Britain's 16-time European champion Adam Ramsay-Peaty could only finish fifth in the men's 100m breaststroke final on Tuesday, as Italian Nicolo Martinenghi stormed to victory in Paris.
Martinenghi was too strong for his rivals, winning in 58.58 seconds to add the European championship title to the Olympic gold he won in Paris two years ago.
Russian Ivan Kozhakin was just 0.10sec behind in second, with Simone Cerasuolo ensuring a second Italian on the podium with a time of 58.90sec.
Ramsay-Peaty, a two-time Olympic gold-medal winner and three-time world champion in the event, could only manage 59.10sec.
It was an improvement of 0.55sec on the time which the 31-year-old posted in taking bronze at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
There was joy for Britain, though, in the women's 200m backstroke as Katie Shanahan beat Portugal's Camila Rodrigues Rebelo to gold by 1.49sec.
Mary-Ambre Moluh, Carl Aitkaci, Maxime Grousset and Marie Wattel struck gold for the host nation with a dominant win in the mixed 4x100m relay.
Former world champion Simona Quadarella won her ninth European gold but first since 2022 in the women's 800m freestyle.
The Netherlands enjoyed a one-two in the women's 100m freestyle as world-record holder Marrit Steenbergen powered to a championship record to defeat compatriot Milou van Wijk.
Russian Egor Kornev won the men's 50m butterfly final.
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