Sacha Velly & Caroline Jouisse Claim French Double At European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2025
The second leg of the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2025 saw Sacha Velly and Caroline Jouisse claim a French double as they took the respective men’s and women’s titles at the Parque Urbano de Albarquel in Setubal, Portugal.
Following the first leg in Cyprus last month, 21 men and 10 women took to the pontoon at 11am local time for the 10km, six-lap race.
Velly surged to a well-measured victory in the men’s race, clocking 1:51:45.58 as he dropped Italy’s Fabio Dalu and Türkiye’s Berk Boz in a thrilling final lap of the 1.66km circuit.
Velly sat just behind the pace for much of the race, letting Dalu and others exchange the lead through the early and middle laps. He made his decisive move on the final lap where he overhauled Dalu. His back-end speed was too much for the Italian as he opened up a huge gap to take the win by 22 seconds with Dalu touching the panel in 1:52:08.52 and Boz in 1:52:10.72.
Also of note was Nathan Wiffen – twin of Olympic 800 free champion Daniel – who finished ninth on his open water debut in 1:53:54.17.
l-r: Lisa Pou, Caroline Jouisse, Giulia Berton: Photo Courtesy: Antonella Mannara/European Aquatics
Velly enjoyed a fine junior career that saw him claim the world and European junior open water titles in 2024. So far this year, the 20-year-old has finished second at the World Aquatics World Cup last week in Setubal as well as securing three top-six finishes including relay bronze at the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships in Stari Grad.
Jouisse delivered a textbook performance, timing her finish to perfection in a race that saw the top three separated by less than three seconds.
Jouisse, who had already impressed with a strong swim in Setubal at the World Cup last weekend, earning bronze, touched in 2:00:57.09, holding challenges from Monaco’s Lisa Pou (2:00:58.97) and Italy’s Giulia Berton (2:00:59.88), who finished in second and third respectively. The trio exchanged positions through the race, staying within sight of each other through all six laps.
Turkey’s Su Inal, who took the 5km European Junior title at the Championships two days prior, led at multiple checkpoints and eventually finished fourth in 2:02:31.69, while Germany’s Lara Braun claimed fifth in 2:02:35.24.
The European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2025 returns for the third leg in Paris at the end of July. It then moves on to Barcelona, before the finale in Razanac at the end of September.
The event followed the European Aquatics Junior Open Water Swimming Championships 2025 that was also held in Setubal immediately prior.
There French duo Emile Mesmacque and Lou-Ann Gaudaire won their respective 10ks before both went on to clinch the knockout 3k sprint titles.
Greece also had a strong showing with Konstantinos Chourdakis and Nikolaos Kakoulakis won the boys’ 7.5 and 5k titles respectively while Napsugar Nagy (Hungary) and Su Inal (Turkiye) claimed the girls’ crowns.
Hungary sealed the Team Trophy after three days of racing and also topped the overall medal table with eight podium finishes – including two golds – and capped off their campaign with a memorable victory in the 4x1500m U16 Mixed Team event to underline their remarkable consistency across age groups and distances.
The penultimate race of the championships, the U19 Mixed Team relay, delivered an unforgettable three-way sprint to the finish where Italy edged out France and Hungary by just 0.07 seconds.