Nine World Records Fall As Russia Tops Medal Table at European Para Swimming Championships

European Para Swimming Championships

• September 7-12, 2026
• Gebze Olympic Swimming Pool, Istanbul, Turkiye
• LCM (50 meters)
• Results

Nine World Para Swimming Records were broken in Istanbul at the European Swimming Championships last week, as Russia wound up topping the overall medal table with 92 total medals, 19 more than any other country in attendance.

Germany’s Tanja Scholz was one of two swimmers in Istanbul to take down a pair of World Records; she broke the Women’s 50 Breaststroke S2 with a finals performance of 56.44, and she also took down the Women’s SM3 150 IM World Record twice. She first notched a new standard in the prelims in  2:44.04, before rebreaking the record in the finals in 2:40.45.

The other double world record-breaker was Russia’s Konstantin Burmistrov. He clocked 55.67 in the Men’s 100 butterfly S12 in 55.67, and added the SM13 200 IM to his resume in 2:05.98.

Ukraine’s Veronika Korzhova swam to a new European record in the prelims of the Women’s S7 100 backstroke, touching in 1:20.85. In the finals, Korzhova lowered the World Record in 1:19.35.

The only freestyle World Record of the meet belonged to Czechia’s David Kratochvil, who notched a new men’s 100 free world record in the S11 category, clocking 55,03. A pair of men’s 100 backstroke records also went down. In the S11 category, Spain’s Albert Gelis fired off a 1:04.73 to notch a new all-time fastest mark, while the S12 category also saw Russia’s Vladimir Sotnikov power to a new World Record in 56.55.

Other European Records

• Women’s 50m Freestyle S9 – Florianne Bultje, NED (28.54)
• Women’s 400m Freestyle S9 – Oliwia Jablonska, POL (4:36.41)
• Women’s 100m Backstroke S11 – Varvara Kniazeva, RUS (1:14.27)
• Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB7 – Kyrylo Poida, UKR (1:14.95)
• Men’s 50m Butterfly S5 – Artem Oliinyk, UKR (33.17)
• Men’s 100m Butterfly S14 – Alexander Hillhouse, DEN (54.24)

Medal Table