Filip Nowacki's late surge delivers Jersey's first European title in Paris
Filip Nowacki, an 18-year-old swimmer from Jersey, won his first senior European Championship title in the 200m breaststroke on Thursday, 13 August — the first European gold ever for an athlete from the Channel Islands.
The victory came in a time of 2:07.70, just 0.08 seconds ahead of Dutch rival Caspar Corbeau, an Olympic bronze-medallist, at the 2026 European Aquatics Championships in Paris. BBC Sport
The race was anything but straightforward. Nowacki sat sixth at the 100-metre mark and was still second behind Corbeau at the 150-metre turn. What followed was a devastating final 50 metres — European Aquatics described it as "an incredible last 50m" — as the teenager overhauled an Olympic medallist to win by a margin of roughly a hand. European Aquatics, via Facebook
The gold caps a remarkable summer for Nowacki. Less than a month earlier, he won the 200m breaststroke at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, becoming the most decorated Jersey athlete in Commonwealth Games history. In that same meet, he also pipped world record-holder Adam Ramsay-Peaty to silver in the 100m breaststroke. BBC Sport
Earlier in the week in Paris, Nowacki had finished sixth in the 100m breaststroke, missing fifth by 0.01 seconds — a fingertip at the wall — behind fellow Briton Ramsay-Peaty. He left no such margin for doubt over the longer distance. BBC Sport
Nowacki arrived at these European Championships as the reigning world junior champion, having won two gold medals at the World Aquatics Junior Championships with records in both the 200m and 100m breaststroke. ITV Channel TV, via Facebook
Speaking to BBC Sport after the European final, Nowacki described winning his first senior title as "very special" — a word he also used about his Commonwealth Games gold, when he told the BBC that seeing the Jersey flag and hearing the anthem meant everything. BBC Sport
What makes this stand out is the trajectory. An 18-year-old from an island of roughly 100,000 people, swimming for a team with no Olympic history to speak of, is now beating Olympic medallists at senior continental level. Junior records are promises, not careers — but Nowacki is cashing those promises in fast, and across two major championships in a single summer.
