Second European Record a Sensational Return for Simona Quadarella
Simona Quadarella will leave Singapore this week without a gold medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
The Italian will head home with two European records in her bag and something much more elusive: Claim to spoiling one of the great swimming statistics of all-time.
For about five seconds on Tuesday, before Quadarella touched the wall in the final of the women’s 1,500 freestyle, gold medalist Katie Ledecky could say that she owned the 25 fastest times in history. Her gold-medal winning result of 15:26.44 slotting into the fifth spot in the voluminous annals of Ledecky’s accomplishments in the longest pool event.
Quadarella, though, interloped on that territory. In touching for silver in 15:31.79, Quadarella leapt to the second-fastest performer and the 12th-fastest time in history, a European record. And she forced Ledecky to stomach the much less tidy title of 25 of the 26 fastest.
“I’m really happy and emotional about my race results,” Quadarella said. “And I’m very proud that I managed to get so close to Katie.”
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Quadarella added another oddity on the penultimate day of the meet. The 26-year-old set the European record in the 800 free, taking down a hallowed decade-old mark of Rebecca Adlington’s in 8:12.81. It wasn’t good enough to make the podium in the purported (and most recent) Race of the Century, thanks to Ledecky being Ledecky, an Oceania record from Lani Pallister and Summer McIntosh placing third.
Those circumstances don’t diminish what Quadarella has achieved in Singapore. Her time in the 1,500 cut more than seven seconds off the mark set in 2013 by Lotte Friis of Denmark at 15:38.88. She had been fifth in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Olympics and fourth in Paris in 15:44.05, just shy of three seconds behind Isabel Gose.
The 800 free record was even older, Quadarella skipping 8:13 altogether in erasing Adlington’s mark from the 2008 Olympics (8:14.10). Quadarella was more than five seconds quicker in the 800 than the time she used to win bronze at the Paris Olympics despite the slide down of a place in the standings.
If there’s a consolation in the 800, it’s in the precedent. Recall that at the 2023 World Championships, Daniel Wiffen set an Irish record in the 800 free in prelims, then the European record in finals but finished just fourth. A year later, Wiffen was the Olympic champion in the event.
Wiffen did that at 22, and Quadarella is at a later stage in her career. But Singapore has shown that she’s still getting faster, medal or no.
