Simona Quadarella wins the 1500m freestyle, winning European gold for the fourth time.

Simona Quadarella confirmed her position as the undisputed European middle-distance queen, also winning the 1500m freestyle. Her resounding dominance spanned Tuesday's 800m, her hat-tricks in 2018 in Scotland and 2021 in Hungary (1500m, 800m, and 400m), and her double in Rome (1500m and 800m), where she took silver in the 400m freestyle. The 27-year-old Roman and world championship runner-up – a member of CC Aniene, coached by Gianluca Belfiore – triumphed in 15:46.22, 32 lengths behind 31:6-31:7; an unsustainable pace for all her opponents, including German Isabel Gose, second in 15:49.31, who attempted to keep pace with the Italian until the 900m mark, before inevitably throwing in the towel. on the third step of the podium was the other German Maya Werner in 15'52″50.
The Italian's impressive numbers earned her tenth gold medal in a continental long-course event (two in the 400m, four in the 800m, and four in the 1500m)—the most in Italian swimming history—topping her in fourth place, tied with Ukraine's Yana Klochkova in the all-time rankings. Only Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom has done better than her with fifteen gold medals, and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and Katinka Hosszu with fourteen and thirteen, respectively. Simona Quadrarella also received a well-deserved standing ovation from the crowd at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, home of the XXXVIII European Championships, recognizing her as the champion who is rewriting the history of swimming in Europe. "Today was really tough, because I tried to start faster, but it wasn't a good idea," explained Simona Quadarella, who graduated last July 14th with a degree in Digital Communication. "I'm so happy because I've won another European gold medal, but I was hoping to swim a better time. I must say, though, that at the European Championships I'd never managed to swim under 15:50, so it's still a step forward. It's a very gratifying title and it confirms the quality of the work I'm doing.".