Simona Quadarella gives herself European silver and breaks a historic Federica Pellegrini record

It is Simona Quadarella who won the first medal for the Italian team at the European Short Course Swimming Championships that began Tuesday in Lublin, Poland. The Roman champion, born in 1998, in fact won silver in the 400-meter freestyle race, coming in behind only Isabel Gose of Germany, who with 3’54″33 set the new European record as well as the new Championships record. Quadarella finished her own race in 3’56″70, in turn improving Federica Pellegrini’s historic Italian record (3’57″59 the “Divina” time, set in Ostia on March 6, 2011).

Simona, one stroke after another toward the Olympics

Completing the podium was Britain’s Freya Colbert, with a time of 3’56’71”. From fourth position onward, however, qualified the’other German Maya Werner (4’01″46), Minna Abraham of Hungary (4’01″69), the’Dutch Imani de Jong (4’03″04), the other Italian athlete Anna Chiara Mascolo (4’04″13) and the other Hungarian Nikolett Padar (4’08″62). The one obtained by Simona Quadarella is the ninth medal at the European Championships in the short pool, the fifth silver in addition to one bronze and, above all, to the three d’gold won in Glasgow 2019 in the 400 and 800 freestyle and in Otopeni 2023 also in the 400 freestyle.

Quadarella was therefore unable to confirm her European title, but she was nonetheless the protagonist of a splendid race, with a comeback in the final that allowed her to take second place and a time that, on other occasions, would have earned her the gold, which was impossible today given the overwhelming power of German Gose, who put her signature on the new European record. Quadarella, an athlete of Circolo Canottieri Aniene, thus enriched her palmarès, which includes an Olympic bronze medal, three world golds and eight European golds in Olympic pool, three European golds and three world medals (two silvers and one bronze) in short pool.