A tinny day for Italy's swimmers

The penultimate day of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore ended with a bitter pill to swallow for Italy's swimmers. The bottom line was that there was nothing but scum to be gained.

August 02, 2025

From: mv

The penultimate day of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore is history – and it wasn't a rosy one for the Italian athletes, that much is certain. On Saturday, there were a total of three fourth-place finishes, most notably that of Simona Quadarella.

The 26-year-old made it to the finals in the 800-meter freestyle, but had to settle for fourth place. She finished more than five seconds behind bronze. Katie Ledecky snatched victory – once again. The US swimmer was on equal terms with Lani Pallister (Australia), but ultimately finished just a bit faster.

Mixed relay and Deplano also in fourth place

Italy's mixed 4x100-meter freestyle relay team also achieved fourth place. The team, consisting of Manuel Frigo, Carlos D'Ambrosio, Sara Curtis, and Emma Virginia Menicucci, finished just 13 hundredths of a second behind France in third place. The victory went to the United States relay team.

Leonardo Deplano put in a strong performance – but it wasn't enough for a medal. © ANSA / RUNGROJ YONGRIT

In the men's 50-meter freestyle, Leonardo Deplano finished fourth, losing to Cameron McEvoy (Australia, winner), Benjamin Proud (Great Britain), and Jack Alexy (USA).

Swimming star Thomas Ceccon, who had performed strongly at the World Championships so far, lost his nerve on Saturday. In the 100-meter butterfly final, he touched the edge of the pool in eighth place, thus finishing last.

Keywords Watersports swimming Swimming World Cup Singapore