Madeira 2024 Preview: The stars and how to follow the European Open Championshjps

As many as 435 Para swimmers are heading to Madeira, Portugal for the biggest Para swimming event of the year before the Paralympic Games in Paris.

The Madeira 2024 European Open Championships will be held from 21 to 27 April at the Funchal Olympic Pools Complex marking the third time the competition takes place in the Portuguese island.

The inaugural edition of the Euros was hosted in Reykjavik, Iceland 15 years ago and since then the event has established itself as the stage for the major international debut of some of the biggest names in the sport.

This year’s Europeans will also serve as an important test for Paralympic and world champions ahead of the Games in the French capital in August. As an Open event, it will allow athletes from outside of Europe to compete and fine-tune their Paralympic preparations.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The European Open Championships will be streamed live on the Paralympics YouTube channel.

In addition, fans can watch Madeira 2024 on the World Para Swimming Facebook channel.

Complete schedule and results will be available here.

Behind the scenes and more from Madeira can be followed on World Para Swimming channels on Instagram and X.

STARS TO WATCH

Here are eight of Europe’s Para swimming stars to follow:

Elena Krawzow (Germany)

One of the most successful athletes in the German team, Krawzow discovered a brain tumour right after becoming a Paralympic champion at Tokyo 2020. She won gold at the Madeira 2022 World Championships while under her treatment. Now fully recovered she will be defending her Manchester 2023 world title in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB12 and will also compete in the 50m freestyle S13.

Ellen Keane (Ireland)

Madeira 2024 will mark Keane’s farewell to the European Championships as she announced that she will retire after the Paralympics. The Irish swimmer is the current Paralympic champion in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB6. She also produced one of the most memorable moments of the Euros grabbing Ireland’s only gold at the home edition in Dublin 2018 in the final day of the competition.

Ellie Challis (Great Britain)

Challis is debuting at the European Championships but she arrives with an impressive CV as Paralympic medallist and current world champion in the women’s 50m backstroke S3, and the two-time world champion in the 50m breaststroke SB2. Challis also holds the world title in the 200m freestyle S3. She will be competing in the first two events in addition to the women’s 50m and 100m freestyle S3 in Madeira.

Fanni Illes (Hungary)

The Paralympic and European champion in the women’s 100m breaststroke SB4, Illes will be in Madeira with an exclusive goal: defending her title. This year’s European Open Championships will see her return to major events since the birth of her son in 2022. Hungary’s two gold medallist at the last World Championships, Bianca Pap and Zsofia Konkoly, will also compete in the Euros.

Rogier Dorsman (The Netherlands)

Three-time Paralympic champion and nine-time world champion, Dorsman will be in the water in seven events - the men’s 50m, 100m, and 400m freestyle S11, 100m backstroke and butterfly S11, 100m breaststroke SB11, 200m medley SM11. He holds the Paralympic title in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB11, 200m medley SM11, and 400m freestyle S11. He was the winner in the 50m freestyle S11 and 100m breaststroke SB11 in last year’s Worlds.

Simone Barlaam (Italy)

Paralympic champion Barlaam had an outstanding 2023 winning gold medals in all his races at the World Championships (five in total, including a new world record in the men’s 50m freestyle S9, lowering his own time in four seconds). The Italian swimmer collected three golds and a bronze medal in the last Euros. This time, he will swim five S9 races, the men’s 50m, 100m, and 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 100m backstroke.

Ugo Didier (France)

One of France’s medal hopes at this year’s Games in Paris, Didier is a two-time Paralympic medallist. Last year, he picked five medals in five events at the World Championships (four silver, in the men’s 100m and 400m freestyle S9, 100m backstroke S9, and 200m individual medley SM9 events, and a bronze in the 50m freestyle S9). He will be defending his European title in the 200m medley SM9 and 400m freestyle S9 in Madeira.

Yevhenii Bohodaiko (Ukraine)

A six-time Paralympic gold medallist and current Paralympic champion in the men's 100m breaststroke SB6, Bohodaiko made his debut at the Euros 13 years ago in Berlin bagging impressive eight gold medals. Ukraine will be competing in seven individual events in Madeira as one of the main hopes of the 45-strong Ukrainian team: men's 50m and 100m freestyle S7,  100m backstroke S7, 100m breaststroke SB6, 50m butterfly S7 and 200m individual medley SM7.

HOME HEROES

The host nation will be represented by seven athletes in Madeira aiming at improving the three podium finishes from the last edition at the same Funchal Olympic Pools Complex.
Susana Veiga was crowned European champion three years ago in the women’s 50m freestyle S9 and will be chasing more gold in two different events this time, the 100m backstroke S9 and 400m freestyle S9.

Diogo Cancela and Marco Meneses were Portugal’s medallists as the 2023 World Championships in Manchester. Cancela toom silver in the men’s 200m individual medley SM8 and will be racing this event and other three at Madeira 2024 (men's 400m freestyle S8, 100m backstroke S8 and 100m butterfly S8).

Meneses will be swimming in front of the home crowd in five events in the S11 class: the men's 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, 100m backstroke S11 (in which he took silver at Manchester 2023) and the 100m breaststroke SB11.

AND THE VISITORS

Fifteen non-European nations will be sending athletes to Madeira this year. Six of them from the Americas region (Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, USA and Venezuela).

Two of the United States Paralympic champions are set to compete in the Open Euros, Anastasia Pagonis and Gia Pergolini (Tokyo 2020 gold medallists in the women’s 400m freestyle S11 and women’s 100m backstroke S13, respectively)

Five-time Paralympic champion Yip Pin Xiu is a sporting legend in Singapore, the host nation of next year’s Para Swimming World Championships and one of the five Asian nations represented at Madeira 2024 (others are Afghanistan, China, Malaysia and Uzbekistan).

Egypt, Namibia and South Africa are the three African countries taking part in the European Open Championships. Australia will be the Oceania representative at Madeira 2024 sending a team of 20 athletes spearheaded by two-time Paralympic medallist Grant Patterson.