Popovici, Quadarella mine more gold at European Championships as Marchand flexes in butterfly

SAINT-DENIS, France – Romania’s David Popovici and Italy’s Simona Quadarella added to their gold-medal hauls at the European swimming championships on Aug 14 while French star Leon Marchand booked his ticket to the 200m butterfly final as he returns from injury.

Popovici was crowned European champion in the 200m freestyle for the third consecutive time with Quadarella taking the women’s 1500m continental title for a fourth time.

The 21-year-old Popovici doubled his tally in Paris after his victory in the 100m freestyle earlier in the competition.

The Olympic champion led the race from start to finish, swimming neck and neck with his rivals before pulling away in the final metres.

Popovici touched the wall in 1min 44.15sec, edging out Lithuanian Tomas Navikonis by 0.40sec. Great Britain’s James Guy clocked 1min 44.87sec for bronze.

Quadarella added the 1500m freestyle gold to the 800m freestyle title she won on Aug 11.

The 27-year-old dominated her rivals, clocking 15min 46.22sec to finish ahead of Germans Isabel Gose and Maya Werner. The podium was the same as for the 800m.

The Italian, an Olympic and 2024 world bronze medallist, followed on from her European titles in 2018, 2020, and 2022 in the distance.

Meanwhile Marchand, who became the Olympic champion in his event in the French capital two years ago, qualified for Saturday’s 200m butterfly final with the fastest time of the semi-finals.

In the Olympic pool in Saint-Denis to the north of Paris, Marchand completed his race in 1min 53.95sec after easing through the heats earlier in the day.

“It was good, I really enjoyed myself. It was just in the last 50 metres that I struggled; my hips started to drop and my head was a bit higher than usual,” said Marchand.

“I hope I’ll have a bit more energy to finish tomorrow evening.”

Marchand eyes first European gold

A four-time Olympic champion and seven-time world champion, Marchand will be aiming to win a first ever continental title on Saturday.

Hampered by a thigh injury picked up at French nationals in June, the 24-year-old has reduced his programme at these championships.

Individually he is competing in just two events – the 200m butterfly and the 400m freestyle on Aug 16.

However, he has already won a silver medal with the 4x200m freestyle relay with France this week.

Belgian Roos Vanotterdijk successfully defended her 100m butterfly title while Russia’s Evgeniia Chikunova, competing under a neutral flag, won the 200m breaststroke.

Vanotterdijk, 21, the world silver medallist over the distance, led the way in 56.08sec.

She took the gold 0.31sec ahead of Germany’s Angelina Kohler. Russian Daria Klepikova, also competing as a neutral, won bronze in 56.76sec.

Chikunova clocked 2min 19.32sec to finish ahead of Great Britain’s Angharad Evans (2:21.21), who won the 100m breaststroke title on Wednesday, while Ireland’s Mona McSharry took bronze.

Czech Miroslav Knedla won the men’s 50m backstroke in 24.11sec, edging Kliment Kolesnikov by just 0.01sec with a second Russian, Pavel Samusenko, taking bronze just 0.03 off the pace.

Russian swimmers, competing under a neutral flag, won the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay as France were disqualified for a false start.

The Russians, led by Egor Kornev, who won 100m silver on Aug 13, finished in 3min 19.95sec.

The Netherlands, led by Marrit Steenbergen, took silver, ahead of an Italian team which included teenage star Sara Curtis. AFP