Birmingham and Paris, the two continental championships Italy leads at the halfway point
On the evening of August 14 four Italian medals at the European Athletics Championships and gold for Simona Quadarella in the 1500m freestyle in Paris. The two medal tables tell a story of squad depth that individual titles alone do not explain.
Two continental events taking place on the same day, a few hundred kilometres apart, produced on August 14 a series of results that should be read together. At the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham the European Athletics Championships awarded four medals to Italy; at the Centre Aquatique Olympique in Paris the European Swimming Championships saw Simona Quadarella win her tenth individual continental long-course gold.
On the British track the result of greatest technical weight is that of Nadia Battocletti, first in the 10,000 metres in 31:41.17: for the second consecutive edition the Trentino athlete completes the 5000-10,000 double, a combination requiring two races of a different nature just days apart (ANSA; FIDAL). “Today was a beautiful day, I had a lot of fun,” Battocletti said according to the results and statements gathered in Birmingham (Il Fatto Quotidiano).
The same evening Gianmarco Tamberi won the high jump with 2.32 metres, the fourth outdoor European title of his career, while Matteo Sioli finished third with 2.27. In the 200 metres Fausto Desalu finished third in 20.26, tied with Switzerland’s Timothé Mumenthaler: the title went to Germany’s Owen Ansah, who ran 19.95 (FIDAL). After five days the medal table shows Italy ahead of host nation Great Britain with five golds, two silvers and three bronzes.
In Paris Quadarella won the 1500m freestyle in 15:46.22, improving the championship record held by Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas since 2016. It is the tenth individual European long-course gold for the Roman swimmer, the highest number reached by an Italian athlete. Behind her were two Germans, Isabel Gose in 15:49.31 and Maya Werner in 15:52.50 (LaPresse; OA Sport). “Title and championship record: it couldn’t have gone better than this,” the athlete commented (Sportface). The same day the mixed 4x100 freestyle relay — D’Ambrosio, Ceccon, Curtis, Menicucci — took bronze in 3:20.80, the best Italian time ever in the event.
What links the two events is not the number of titles, but their distribution. In athletics, five golds come from disparate disciplines — long-distance middle running, jumps — and podium placings occur in only one case, the 200 metres, in a race won by another country: the position atop the medal table is built by adding up finals appearances, not by concentrating output in a single area. The same holds true in the pool, where Italy’s overall tally by the end of the day stood at 11 golds, 9 silvers and 14 bronzes: the number of bronzes, higher than that of golds, is a sign of a broad squad rather than a group of dominant individuals.
One clarification on the scope of these figures: these are continental championships, and the reference level is European. The world-level comparison is a different measure, and the times seen in Birmingham and Paris do not replace it. Germany, moreover, appears twice as a direct rival in the races mentioned — with Ansah in the sprints and with Gose and Werner in the distance freestyle events.
Both competitions had not concluded at the time of publication: the athletics medal table is updated as of the fifth day, with five golds, two silvers and three bronzes for Italy, while the swimming table stands at 11 golds, 9 silvers and 14 bronzes.
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