Lea Boy triumphs: bronze in a spectacular knockout sprint!

Lea Boy triumphs: bronze in a spectacular knockout sprint!

Stari Grad, Kroatien - The 21st European Championships in Frewasserwimming 2025 in Croatia have produced impressive performance. Lea Boy, a 25-year-old open water swimmer from Germany, showed a remarkable performance this week by winning her second medal. She won bronze in the newly introduced Knockout Sprint format, which was used for the first time at these European Championships. In this exciting format, consisting of several short races, participants excrete participants before the decision is made over 500 meters in the last race. Weser Kurier reports about Boy’s success at the same time in the Olympic competition over ten kilometers.

In this early competition, Boy not only achieved the bronze medal, but also had to give up the competitors Bettina Fabian from Hungary, who was awarded gold, and Paula Otera Fernández from Spain, who won the silver medal. The knockout sprint format is an exciting innovation in the program of the European Championships, which took place from 28th to 31st May 2025 in Stari degrees, Croatia. The place is considered one of the sunnest and is known for its natural beauty, which offered a picturesque setting for the competitions. German aquatics emphasizes that Stirris was also the first exhibition of the European Championships in Frewasserwimming 1989.

The new format is enthusiastic

The new Knockout sprint not only fascinates the athletes, but also the spectators. Tagesspiegel describes that the format consists of several short runs, which significantly increases the excitement during the competition. Every athlete has the chance to prove herself, but also the risk of extinguishing early. Boy went through this hard competition successfully and won a second medal in these title fights.

The German Swimming Association (DSV) has so far not granted a major role in the continental title fights in its season planning and is more likely to focus on the upcoming World Championships in Singapore, which will take place in July. Nevertheless, Boy’s medal gain is a positive sign for German Frekasser Sports and arouses hopes for further success in future competitions.