The strength-in-depth of European men’s open water swimming was underlined in a season that encompassed Olympic and world competition, with five competitors emerging as contenders for the European Aquatics Athlete of the Year award in their category.
The overall results at the two global competitions of the year told their own story. At February’s World Aquatics Championships in Doha, European male swimmers occupied the first nine places in the 5km race and the first four in the 10km event. At the Paris Olympics, they secured the top 10 places in the 10km.
Hungary’s Kristof Razovszky had a golden year in 2024, earning Olympic and world titles.
The 27-year-old began his season by taking a second world gold over 10km, five years after his first win over 5km in Gwangju, and he added a bronze in the mixed team event.
And while he missed out on an individual medal at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade – despite helping Hungary to gold in the mixed team event – Razovszky returned to top form at the Paris 2024 Games.
There on the River Seine course he clocked 1:50.52.7 to add 10km gold to the silver he had won three years earlier at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Razovszky’s 21-year-old compatriot David Betlehem also had a hugely consistent and successful season, claiming medals in all major competitions. He began his year in Doha helping his country earn bronze in the mixed team competition.
At the Europeans in Belgrade he won 5km gold by 0.4sec from France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier, and secured bronze in the 10km race, finishing 0.2sec behind the French swimmer. He also visited the top of the podium in company with Mira Szimcsak, Bettina Fabian and Razovsky after their victory in the mixed team event.
Betlehem’s season peaked in Paris, where he earned bronze in a time of 1:51.09.0, finishing one place behind Germany’s Oliver Klemet, who claimed silver in 1:50.54.8.
Klemet, 22, also among the five award contenders, had offered evidence of his potential a year earlier at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, where he took bronze in the 10km race.
There was some disappointment in Paris for home hope Olivier, as he finished seventh. He had put himself into contention for medals with outstanding achievements in the earlier part of the year.
At the Doha Worlds he had taken 10km silver behind Razovszky, and three days later had earned a second silver in the 5km race after finishing just 0.3sec behind compatriot Logan Fontaine.
In the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade that preceded the Olympics, Olivier had added two more silvers, finishing behind Betlehem and Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri in the 5km and 10km races respectively. He also helped France take bronze in the mixed team event.
But Olivier finished his season on a high as he earned the overall men’s title in the 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup series, where European male athletes filled the top 11 places in the overall standings.
Razovszky’s hopes of earning a second individual medal at the World Championships were frustrated by Italy’s 29-year-old Domenico Acerenza, also in the running for this year’s award.
Acerenza replicated his performance in the previous year’s world 5km race by claiming bronze as he finished half a second ahead of his Hungarian rival. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, however, the fractions worked against him as he missed third place by just 0.6sec.
All European aquatics fans are invited to vote ahead of the competition deadline of 23:59 CET on December 31.