Quadarella completes the treble in Paris, Italy finishes first in athletics in Birmingham

In Sport, the morning edition covered the Cincinnati tournament and its absences. In the afternoon the section changes story: two continental championships closed on the same weekend, and in both the medal tables were decided in the final events.

In Paris, at the European Swimming Championships, Simona Quadarella won the 400 freestyle in 4’01”34, completing the set after the golds in the 1500 and 800: for the Roman swimmer it is her eleventh individual European victory (ANSA). Winning the three middle-distance events in the same edition requires competing across an effort range spanning from four minutes to sixteen, with recovery time compressed into a programme of just a few days: this is why the treble is rare even among those who dominate the discipline.

“That’s enough now, I’m going on holiday” — Simona Quadarella, swimmer, gold in the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle

On the final day Italy added four silvers to that gold: Benedetta Pilato in the 50 breaststroke, Thomas Ceccon in the 100 backstroke and the two 4x100 medley relays (Sky Sport). The final tally is 13 golds, 15 silvers and 15 bronzes, good for second place in the medal table behind Great Britain: the difference between the two teams is a single gold, against 43 total Italian podium finishes. It is the kind of margin that gets decided in the relays, where four silvers count for a great deal in terms of the movement’s depth and nothing at all for the first column of the standings.

The other championship is athletics. The European Championships were held in Birmingham from 10 to 16 August with medals awarded across 50 events, and Italy finished first in the medal table with 22 medals overall: 10 golds, 6 silvers and 6 bronzes, with a delegation of 130 athletes (Olympics.com). The result was decided on the final day, and by the narrowest of margins: Larissa Iapichino won the long jump by one centimetre, while the men’s 4x400 relay — Edoardo Scotti, Luca Sito, Mohamed Soudassi and Lorenzo Benati — beat Great Britain by three hundredths of a second (Il Post). Also on Sunday the tally closed with three further podium finishes: second place for Pietro Riva over the marathon distance, second place also in the women’s team event of the same race, third place for the women’s 4x400 relay, fielded with Bonora, Polinari, Mangione and Coiro (Corriere dello Sport). For athletics the news currently comes from a single source (the official European Athletics results, picked up by Il Post, Corriere dello Sport and Olympics.com); no independent confirmation is available.

The comparison between the two championships is instructive. In athletics Italy won the medal table by margins of one centimetre and three hundredths of a second; in swimming it lost it by a single gold. In both cases the final placement depends on decisions made in fractions of a second, not on the sum of the week’s performances: this is the structural limit of the medal table as an indicator, which treats as discrete what is continuous on the field of play.

On the Italian performances at both championships, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also spoke, congratulating the athletes on social media (Sky TG24):

“We are proud of you” — Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister

The two continental seasons close here: 22 medals in 50 athletics events, 43 podium finishes in swimming.