with six swimmers within .74 seconds, the medals are very much up for grabs in a backstroke field that seems to lack a reigning power.
Cox was .08 up on Nina Holt of Germany. Sweden’s Hanna Rosvall finished third in 56.87. Pauline Mahieu of France led seven times in the 57s, a group that includes 200 back champ Carmen Weiler Sastre. The silver medalist in the longer backstroke event, Katie Shanahan, finished 11th to miss out.
Men’s 100 backstroke semifinals
Fresh off a British record in prelims, Oliver Morgan was a touch slower but still the top seed in 49.62. He led Czechia’s Miroslav Knedla by .18 seconds. Denis-Laurean Popescu of Romania is third in 49.99.
Three swimmers tied for fourth in 50.07. It includes Italians Lorenzo Mora and Thomas Ceccon. All three 200-meter medalists are here: Gold medalist John Shortt in eighth, silver medalist Mewen Tomac as the other fourth-place finisher and Jan Cejka in seventh. That left no room for France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard in 10th.
Women’s 200 freestyle final
Marrit Steenbergen is one of the hardest working swimmers in the world at meets like Euros. She always seems to find a way to make it pay off.
Steenbergen added a second gold of the session by finishing off a daunting double, going 1:50.33 to rout the field in the 200 free. She was 1.14 seconds up on Hungary’s Minna Abraham. The third-place battle of British Freyas went to Freya Colbert in 1:51.94 over Freya Anderson’s 1:53.09.
Steenbergen’s time blasted nearly eight tenths off the meet record that has stood since 2009 in the hands of Federica Pellegrini at 1:51.17. Steenbergen also clipped a tenth off the continental mark from Sarah Sjostrom’s 2017 time.
Men’s 200 freestyle final
Women’s 100 butterfly semifinals
Men’s 100 butterfly semifinals
Mixed 200 freestyle final
