A quad here, a Big ten of distance golds there: Simona Quadarella is the queen of the distance pool once more: victory in the 1500m freestyle marked 30-lap triumph No 4 - and title No 10 ten over distances 400 to 1500m.

It all began in 20918, with the 4-8-15 treble in Glasgow. Today, it continued with the 1500m crown ion her head for a fourth time, and her second win this week, after victory in the 800m two days ago.

This year, Quadarella, a world 1500 champion from 2019 who represents CC Aniene in domestic waters and is coached by Gianluca Belfiore, made it a championship record, her 15:46.22 precisely 4sec inside the standard set by Hungarian Boglarka Kapas at London 2016.

The Italian's collection includes two triples (400m, 800m, and 1500m, 2018 and 2021) and two doubles (800m and 1500m, 2022, 2026).

The 27-year-old Roman had a fight to 900m with Isabel Gose, of Germany, but the knockout open water champion in the River Seine last week faded with each passing length after that on the way to silver in 15:49.31. Her teammate Maya Werner gave Germany a second bite of the cherry, for bronze in 15:52.50:

That set the record for the smallest margin of victory, 3.09, the standard having been a 3.16sec gap between Lotte Friis and Gráinne Murphy in 2010. The most medals won in the 1500 by any swimmer was 3, Villaécija García (ESP) and Quadarella a match. Now, the Italian tops that score, too, with 4 (and all gold).

That 10th career European title draws Quadarella level with Ukraine's medley legend Yana Klochkova (surpassed only by Sweden's Sarah Sjöström with 16 solo golds, and Hungarians László Cseh, 14, and Katinka Hosszú, 13, while Russia's Alexander Popov has 11 solo wins, and a record 21 in all, counting relays).

Qauadarella, who is known as "SuperSimo" and who graduated in Digital Communication on July 14, was given a standing ovation. Speaking through the Italian federation, she said:

"It was really tough because I tried starting faster, but that turned out not to be a good idea. I’m overjoyed to have won another European gold, even though I had hoped for a faster time. I have to say, though, that I’d never managed to break the 15:50 barrier at the European Championships before, so this still represents a step forward. It’s a deeply gratifying title that confirms the quality of the work I’m doing."

After the medals ceremony, she added:

"Singing the anthem is always incredibly moving. Gose performed very well; she stayed right with me for a long time, and at one point I was afraid she might overtake me, but sometimes it’s better to race with someone alongside you than all alone. Ten individual gold medals is a lot—when I think about it, it’s quite something."

The history file below the Mixed Free Relay Report

Mixed 4x100m Free - Neutrals, Dutch & Italians Take The Podium

Let's deal with how it ended first: a record-breaking anchor of 50.74 from queen of chasers Marrit Steenbergen was a steamroller that didn't quite stop a roll off neutral;s from landing gold ahead of The Netherlands and Italy.

Egor Kornev - 47.05 - Ivan Girev 47.67 - Daria Klepikova - 52.21 - Kira Manokhina - 53.02 - 3:19.95. The championship record had stood to France at 3:22.07 since 2018.

Steenbergen left her blocks 2.42 back, and stopped the Dutch clock in 3:20.09, the gap just 0.14sec, 2.28sec clawed back. The previous smallest winning margin had been Great Britain's 0.19sec win over The Netherlands in 2020.

It was an astonishing display of rolling speed from the World record, who from a standing start has the World record at 51.68.

Italy, which included a 51.79 split by Sara Curtis that would have felt very sharp had it not been for the split more than a second faster, took bronze in 3:20.80.

Steenbergen's splits: 24.11 - 26.63, taking her inside the 50.87 recored she set in the Mixed medley relay.

The History File below ... for the women's 1500m and the Mixed 4x100m free...