Gose Makes it Double-Distance Gold In Another Record-Setting Duel With Quadarella
Germany's Isabel Gose and France's Maxime Grousset need Championship records to win respective 800 free & 100 'fly tussles with Italy's Simona Quadarella and Swiss defender Noe Ponti; Euro s/c titles also go to Damborg (100 'fly), Ceccon & Cox (100 back; Elendt & Coll Marti ( 200 breast)
Isabel Gose and Simona Quadarella, who raced in the epic swim battle of the year back in August at Singapore 2025 World titles in the 800m, claimed respective gold and silver in German and Italian record times over the same distance on freestyle on Day 5 at the Euro s/c Championships this evening.
Gose added 800m gold to her 400m title from day 1 in 8:01.90, a championship mark inside the 8:04.53 standard that has stood since 2008 to Alessia Filippi, whose Italian record fell to Quadarella for silver today in 8:03.00. Their strike-for-stroke, neck-and-neck rarely saw them more than.0.5sec apart from each other throughout the race.
The pace-setting was a German affair from start to finish, Maya Werner leading for the first 100m, at which point Gose was a feet-on-wall snap, after which she led at every turn on the way to stopping the clock 1.1sec ahead of Quadarella. Werner was rewarded with bronze in 8:14.41.
With their new national records, both Gose and Quadarella entered the all-time top 10, at 7 and 9, in the short-course 800 free, which now looks like this:
World s/c record holder Lani Pallister took silver in an epic showstopper at Singapore 2025, where World long-course record holder and four times Olympic champion (2012, 2016, 202one and 2024) Katie Ledecky emerged the empress of distance swimming once again, the bronze to Summer McIntosh, Canadian superstar all-rounder with four golds on freestyle (400), both medleys (200, 400) and butterfly (200) at the same global showcase.
Quadarella was the fourth member of the pioneering club in the top half of the race, her 8:12 a European long-course record. Gose was 6th in 8:18 a week after a medals-winning campaign in Open Water on a Germany team that celebrated Florian Wellbrock's pioneering four golds. That phenomenal 800mfight in the pool:
Craig Lord
The European s/c record survived its latest challenge: Spain's Mireia Belmonte and her 7:59.34 from 2013 remain the athlete and time to beat in the continental little pool.
In Lublin, Gose was inside Belmonte's pace for the first 250m, but by 400m was a second off target:
Grousset Gold & CR By 0.01 Over Defender Ponti
One other final on day 5 produced a championship record. In the men's 100m butterfly, Maxime Grousset, of France, got his hands to the wall 0.01sec ahead of Swiss defender Noe Ponti, 48.0 top 48.11. Ponti holds the European record at 47.71, from his world-title swim last December. He was a touch down on that today but his 48.47 meet mark from 2023 was surpassed by self and the Frenchman a whisker ahead of him in Lublin today.
The battle for bronze was an Italian affair, Michele Busa getting his hand to the wall 0.14sec ahead of teammate Simone Stefani:
Grousset later led the way to the final of the 100m free, on 45.65 in his semi (see qualifiers below).
The women's 100 'fly final saw Martine Damborg, of Denmark, take her second butterfly crown of the championships, after 50m victory, the 100m title her's in a European junior record of 55.52. The standard had stood at 55.64 since 2020, Damborg's new high bar just 0.52sec shy of the championship record and 0.91 shy of the European senior record, both standards owned by 2016 Olympic champion in the event, Sarah Sjöström, of Sweden.
Dutch challenger Tessa Giele took silver today just 0.03sec shy of Damborg after having turned fourth going into the last length 0.02sec adrift the Dane, in third at that point: The leader at the 50 and 75m marks, Sweden's Louise Hansson, took bronze in a blanket finish in which the top 6 finished in a range of 0.31sec, top 7 0.45:
Crowns For Ceccon & Cox
In the 100m backstroke finals, Italy's World long-course record holder Thomas Ceccon took the men's crown in 49.29, while Britain's Lauren Cox took the lead on the last length on her way to the women's crown in 56.51.
Closest to Ceccon were France's Mewen Tomac and Britain's Oliver Morgan, while Cox was followed home by leader down the first of the four lengths, Maike De Waard, of The Netherlands , and Germany's Nina Holt:
Titles For Elendt & Coll Marti
Spain and Germany celebrated the 200m breaststroke titles. Olympic 100m champion Anna Elendt took the women's crown in 2:18.16 a 0.74sec stroke ahead of Britain's Angharad Evans, the bronze to Lithuania's Katyna Teterevkova.
In the men's race, Spain's Carles Coll Marti led from the 75m mark to gold in 2:00.86, 0.41, ahead of Olympic bronze medallist over the distance, Caspar Corbeau, of The Netherlands, and Austria's Luka Mladenovic.
In semi-finals:
Maxime Grousset, of France, led the way to the men's 100m free final, while Sara Curtis, of Italy, and Eva Okaro, of Britain, appear to be thriving in their first seasons of training at college in the United States: 51.29 placed Curtis in lane 4, another personal best, of 51.48, after 51.9 in heats, granted Okaro lane 5, the danger for both next through: Marritt Steenbergen, the Dutch ace who claimed two solo crowns and a bronze yesterday.
The 200 medley finals took shape like this, Steenbergen a danger yet again:
