Thema: The New Speed Of The Old World

The Paris 2026 European Swimming Championships were not uniformly the fastest Europeans in history in every event - but on the measure of competitive depth, it was the highest-grade gathering on the clock ever seen in the 100-year history of the continent's summer showcases.

Of course, the same might have been said of many other championships back to 1926, when the showcase event got underway with invitations issued only to the men. Women joined the party a year later. Each championship ever since has had its own 'best ever' claims to make, rarely is one championship as a whole the best ever across all measures.

What we can say about Paris 2026 is that it produced the fastest podiums in history in three quarters of all events; and the fastest finals in more than 60% of all finals, while about half of all victories were claimed in the fastest winning time ever.

That bronze measure is the most impressive of a striking set of statistics that back up this surface summary of Paris 2026 from Britain head coach Steve Tigg: "... the depth is getting a lot better and it's brilliant because we need that level of competition here in Europe to make sure that we're ready for what the Olympics can bring, what the Worlds can bring..."

Interview with Steve Tigg:

Tigg & The Britain Bounce Building A Vision Of California Dreamin’ 2028

Part 1: ”... they’ll come out of this better athletes for it and more confident, and that’s what we’re going to need going into LA[2028] ... the level of the meet here is obscene in some events ... this is world-championship level swimming.” Steve Tigg on his GBR charges

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

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