European swimming championships, golden Italy: Martinenghi and Quadarella triumph. Bronzes for Cerasuolo and Curtis

Nicolò Martinenghi is champion of the 100m breaststroke at the European swimming championshipswhile Simone Cerasuolo obtained the bronze medal, competing in 58″90.

In the waters of the Olympic Aquatic Center in Paris, Martinenghi – who two years ago had seen him win Olympic gold in the 100m breaststroke – won in 58″58 thanks to a superlative return lap. Instead the neutral Russian Ivan Kozhakin climbed to the second step of the podium, with 58″68.

Martinenghi: “Today I felt I had something more than the others”

“I have no words. I deserve it, I deserve it a lot, today was a match full of heart, desire and redemption.” As Nicolò Martinenghi commented on his gold in the 100m breaststroke at the European Swimming Championships in Paris shortly before climbing to the top step of the podium and enjoying, together with Simone Cerasuolo, the Mameli anthem. “Today I tried to put in everything I had: I wasn’t interested in how I got here, I wanted to give everything without regrets – added the 27-year-old swimmer from Varese, representative of Aniene who became Olympic champion in the same race two years ago in the lanes of the Olympic Aquatic Center -. Today I felt I was the strongest and that I had something more than the others: I had to win for myself and that’s it”.

Martinenghi, nicknamed ‘Tete’, then revealed regarding his retirement: “I thought about it a bit this year, I won’t deny it, I had some down moments where I thought that the swimming pool had taken a backseat not by my will, but by force of circumstances. But then when you realize that you have the heart to fight you see that you have nothing to be afraid of.”

The successes of ‘Tete’

‘Tete’ he put his third continental individual gold around his neckthe fourth with the 4×100 medley relay of Rome 2022. That of the Italian champion, bearer of the Circolo Canottieri Aniene, was a truly incredible performance because after the first 25 meters he was third with 45 cents of a disadvantage on the leader, his compatriot Cerasuolo who had touched in 27″03. In the second pool, Nicolò increased his frequencies by scoring a partial of 31″10 for a sumptuous 58″58 final. For Martinenghi, trained in Verona by Matteo Giunta, husband of the ‘Divine’ Federica Pellegrini, an excellent time 32 cents from his Italian record which dates back to four years ago when he won the world title in Budapest, the only one at an individual level (in 2023, 2024 and 2025, he always won silver in the 100m breaststroke).

Quadarella gold in the 800 freestyle

New phenomenal feat by Simona Quadarella capable of winning the gold medal in the 800m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Paris. The Italian triumphed in 8’15″55, leaving behind the strong German Isabel Gose (8’18″44), after the successes in Glasgow 2018, Budapest 2021 and Rome 2022. Simona Quadarella wrote the history of the 800 freestyle: in fact, the swimmer from Rome, registered with the Circolo Canottieri Aniene, was the first to win four consecutive golds in this competition. Sly but always attentive in the first part of the race, Simona decidedly changed pace in the 400 meters, scoring regular partials in each lap. In fact, the Italian remained constant between 400 and 750 meters between 31″29 and 31″07. That achievement at the Olympic Aquatic Center in the French capital, a pool that was not ‘kind’ to Simona at the Olympic Games two years ago (two fourth places), was the eleventh medal at the continental event (nine golds). ‘SuperSimona’, trained by Gianluca Belfiore, after becoming great with Christian Minotti, left behind the Germans Gose and Maya Werner (8’22″55).

Curtis placed third in the 100 freestyle

The Piedmontese Sara Curtis she won the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Paris, touching the edge in 52″72. A double for the Netherlands with the gold won by the champion Marrit Steenbergen, who set the new Championships record of 51″90, and the silver by Milou van Wijk, with 52″71.

Thomas Ceccon he came close to a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly at the European Swimming Championships. In the French capital, the Italian champion ranked fourth, reaching 22″72, five hundredths of a second from his Italian record set last year at the World Championships in Singapore. The Russian, competing as a neutral athlete, Egor Kornev won the gold medal (22″52), while the French Maxime Grousset the silver (22″54) and the Belarusian, also a neutral, Grigori Pekarski (22″68) placed himself on the third step of the podium.