Competitive finswimming made its appearance in Europe and remained Europo-centric for quite some time. Thus the first global international competitions were naturally European Championships.
The archives of the first championships are unfortunately incomplete. For the first European Championship in 1967, the old CMAS site gives the names of just the three medalists. (Notice that the event of 1000 m is in fact what we call today an immersion event, the soviet swimmers being the first to swim pushing the compressed-air tank in front of them). The first five finishers are given in the soviet-era publication Sportsmen Podvodnik. But we know that here were many more participants since the french federal review, which also gives the results of the first few, mentions that the french athletes were 15th and 19th in the 1000 m event. Fortunately a document from the Central Maritime Club DOSAAF of Moscow gives the names of the first 10 finishers as well as the name of the last(!). For the 1968 championships we have the names and performances of the first five athletes but many more took part, as attested by the article in the french federal review, which mentions that the french athletes were respectively 11th, 16th and 21st in the 40 m apnea event. Again, a DOSAAF document gives the names of the first 6 finishers, but the complete protocol is missing.
I am greatly indebted to V. Zhdanov and V. Titov for sharing with me these old soviet documents.
The year 1969 was special, marking the separation of finswimming and orienteering. While surface events were held in Locarno, the apnea and immersion events were held in Klagenfurt/Pörtschach (but they were going to join the finswimming championships the next year).
European Championships 1967
European Championships 1970
European Championships 1971
European Championships 1972
European Championships 1974
European Championships 1975
European Championships 1977
European Championships 1979
European Championships 1983
European Championships 1987
European Championships 1989
European Championships 1991
European Championships 1993
European Championships 1995
European Championships 1997
European Championships 1999
European Championships 2001
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