European female open water swimmers, like their male counterparts, dominated global competition in 2024, and five of the finest performers are now nominees for the European Aquatics Athlete of the Year award in their category.
Sharon van Rouwendaal became the first swimmer, male or female, to win two Olympic 10k titles when she claimed gold at the Paris Games with a late charge in the River Seine.
The 30-year-old Dutch athlete, who had begun her year by winning the world 5km and 10km titles in Doha, outsprinted her Australian rival and training partner Moesha Johnson to finish 5.5sec clear in 2hr 03min 34.2sec, adding a second Olympic title to the one she gained at the Rio 2016 Games.
Having won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, van Rouwendaal also became the first athlete to claim three Olympic medals.
Bronze at the Paris Games went to Italy’s 27-year-old Ginevra Taddeucci, who had prepared for the Olympics by taking two silvers – in the 5km race and the team event – at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade.
Taddeucci also finished third in the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup series.
In Doha van Rouwendaal had earned her 10km title by just 0.1sec from Spain’s Maria de Valdes, who is also an award nominee this year.
De Valdes, 26, thus added a second silver to her collection having finished second in the European 5km race in Rome two years earlier.
The European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade saw another double accomplished in the women’s 5km and 10km races, but on this occasion the golds went to Germany’s Leonie Beck, the 2023 world champion at both distances.
She held off Italy’s Barbara Pozzobon by 0.1sec to claim the 10km title before beating Taddeucci to gold in the 5km, putting herself into contention for this year’s award.
Pozzobon, who is also in the swim, had her moment atop the podium in Belgrade, however, as she won the 25km race from Germany’s Lea Boy and Candela Sanchez of Spain.
All European aquatics fans are invited to vote ahead of the competition deadline of 23:59 CET on December 31.