Imagine the thrill of watching history unfold in the pool, as two rising stars demolish long-standing national records in the men's 400 Individual Medley at the 2025 European Short Course Championships—setting hearts racing and sparking endless debates about what's next for swimming's future. And trust me, this is just the beginning of a championship packed with surprises that will leave you on the edge of your seat!
2025 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 2-7, 2025
- Lublin, Poland
- SCM (25 meters) – For those new to swimming lingo, SCM stands for Short Course Meters, meaning races take place in a 25-meter pool, which differs from the 50-meter long course pools you might see in Olympics. This shorter distance often leads to faster times and more intense, tactical swims.
- Meet Central (https://europeanaquatics.org/swimming-short-course-lublin-2025/)
- Psych Sheets (https://swimswam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/EntryList202511251343.pdf)
- Live Results (https://www.omegatiming.com/2025/european-aquatics-short-course-swimming-championships-live-results)
- Live Recaps:
** Prelims:Day 1 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-short-course-championships-day-one-prelims-live-recap/) |Day 2 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-2-prelims-live-recap/) | Day 3 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-3-prelims-live-recap/) | Day 4 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-4-prelims-live-recap/) | Day 5 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-5-prelims-live-recap/) | Day 6 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-6-prelims-live-recap/)
** Finals:Day 1 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-1-finals-live-recap/) | Day 2 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-2-finals-live-recap/) | Day 3 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-3-finals-live-recap/) | Day 4 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-4-finals-live-recap/) | Day 5 (https://swimswam.com/2025-european-sc-championships-day-5-finals-live-recap/)
MEN’S 400 IM – PRELIMS
- WR: 3:54.81 – Daiya Seto (https://swimswam.com/bio/daiya-seto/) , JPN (2019) – This world record sets the ultimate benchmark, achieved by Japan's Daiya Seto in 2019, showing just how elite the top swimmers are.
- WJR: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin (https://swimswam.com/tag/ilia-borodin/) , RSF (2021)
- ER: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin (https://swimswam.com/tag/ilia-borodin/) , RSF (2021)
- EJR: 3:56.47 – Ilia Borodin (https://swimswam.com/tag/ilia-borodin/) , RSF (2021)
- CR: 3:57.01 – Alberto Razzetti (https://swimswam.com/bio/alberto-razzetti/) , ITA (2023)
Top 8 Qualifiers:
- Jakub Bursa (https://swimswam.com/tag/jakub-bursa/) (CZE) – 4:04.68 Q
- Lucas Henveaux (https://swimswam.com/tag/lucas-henveaux/) (BEL) – 4:05.04 Q
- Diego Mira Albaladejo (https://swimswam.com/tag/diego-mira-albaladejo/) (ESP) – 4:05.25 Q
- Alberto Razzetti (https://swimswam.com/bio/alberto-razzetti/) (ITA) – 4:05.29 Q
- Max Litchfield (https://swimswam.com/bio/max-litchfield/) (GBR) – 4:05.47 Q
- Cedric Buessing (https://swimswam.com/tag/cedric-buessing/) (GER) – 4:05.91 Q
- Zalan Sarkany (https://swimswam.com/tag/zalan-sarkany/) (HUN) – 4:06.98 Q
- Thomas Jansen (https://swimswam.com/tag/thomas-jansen/) (NED) – 4:07.73 Q
The top two swimmers advancing to tonight's men's 400 IM final each blew away their country's previous best times. Jakub Bursa (https://swimswam.com/tag/jakub-bursa/) from the Czech Republic claimed the fastest qualifying spot with a time of 4:04.68, marking his debut in the finals here in Lublin, while Lucas Henveaux (https://swimswam.com/tag/lucas-henveaux/) of Belgium sliced a whopping 3.52 seconds off his national mark to finish at 4:05.04. For beginners, breaking a national record is like rewriting your country's sports history—it's a huge deal that boosts morale and sets new goals for future generations.
Bursa dominated the first of the seeded heats, splitting his race with a strong 1:59.53 at the 200-meter mark and a 2:05.15 in the closing 200. His old record, set at the Slovak Cup last December, was 4:07.27, so this swim represented a significant leap forward.
Interestingly, this isn't Bursa's first national record at these championships—it's his second. The 22-year-old from Slovak Liberec shaved six-tenths off his personal best in the 200 IM heats with a 1:54.79, though he added a bit more time in the semifinals to finish ninth at 1:55.01, still under his former mark. For context, the 400 IM combines four different strokes—butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle—making it a test of versatility and endurance.
Take a look at the split comparison below to see how Bursa improved across the board in his old and new 400 IM records:
Split Comparison
Split 2024 Slovak Cup – final 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims
100 57.15 56.45
200 2:00.79 (1:03.64) 1:59.53 (1:03.08)
300 3:09.49 (1:08.70) 3:07.61 (1:08.08)
400 4:07.27 (57.78) 4:04.68 (57.01)
He edged out his previous times by roughly six to seven tenths on every segment, which is a fantastic sign for his final tonight. Bursa is eyeing Czechia's second medal of the event, following Jan Cejka (https://swimswam.com/tag/jan-cejka/)'s bronze in the 200 backstroke.
As a result, Bursa now sits as the tenth-fastest performer globally this season in the 400 IM.
