19-year-old Liebmann wins 800m freestyle gold with European record at swimming EM in Paris

Gold with European record

Johannes Liebmann became the first German swimmer to win a European title over 800m freestyle, taking gold at the European Swimming Championships in Paris on Wednesday evening. The 19-year-old touched the wall in 7:37.59 minutes, improving his own European record of 7:37.94, set on 12 April, by 35 hundredths of a second. Sven Schwarz secured silver in 7:41.16, completing a German one-two, while Hungary's Zalan Sarkany took bronze in 7:41.75. The gold was the first for German pool swimmers at these championships and brought the DSV team's medal tally to five after three competition days.

The race

Liebmann had already posted the fastest time in Tuesday's heats, leaving Schwarz and open-water European champion Oliver Klemet behind him. In the final, a tight three-way battle developed before Liebmann accelerated after 550 metres, pulling clear of Schwarz and Sarkany with a decisive surge. His winning margin over Schwarz was 3.57 seconds. Liebmann said he had discussed tactics beforehand with his coach Bernd Berkhahn, who was not present at the pool, and had executed the plan of starting fast to build a lead. Despite the significance of the result, the race was not broadcast live: ARD switched from the first swimming events in Paris to decathlon high jump in Birmingham and then to athletics.

Reactions

The new European champion told ARD he was speechless after his first senior international final.

“I am a bit speechless. First start among the adults and the title right away. That is incredible.”

Schwarz, who had held the European record before Liebmann took it in April and who won 800m silver at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, was gracious in defeat.

“I had no chance against Johannes today, I have to say that quite honestly. Chapeau, how he pulled away.”

Despite the triumph, Liebmann described himself as "relatively self-critical" and said he still saw "still many mistakes" in his swimming, adding that his main goal was simply to keep improving.

Training and next challenges

Liebmann moved from Elmshorn to Magdeburg at age 16 to train under national coach Bernd Berkhahn in what articles describe as one of the world's leading distance training groups, alongside Olympic champions Florian Wellbrock and 400m world record holder Lukas Märtens. He completed his Abitur this spring while also setting three world-class times, including his first European record over 800m.

“That is quite cool, training with several Olympic champions. They are role models and at the same time my friends. I can ask them anything. That helps me a lot. They have experiences that I haven't had yet.”

Liebmann has two further medal chances in Paris. On Friday he contests the 1500m freestyle prelims as the world's fastest swimmer this year over that distance, with Schwarz also among the contenders. On Sunday, Liebmann faces a duel with world record holder Märtens over 400m freestyle.

Other results

Sweden's Sarah Sjöström won the 50m butterfly in 25.05 seconds, claiming her 18th European long-course title and tying German swimming icon Franziska van Almsick's record. No female swimmer has won more European Championship gold medals. Belgium's Roos Vanotterdijk took silver (25.12) and Sweden's Sara Junevik bronze (25.51). Germany's Angelina Köhler, the 2024 world champion over 100m butterfly, finished sixth in 25.72 seconds. Köhler's preferred 100m distance follows on Thursday, where she ranks third in the world this year behind Americans Gretchen Walsh and Regan Smith.

Johannes Liebmann (GER, Gold)457.59

Sven Schwarz (GER, Silver)461.16

Zalan Sarkany (HUN, Bronze)461.75

Johannes Liebmann (GER, Gold)

457.59 seconds

Sven Schwarz (GER, Silver)

461.16 seconds

Zalan Sarkany (HUN, Bronze)

461.75 seconds

Data from the article text