Ginevra Taddeucci triumphs in the Seine, winning the European gold medal in the ten-kilometer swim, in the same waters where she won the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ginevra Taddeucci, 29 years old from Lastra a Signa, trained by Giovanni Pistelli for Fiamme Oro and CC Napoli, thus becomes the third Italian to win the ten kilometres at the European Championships after Martina Grimaldi (Eilat 2011 and Piombino 2012) and Rachele Bruni (Hoorn 2016), Olympic medalists like her: Grimaldi bronze in London 2012 and Bruni silver in Rio 2016. The winner finished with a time of 2h07'49″9, ahead of the outgoing Hungarian champion Viktoria Mihalyvari Farkas in 2h07'59″6 and a sensational Linda Caponi, 27senese from Poggibonsi – registered with the Carabinieri, who climbed to the third step of the podium in her debut in 2:08:03.4. A historic double for Italy, which returns to the podium in the women's ten kilometer race with two athletes, reaching the one hundred and one medal mark in the history of the European Open Water Swimming Championships: 39 gold, 29 silver, and 33 bronze.
Taddeucci built his success with patience and tactical intelligence, taking the lead on the penultimate lap. Gregorio Paltrinieri, however, missed out on the podium, finishing fourth, ten seconds behind the bronze medal. The Italian admitted he struggled between the 5 and 9 km sections and lacked confidence with the Seine River course. The men's European title went to German Florian Wellbrock, who staged a decisive comeback on the final lap, finishing ahead of Hungary's David Betlehem (1:55:20:5) and fellow countryman Oliver Klemet (1:55:24:8) with a time of 1:55:18.3.
