Simona Quadarella won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships. The Italian, gold medalist in the 800 and 1500, completed a hat-trick with an extraordinary finish and a superb performance finishing in 4’01″34 ahead of the Germans Isabel Gose (4’02″41) and Maya Werner (4’03″73), securing a clear victory against top-level opponents. In the penultimate lap, she caught up with and overtook Werner, and then in the last lap she clearly distanced Gose, who had led until that moment. Italy returns to the top of the medal table for the moment: tied with Great Britain in the number of golds (13), but with 9 more silvers (13 to 4). For the Roman athlete, this is the eleventh gold medal at the European Championships. In Paris, during this dream week, the Italian had already won for the fourth time in her career the gold medal in the 800 meters freestyle and in the 1500 meters freestyle (in 15’46″22, a new championship record).
“I tried to wait as long as possible, even though at one point I didn’t think I would win because it seemed my opponents wouldn’t give up anything,” confesses Simona at the poolside. “I didn’t even expect to deliver this performance, but I did it. The thing that impresses me the most is the consistency and always managing to stay there, maybe even with some difficulties like in the 1500, where I wasn’t so happy with my time despite the gold. Before, in the 400, I couldn’t perform very well, now I have found the right key.”
Silver shines instead on Sunday for Thomas Ceccon in Paris. The Italian, beaten by one hundredth, finished second in the 100 meters backstroke. The gold went to the Greek Apostolos Christou, the bronze to the Russian Pavel Samusenko. Another silver for Italy in the men’s 4×100 medley relay: Thomas Ceccon, Nicolo Martinenghi, Alberto Razzetti, and Carlos D’Ambrosio finished second in 3’28″86, behind only Russia, with France taking bronze.
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