Great Britain finish third on the medal table at Lublin 2025

[Article images courtesy of European Aquatics]

Adding to the six medals from the first half of the meet, Lauren Cox started a run of three British medals from consecutive finals on Friday evening as she sprinted to Women’s 100m Backstroke gold. The Manchester Performance Centre swimmer - who had qualified fastest from the semi-finals to take lane four in the medal contest – produced an incredible fightback down the closing 25m length to overturn a deficit of more than half a second and get her hand to the wall first.

“If you’d told me last week I would be European Champion, I would have not believed you,” said Cox to European Aquatics reporter, Nick Hope.

“I wasn’t holding anything back, I was just trying to control my speed because sometimes I get really excited and slip the water. I’ve been working on my back end for the past four years, so I knew it’d be strong finish.

“Normally I dread short course, so I came in with a different mindset for this meet just to see what happens and enjoy it. But definitely this is just building my confidence on the world stage, practicing going out in the middle lanes and using it as an experience going forward.”

Oliver Morgan was next to step onto the podium with bronze in the Men’s 100m Backstroke. Having set a new British record of 49.55 seconds in the heats, the Gary Humpage-coached athlete carried that consistency through the rounds in delivering three sub-50 second competition swims.

“It’s my first ever international medal so super over the moon,” said Morgan.

“Coming into this meet I had no idea really what I was capable of, so I’m super happy to come away with a medal in the short course pool. Worlds [in summer] wasn’t quite as good as I thought it could have been, so it’s been about rebuilding back from that and I’m really happy to be going those times back-to-back.”

The Friday night flurry continued with Angharad Evans securing silver in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke. The University of Stirling swimmer landed her first senior international medal with a composed race plan, sticking to the pace of the race to touch in second.

“It’s quite emotional [to win this medal],” said Angharad.

“I think I had a lot of doubt after a disappointing summer at worlds, so I think the biggest competition in that race was myself and my mind. I’m so proud that I battled through it and that I had fun doing it – this medal means a lot more to me than a piece of metal, I believe in myself a little bit more now.”

Fast forward to the final night and Max Litchfield produced a brilliant swim to claim the second 400m Individual Medley European Short Course Swimming Championships medal of his career, with the Men’s 2019 champion earning silver in Lublin.

Holding second place from the 125m turn through to the close, the David Hemmings-coached athlete stood firm against further challengers throughout the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle phases of the race to earn a superb silver medal.

Meanwhile, Matt Richards found momentum after a deviated route though to the Men’s 100m Freestyle final – with the 22-year-old required to win a swim-off to secure his place in the final, before producing an outside smoker from lane eight to earn a bronze medal.

Getting his hand to the wall in 45.82 was a additionally a new British record for Richards, lowering his own previous mark from 2022.

“With a lane you’ve always got a chance, and you know I’m just keeping everyone on the edge of their seats,” quipped Richards.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of a week with the 200m Freestyle a really bittersweet moment and being on the wrong side of the two-per-nation rule, so it was frustrating to not get to see really where I was at on that event, and then I maybe left a little bit too much to chance on the 100m semi-final.

“I got that extra opportunity to come in today, test my skills, test my racing ability and managed to get the job done in the swim-off for a lane in the final. I always want to be winning golds but I’ll take the wins where I can get them, I’m really enjoying the journey and this is actually my first ever senior international medal on the 100m Freestyle so just to get onto the podium is the first step in the right direction for where I want to be moving this event.”

Records continued to fall elsewhere, with Filip Nowacki lowering his European Junior record in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke to 2:02.96 in placing fourth in his maiden senior international final, while Cox and Morgan both set respective Women’s and Men’s British records in their 50m Backstroke finals – Cox stopping the clock on 26.03 seconds to just miss the women’s podium in fourth, as Morgan posted a time of 22.85 for fifth in the men’s event.

At the conclusion of the championships Great Britain finished third on the medal table with three golds, four silvers and four bronze medals.

Action from the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships can be watched back on www.aquaticsgb.com/live and across Eurovision Sport platforms.

Great Britain Team Results [5th-7th December]:

[*Eliminated in the heats due to the European Aquatics two-per-nation rule]

Women’s 200m Breaststroke: Angharad Evans – SILVER

Men’s 200m Breaststroke: Filip Nowacki – 4th

Women’s 100m Backstroke: Lauren Cox – GOLD

Men’s 100m Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – BRONZE

Women’s 200m Individual Medley: Katie Shanahan – 4th, Freya Colbert – 4th

Men’s 200m Individual Medley: Duncan Scott – 5th, Max Litchfield – 7th

Women’s 100m Freestyle: Eva Okaro – 5th, Freya Anderson – 13th

Men’s 100m Freestyle: Matt Richards – BRONZE

Women’s 50m Backstroke: Lauren Cox – 4th

Men’s 50m Backstroke: Oliver Morgan – 5th, Jack Skerry – 22nd

Women’s 50m Breaststroke: Angharad Evans – 13th

Men’s 50m Breaststroke: Filip Nowacki – 20th, Greg Butler – 37th

Women’s 50m Freestyle: Eva Okaro - 7th

Women’s 200m Butterfly – Emily Richards – 5th

Men’s 200m Butterfly: Luke Greenbank – 13th

Men’s 400m Individual Medley: Max Litchfield – SILVER, Tom Dean – 12th

Women’s 4x50m Medley Relay: Lauren Cox, Angharad Evans, Eva Okaro and Freya Anderson – 7th

Men’s 4x50m Medley Relay: Oliver Morgan, Filip Nowacki, Matt Richards and Jack McMillan – 12th

Find full competition scheduling and results on the European Aquatics website.