Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero: Who Are the Multi-Medal-Winning Italian Swimmers at the 2026 European Swimming Championships?

Always them, always together: Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero continue to make history for Italian artistic swimming. After winning bronze in the mixed free duet, the Italian pair went on to claim silver in the technical duet at the 2026 European Swimming Championships in Paris, missing the continental title by a mere six hundredths of a point. This result confirms their growth and the strength of a duo that has become a symbol of the new generation of Italian artistic swimmers.

At the Olympic Aquatics Center in Saint-Denis, Pelati and Ruggiero enchanted the audience with their performance themed “Look! It’s Love,” choreographed by Simona Ricotta. The routine lasted about two and a half minutes and had the third-highest difficulty coefficient among the finalists. A flawless performance earned them a score of 229.0092, just a hair’s breadth behind the British pair Ranjuo Tomblin and Isabelle Thomas (229.6783), who had already won the free duet. Bronze went to the Russians, competing under a neutral flag, Alina Rumiantseva and Zakhar Trofimov (215.9201).

For Lucrezia Ruggiero, a 26-year-old from Rome, this is her second medal at these European Championships. For Filippo Pelati, a 19-year-old from Ferrara, it is actually his third: after silver in the technical solo and bronze in the mixed free duet, he now adds this silver in the technical duet. Italy’s total medal count thus rises to four: three in artistic swimming, in addition to the gold in the diving team event.

Filippo Pelati, born in 2007, trains in Savona. He made a name for himself at the 2023 Junior World Championships in Athens, winning gold in the solo free routine, and at just 19 years old, he is considered both the present and the future of Italian artistic swimming. Lucrezia Ruggiero, born in 2000, an athlete with Aurelia Nuoto and Fiamme Oro, holds a law degree and is already a two-time world champion in the mixed duet (Budapest 2022, with Giorgio Minisini).

Following the retirement of Minisini—the man who brought men’s artistic swimming into the spotlight—Ruggiero found an ideal partner in Pelati. By 2025, the pair had already won bronze at the World Championships in Singapore in the mixed technical duet and, at the European Championships in Funchal, silver in the free routine and bronze in the technical routine. In Paris, they proved that the future of Italian artistic swimming is already here, shining brighter than ever on the European podium.