European Swimming Championships: Simona Quadarella, Europe’s eternal queen. Another medal for Ceccon and Curtis

Simona Quadarella is in a class of her own. The queen of Italian long-distance swimming won her tenth gold medal at the European Swimming Championships, dominating the 1,500-meter freestyle final in Paris. The Roman swimmer, who has been the undisputed queen of the distance at the European level for eight years, clocked a time of 15’46″22, clearly leading the race from start to finish.

The Italian swimmer left Germany’s Isabel Gose and Maya Werner—who took silver and bronze, respectively—behind, as they finished more than 3 seconds behind her. Quadarella is the first European swimmer to win four consecutive gold medals in two different distances: the 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle. She is also the fifth athlete in history to reach double digits in individual gold medals, following legends such as Sarah Sjöström (16), Laszlo Cseh (14), Katinka Hosszú (13), and Yana Klochkova (10).

After the race, Simona commented on her great performance, though with a touch of regret typical of a perfectionist like herself: “I swam this time at the Settecolli, so I was hoping to do better, but in the end, it’s still a European title and I’m happy. It was really tough, also because I tried to pick up the pace a bit more, but I don’t think that was a good idea. We’d planned to start that way with Gianluca. I’m still happy to have won.”

The Italian celebrations continued with the bronze medal won by the 4×100 mixed freestyle relay team. The quartet—composed of Carlo D’Ambrosio, Thomas Ceccon, Sara Curtis, and Emma Virginia Menicucci—finished in third place behind Russia and the Netherlands. The four Italian athletes also set a new Italian record.