National coach Bernd Berkhahn hopes that swimming will again be part of the multi-sport event European Championships in the future. “It would be great if swimming could be integrated again,” said the 51-year-old in Rome.
Swimmers, open water swimmers, water jumpers, synchronized swimmers and cliff divers have just held their European Championship competitions in the Italian capital. At the same time, the European Championships with other sports took place in Munich. Four years ago, swimming in Scotland was already included in such an event.
“It worked really well in Glasgow in 2018,” said top swimmer Florian Wellbrock in Italy. The open water Olympic champion added: “I do have the impression that the European Championships were also noticed more here in Germany because of the event in Munich. But I think if we had been able to hold the European Championships in Munich at the same time, it would have been a bit nicer.”
On the reasons why it could be complicated to reintegrate swimming, Wellbrock’s Magdeburg coach Berkhahn said with a view to the European association: “Len will probably find it difficult to get involved in the future, because then some of the power will be lost. You then have to integrate yourself into the system somehow, and that’s where such an association naturally finds it difficult. They have a claim – just like a FINA (World Swimming Federation, note) or a FIFA (World Football Association, note) – to be great and then you don’t fit into such a system.”