Historic achievement for Quadarella in Doha: she returns Italy to the world throne in the 800 freestyle and secures the Olympic quota

Simona Quadarella secures her second medal at the World Swimming Championships.

Following her triumph in the 1500 freestyle, the champion from Rome claimed another gold medal, this time in the shorter distance of 800 metres, while also securing her individual pass for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

It was a historic double world championship victory in middle-distance swimming for the Italian, who took Italy back to the top step of the podium in this speciality 51 years after Novella Calligaris (Belgrade 1973).

Quadarella (photo Giorgio Scala, Giorgio Perottino, Andrea Staccioli, Andrea Masini / DBM) closed her race with a time of 8:17.44, winning a no-holds-barred head-to-head contest with Germany's Isabel Gose (8:17.53). Completing the podium was New Zealand's Erika Fairweather (8:22.26).

“I was really tired,” Simona admitted at the end of the final, “It got bad at one point but I kept giving everything and I'm really happy. Now I have so much more experience and so much desire to find myself again. In short, I did it. Winning gold after Novella? It is a great source of pride. It is my first at world level and I was going after it," the Italian concluded.