2026 European Swimming Championships
The penultimate night of action at the 2026 European Championships brought us the final of the women’s 50m freestyle, and we just saw two veterans and a teenager comprise the Paris podium.
When the dust settled, it was 34-year-old Kasia Wasick who got to the wall first, claiming her first long-course European title in a time of 23.84.
Behind her was new mom and Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who notched 23.86 to match her season-best. Sjostrom already won the 50m fly here to tie German Franziska van Almsick as the winningest European Championships female of all time.
Sara Curtis of Italy, already the winner and newly minted World Record holder in the 50m back, notched a new Italian record of 23.99 en route to 50m free bronze tonight.
As for Wasick of Poland, the seasoned ace just produced the best time of her career, with her 23.84 gold medal-worthy performance overtaking her former swiftest-ever performance of 23.95. That previous PB and Polish benchmark was established on her way to winning 50m free bronze at the 2024 World Championships.
Her Doha performance represented her first-ever foray under the 24-second barrier, an achievement she’s now captured three times.
It’s wild that Wasick is still producing lifetime bests this deep into her career, and one from which she previously retired.
The former NCAA champion moved to the USA in 2012 to pursue swimming and her studies at the University of Southern California. Upon her graduation in 2016, a shoulder injury and a myriad of life changes led to her retirement from swimming.
However, two years later in Las Vegas, she joined some friends at a local masters meet and Wasick realized she still loved swimming. Soon after, she was invited to join a professional team and since then, Wasick has competed in two more Olympics (finishing 5th in the women’s 50 m freestyle in Tokyo and Paris), bettered her national records in the 50 and 100 m freestyle, earned countless World Cup races, and, now, her first individual European Long Course Championships title.
Women’s 50m Freestyle — Final
- World Record: 23.55 – Gretchen Walsh, USA (2026)
- European Record: 23.61– Sarah Sjostrom Sweden (2023)
- Championship Record: 23.74– Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden (2018)
- 2025 World Champion: Meg Harris (AUS), 24.02
- 2024 European Champion: Petra Senanszky (HUN), 24.56
Final:
- Kasia Wasick (Poland) — 23.84
- Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden) — 23.86
- Sara Curtis (Italy) — 23.99
- Milou Van Wijk (Netherlands) — 24.09
- Marrit Steenbergen (Netherlands) — 24.18
- Neza Klancar (Slovenia) — 24.56
- Arina Surkova (NAB) — 24.59
- Beryl Gastaldello (France) — 24.73