Final remade due to errors at the start, the Montebellunese moved. Fede Pellegrini in bronze with the 4×200 relay, decisive in the last stage
BUDAPEST. A gold and a bronze medal for Simona Quadarella on a Friday to remember at the European swimming championships taking place in Budapest. After the three gold medals won in Glasgow in 2018 – 1500, 800 and 400 -, the Roman champion confirmed herself, dominating, in the longest distance after doing it on Tuesday in the 800. And, after just two hours, Quadarella pushed to the podium the 4×200 relay with the teammates Federica Pellegrini, decisive in the last fraction, Stefania Pirozzi and Sara Gailli. Martina Caramignoli celebrates bronze, excellent third in 1500 for an exciting podium almost all in the Italian flag.
In the evening the fourth medal of the day for Italy arrived, a silver, thanks to Margherita Panziera in the final bis of the 100 backstroke.
«The goal was to bring home another gold and this makes me very happy. Confirmation is very difficult; I almost want to cry with emotion. I was hoping to swim a shorter time – commented the 22-year-old Roman, expected to be confirmed at this level also in Tokyo -. That’s fine, because it’s a period of intense training and I didn’t have more ».
Rieti Caramignoli also complains about the time trial, but at the threshold of 30 years that she will turn on Tuesday she has made a great gift.
«It was a difficult race. The time is also high, but I wanted the medal and I am very happy with this result. There are two months to go until the Olympics and I will continue to train with further motivation », concluded the blue who had won the last bronze in Berlin in 2014.
Federica Pellegrini is also joyful, who in addition to the medal also takes the Olympic pass, with a time of 7’56 “72, behind Great Britain (7’53” 15) and Hungary. The blues qualified for Tokyo 2020 thus rise to 282 (146 men, 136 women) in 25 different disciplines, with 63 individual passes.
«A 4×200 worthy of the results of the past is being born – underlined the Venetian champion -. I’m super happy to be back on a European podium, it can be a good starting point. I always try to motivate my classmates. I’m happy for myself, for the girls ».
Great happiness for Margherita Panziera. Disappointed by the fourth place in the final of the 100 backstroke, the athlete from Treviso was able to make up for it a technical problem at the start and timing prompted the judges to repeat the test. Gold went to the British Kahtleen Dawson, first in both races, while the Dutch Kira Toussaint, second in the afternoon, exchanged her place with the blue and the Russian Maria Kameneva kept third place. A small disappointment came from the 50 butterfly, where Piero Codia and Thomas Ceccon finished in seventh and eighth place in the race won by the Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo.
No podium but a more than encouraging sixth place for Francesca Fangio in the 200 breaststroke, where the gold was won by the British Molly Renshaw. Good news from the semifinals. In the 50 breaststroke the Italian record holder Nicolò Martinenghi and Alessandro Pinzuti qualified, with the third and fifth fastest time. In the 200 medley, Ilaria Cusinato and Sara Franceschi are in the final, with times that give optimism and hopes for the podium.