2025-2026 SCM Men 400 IM Rankings (https://swimswam.com/ranking/2025-2026-scm-men-400-im/)
2 Carson
FOSTER USA 3:58.18 10/19
3 Kaito
Tatsumi JPN 4:00.59 10/18
4 Raito
Numata JPN 4:00.93 10/18
5 Alberto
Razzetti ITA 4:01.53 10/25
6 Tomoyuki
Matsushita JPN 4:01.82 10/12
7 Max
Litchfield GBR 4:02.87 10/25
8 Brendon
SMITH AUS 4:03.10 10/25
9 Lewis
Clareburt NZL 4:03.66 10/12
10 Jakub
Bursa CZE 4:04.68 12/07
11 Diego
MIRA ALBALADEJO ESP 4:04.83 11/13
12 Maksim
Stupin RUS 4:04.91 11/11
13 Darius Stefan
Coman ROU 4:05.03 11/13
14 Lucas
HENVEAUX BEL 4:05.04 12/07
15 Cedric
Bussing GER 4:05.91 12/07
View Top 26» (https://swimswam.com/ranking/2025-2026-scm-men-400-im/)
This prelim session also saw another Czech record fall—not from an individual, but from their men's 4x50 medley relay squad, which obliterated the old mark by more than two and a half seconds to secure second place heading into tonight's final. The previous record dated back to 2012 in Chartres, where the bronze-winning team set it. But here's where it gets controversial: Is the relay format favoring certain countries with deeper talent pools, or should individual events get more spotlight in championships like this?
Here's the breakdown of their splits compared to the 2012 mark:
Split Comparison
Split 2012 European Short Course Championships – final 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims
Backstroke Martin Badura – 24.51 Miroslav Knedla (https://swimswam.com/tag/miroslav-knedla/) – 22.87
Breaststroke Petr Bartunek (https://swimswam.com/tag/petr-bartunek/) – 26.70 Matej Zabojnik (https://swimswam.com/tag/matej-zabojnik/) – 26.29
Butterfly Michael Ledl – 22.97 Daniel Gracik (https://swimswam.com/tag/daniel-gracik/) – 22.38
Freestyle Tomas Plevko – 21.20 Jan Foltyn (https://swimswam.com/tag/jan-foltyn/) – 20.99
Total 1:35.18 1:32.53
Each member of today's relay team has also smashed personal Czech records at this meet, adding to the excitement:
Swimmer Record 1 Record 2 Record 3
Miroslav Knedla (https://swimswam.com/tag/miroslav-knedla/) 100 back (heats) – 49.99. 100 back (final) – 49.80 100 IM (final) – 51.71
Matej Zabojnik (https://swimswam.com/tag/matej-zabojnik/) 100 breast (semi-final) – 57.38 200 breast (hets) – 2:04.57
Daniel Gracik (https://swimswam.com/tag/daniel-gracik/) 50 fly (semi-final) – 22.38
Jan Foltyn (https://swimswam.com/tag/jan-foltyn/) 50 free (heats) – 21.35
Shifting back to the 400 IM, Henveaux finished right on Bursa's heels in his heat, establishing his second Belgian national record of the season. He clocked 4:08.56 at the World Cup in Westminster in October, and now he's stripped over five seconds off the old mark this year alone—a testament to his rapid improvement.
Henveaux matched Bursa's 1:59.53 halfway split, but his breaststroke was a tad slower while his freestyle leg blazed ahead. His closing 100 meters in 55.89 was the quickest in the session, one of just two under 57 seconds among all qualifiers. This puts him at 14th in the global rankings for the season, and he's clearly peaking at the right time in Lublin.
Earlier this week, Henveaux narrowly missed the podium in both the 400 free and 200 free events, where he defended his European short course bronze and World short course bronze titles respectively. However, he bounced back with a silver in the 800 free last night, setting a fresh national best, positioning him as a strong candidate for a medal in this race too.
In comparison to his prior record, Henveaux started a bit slower but powered through with a much stronger finish. He was 1.48 seconds behind at the breaststroke turn but surged ahead by 3.52 seconds overall.
Split Comparison
Split 2025 World Cup – Westmont 2025 European Short Course Championships – prelims
100 55.42 55.35
200 1:59.28 (1:03.86) 1:59.53 (1:04.18)
300 3:10.65 (1:11.37) 3:09.15 (1:09.62)
400 4:08.56 (57.91) 4:05.04 (55.89)
Belgium has been enjoying a solid, if understated, success at these championships, with four silver medals from Henveaux (800 free), Florine Gaspard (https://swimswam.com/tag/florine-gaspard/) (100 breast), and Roos Vanotterdijk (https://swimswam.com/tag/roos-vanotterdijk/) (50 fly and 100 IM). That's just one short of their all-time best haul back in 2015, when Pieter Timmers (https://swimswam.com/bio/pieter-timmers/) grabbed silver in the 100 and 200 freestyles, Glenn Surgeloose (https://swimswam.com/tag/glenn-surgeloose/) earned bronze in the 200 free, and Fanny Lecluyse (https://swimswam.com/tag/fanny-lecluyse/) secured bronze in the 50 breast plus gold in the 200 breast—one of Belgium's rare European Short Course titles. And this is the part most people miss: How do small nations like Belgium punch above their weight in swimming, relying on homegrown talent rather than massive training facilities?
In This Story
- Alberto Razzetti (https://swimswam.com/bio/alberto-razzetti/)
Alberto Razzetti (https://swimswam.com/bio/alberto-razzetti/)
- Daiya Seto (https://swimswam.com/bio/daiya-seto/)
Daiya Seto (https://swimswam.com/bio/daiya-seto/)
- Max Litchfield (https://swimswam.com/bio/max-litchfield/)
Max Litchfield (https://swimswam.com/bio/max-litchfield/)
- Pieter Timmers (https://swimswam.com/bio/pieter-timmers/)
Pieter Timmers (https://swimswam.com/bio/pieter-timmers/)
What do you think about these record-breaking swims—do they signal a new era for European swimming, or is it just a temporary spike? Could smaller countries like Czechia and Belgium keep challenging the big names, or will the favorites dominate finals? Share your opinions and predictions in the comments below—we'd love to hear if you agree or disagree!
