Race Report: European Masters Championships (#818 and #819)
Updated: Aug 24
23 August 2026
My 1,001 pool quest originally started from a desire to get and stay healthy after a period of intense work and business travel while building a startup tech company between mid-2002 and 2007. After the sale of that company later in 2007, I realized I had let my work consume me ... and let my nascent masters swimming career (begun in 2001) and attention to fitness fall far too low in my priorities. It's not like my work life got a lot less intense after I started my #1001Pools quest, but my intent to use "counting pools" as a way to get my lazy butt out of bed in the course of my travels did start to pay off in this respect: I swam more.
While that intent still exists (getting to new pools in the natural flow of life) and it is still the dominant reason for me getting to new pools, since moving to London in 2023, I have done more than a few trips where the primary intent was the pool, followed closely by travel. This past week's trip to Austria and Slovakia fell squarely into that bucket.
I learned about the long course version of the European Masters Championships while having lunch in Warsaw after the short course meters version of this meet in Lublin last December. With a promise to my wife of good food and sightseeing in Vienna before and Salzburg after the competition, we built a trip with two (planned) days of racing at the fantastic X-Bionic Sphere in Šamorín, about 30 minutes outside of the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.
The Facility
Kudos again to European Aquatics for picking a fantastic facility - a top-notch competition pool, a great indoor warmup facility, and an amazing amount of space and options for athletes, both indoors and outdoors, to relax pre- & post-swim. There were approximately 2,400 swimmers registered for the competition, but the massive facility combined with the schedule (which generally featured additional 30 or 60 minute breaks between events for additional warmup time in the competition pool) meant that it was always possible to get in a solid warmup and cool-down between events.
The main competition pool was a tiled, 10-lane, constant two-meter depth tank, with ample viewing space on three sides:
A quiet competition pool, the Aqua Arena (#818), before Friday's rescheduled 400 IM heats
... decked out with two brilliant scoreboards under the covered stands and red carpet for us masters swimming stars at both ends:
As with Lublin, the event was run with professionalism, punctuality and the grandeur of the elite competition it is: complete with the pre-race call room, excellent announcing, nice young people to carry our buckets of clothes off deck post-race and really every attention to detail that they would put into a "current elite" championships. I think all of us who put so much time and focus into our training appreciate the respect for us as athletes the organizers put into this.
The indoor pool was an eight lane, twenty five meter pool, fitted with touch pads at each end, very important for practicing transitions, and one lane open for starts throughout each day.
Warmup Pool, the Aqua Sphere (#819)
... it also featured water slides (more on that later), lounge chairs and very comfortable bean-bag chairs for relaxing:
The Racing
I had originally planned a compact, two events per day, two day racing schedule:
Wednesday the 19th - 200 free and 200 IM
Thursday the 20th - 50 back and 400 IM
The 50 back was just thrown in for kicks, giggles and as a warmup swim for the 400 IM. I think it's the first (and, likely, the last) time I've ever raced it individually at a championship event.
200 Free (Wednesday)
Masters Best – 2:06.75 (2014, age 47)
50+ Best – 2:12.66 (August 2025, Manchester Wave Masters Meet)
Result – 2:11.89
Reaction -
This was one of those mixed emotions results. On the positive side, I won the event and executed my race strategy well, with great splitting:
... but, after going 2:06.4 in Short Course Meters at Canadian Nationals and through my training times this summer, I really felt like I had a sub-2:10 swim in me. I still think I do. The swim felt strong, but, as with the other races, I didn't feel like I had that 'easy speed' feeling at the start of the race.
I shouldn't complain too much, as it was better than last summer, but I'm still a bit confounded by this event: I find it one of the hardest races to get right.
200 IM (Wednesday)
Masters Best – 2:22.62 (2012, age 45)
50+ Best – 2:31.36 (August 2022, USMS Long Course Nationals)
Result – 2:28.80
Reaction -
This was the kind of the opposite result from the freestyle - a great time, but not such a great place (4th). I knew getting on the podium would be a challenge as I went in seeded 4th behind three guys who were all in the Top 10 in the world last year (I wasn't anywhere on that list). I was hoping to edge my way past one of them, but I couldn't quite chase down Alberto Montini on the freestyle leg ...
But, the time was great for me and exceeded my expectations. I haven't been under 2:30 since 2014, and this was the 9th time I've raced it over that dozen year period, including taper/rest meets in both 2022 and 2025. So, I was very happy with the swim.
Like the freestyle, though, it never felt super smooth - all my strokes felt fine enough, but never sharp. I felt powerful, but flat.
50 Back (Thursday)
Masters Best – 31.91 (2014, age 47)
50+ Best – 33.63 (June 2025, lead-off on medley relay at British Masters Champs)
Result – 33.25
Reaction -
I only entered this race to have something to do in the morning, as a sprint to rev me up before the 400 IM later in the day.
Pretty much everything about this went wrong except the time - so deep on the start that I had to take closer to 15 dolphin kicks instead of the practiced and planned eight; swimming side-to-side bouncing off both lane ropes in the sun; jammed the finish.
But, it served its purpose (or so I thought).
400 IM (Scheduled for Thursday late afternoon, swum on Friday morning)
Masters Best – 4:58.10 (2012, age 45)
50+ Best – 5:17.77 (June 2025, British Masters Nationals)
Result – 5:13.04
Reaction -
To begin with, I'm just thankful I was able to swim this, and grateful my wife was willing to delay the start of the pure vacation part of our trip to Salzburg. A bit before 5 pm on Thursday, I was ready in the ready room, sitting in the front row for heat 10, with heat 7 in the water, heat 8 behind the blocks and heat 9 about to be lead out onto the pool deck. The sky was looking a bit ominous and then the announcer came on to say there would be a thirty minute weather delay at the conclusion of heat 7. Groans all around the ready room, cursing in the panoply of languages present.
And the wind began to blow, the trees began to shake, the signs and barriers around the pool deck blew down, rain began to fall, and they cleared the entire outdoor area.
By a little after 6pm, to the surprise of none of us watching the storm continuing to increase in intensity, they called the meet, announcing they would race the remaining heats of the 400 IM starting at 8:45am on Friday morning. The problem for me was this: I had a train booked to Salzburg departing at 8:50am!
Thankfully, I must have been prescient as I had booked a flexible train ticket, there were basically trains going every hour, and my wife graciously agreed to put off our original plan of an afternoon walking tour of Salzburg so I could show up and swim this.
I'm very glad she did as this was definitely my best race of the event.
I dropped almost 5 seconds from last summer, broke the European Masters Championship record (5:14.23), was well under the British Record (5:18.99)*, came dangerously close to the Canadian National Record (5:12.69)**, and even closer to the 5:13.03, the last time I had swum it in my 40s (2015).
In general, the race felt well-executed, though my lack of breaststroke training because of my wonky, torn-meniscus knee definitely showed up in my splits:
My general race strategy is to "sleep through" the fly, use the first 50 of each stroke to connect with my form and then aim to negative split. The backstroke leg was the most "on target," as I think I was too slow on the first length of freestyle. I also think I might have been a bit "too sleepy" on the fly as a well-executed 400 IM for me has my free and fly splits practically the same.
The one big let down, the other casualty of the storm though: on Thursday, they had announced that the water slides were open and we were free to use them. I had planned on using the slides as my "cool-down" after the 400 IM. However, at 9:05am on Friday morning when I was done, the slides were not open for play and I had to hightail it back to Bratislava to make my revised train :(
* Which I cannot hold because I am not British!
** Though, even if I had broken this, I couldn't have held it as I was representing my UK team at this event.
