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Russia’s Chikunova wins gold at 2026 European Aquatics Championships

Great Britain's Angharad Evans won silver and Ireland’s Mona McSharry packed the bronze

Yevgeniya Chikunova Lintao Zhang/ Getty Images

Yevgeniya Chikunova

© Lintao Zhang/ Getty Images

PARIS, August 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Yevgeniya Chikunova won gold in women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the 2026 European Aquatics Championships in France on Friday.

Chikunova clocked the distance in 2 minutes 19.32 seconds to take the gold and also set a new European record in this competition, which previously belonged to Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen (2 minutes 19.84 seconds).

Angharad Evans from the Great Britain showed the result of 2 minutes 21.21 seconds to win the silver and Ireland’s Mona McSharry packed the bronze finishing the distance in 2 minutes 22.43 seconds.

Russian athletes have already coined 23 medals at the 2026 European Aquatics Championships (eight gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals).

The 2026 European Aquatics Championships is hosted by the French capital of Paris between July 31 and August 16 at the 5,000-seat capacity Paris Aquatic Center. The tournament’s program in France includes competitions in Artistic Swimming, Diving, High Diving, Open Water and Swimming. A total of 80 sets of medals are at stake across all competitions.

Russia is competing at the European Championships in Paris for the first time since 2021. Back then, at the tournament hosted by Hungary’s Budapest, the Russians finished at the top of the overall medals’ standings having coined 20 gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals.

This is the second major tournament for Russian athletes after being cleared to return to the international arena. Last year, they participated in the World Championships in Singapore, where they finished fourth in the teams’ overall standings, but in the top spot among the competing European teams.

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