Spanish swimmers break three national records at European Aquatics Championships in Paris

Tonrath fifth in 200 backstroke final

Estella Tonrath, 19, finished fifth in the 200m backstroke final at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, clocking 2:09.05. The Mallorcan had qualified from semifinals with the third-best time (2:08.99), breaking the 2:09 barrier for the second time in her career. In the final, she held fourth at the 150m turn before being overtaken in the closing 50 metres by Germany's Lise Seidel (2:08.86), who snatched fourth place. Britain's Katie Shanahan won gold in 2:06.13, pulling away with a 31.46-second opening 50m split that put the race beyond reach. Portugal's Camila Rebelo, the reigning European champion from Belgrade 2024, took silver in 2:07.62, and France's Pauline Mahieu completed the podium at 2:08.63. Tonrath's Spanish record stands at 2:08.03, set in June 2025.

Hoek smashes national record in 100 freestyle

Luca Hoek, 18, lowered his own Spanish record in the 100m freestyle from 47.72 to 47.26 in the semifinal, a drop of nearly half a second. The time ranks as the 17th-fastest in history and placed him second among semifinalists, behind only Romania's David Popovici, the reigning European and world champion, who set a championship record of 46.72. Russia's Egor Kornev, gold medallist in the 50m butterfly in Paris, qualified third in 47.27, one hundredth behind Hoek. The final is scheduled for Wednesday, 12 August at 18:52. Hoek, born in Sant Pere de Ribes and raised in Sitges, is the reigning European junior champion and trains under Ben Titley at the CAR in Sant Cugat.

Spanish relay sixth with second national record of the day

The mixed 4x100 medley relay team of Ivan Martinez (backstroke, 53.32), Nil Cadevall (breaststroke, 59.87), Laura Cabanes (butterfly, 58.56) and Irene Ciorgles (freestyle, 53.35) finished sixth in the final at 3:45.10, having set a national record of 3:45.87 in the morning preliminaries. France won gold in 3:39.64, with the Netherlands second (3:40.92) and Russia third (3:41.52). France's Marie Wattel anchored the home team ahead of the Netherlands' Marrit Steenbergen, while Russia, who led early through Kliment Koleshnikov and Kirill Prigoda, settled for bronze.

Garach and De Valdes in distance events

Carlos Garach broke the Spanish record in the 800m freestyle with 7:48.26, erasing Marco Rivera's 7:49.09 from the 2009 Rome World Championships. The Cadiz-born swimmer, who trains in Malaga, qualified for Wednesday's final with the seventh-best time. Maria de Valdes finished seventh in the 800m freestyle final at 8:37.23, having climbed to sixth at the 400m mark (4:13.59) before dropping back. Italy's Simona Quadarella won the title.

Gonzalez reaches 200 backstroke final

Hugo Gonzalez, the reigning world champion in the 200m backstroke, qualified for Wednesday's final with the seventh-best time of 1:55.75, recovering from fifth in his semifinal with a strong closing 50 metres. Hungary's Hubert Kos set a European record of 1:52.30, narrowly missing Aaron Peirsol's 2009 world record of 1:51.92 from the polyurethane suit era.

Ciorgles, 16, makes her mark

Irene Ciorgles, 16, swam the freestyle leg in both the relay preliminaries and the final. From Andorra in Teruel, she was also part of Spain's sixth-place 4x200 freestyle relay on Monday alongside Ainhoa Campabadal, Maria Daza and Alba Herrero, clocking 1:58.66 in both heats and the final. At the European Junior Championships in Munich, she won gold in the 100m backstroke, silver in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, and bronze in the 4x100 relay. She broke Mireia Belmonte's 50m butterfly short-course record with 57.77, 47 hundredths faster than the 58.24 set in 2014. Ciorgles will also compete in the 50m and 100m backstroke in Paris.