Simona Quadarella Takes 6 Seconds Off Italian Record in 1500 Free

Simona Quadarella, the defending World Champion in the women’s 1500 free in long course, has broken the Italian Record in the 1500 free in short course.

Racing on Friday at a regional meet in Rome, the 22-year old Quadarella swam a 15:29.74. That improved her own best time and Natinoal Record of 15:35.82 done at another regional meet, in this same pool, in October of 2019.

The runner-up in Friday’s race, Martina Rita Caramignoli, finished in a time of 15:36.43, which itself almost caught the former record.

Quadarella’s swim now ranks her as the 6th-best performer in the history of the event, and the swim is the 7th-best performance in the history of the event. Caramignoli is now the 10th-best performer and has the 12th-best performance in the history of the event, according to USA Swimming rankings.

All-Time Top Performers, Women’s SCM 1500 Free:

1. Sarah Koehler, Germany – 15:18.01
2. Mireia Belmonte, Spain – 15:19.71
3. Lauren Boyle, New Zealand – 15:22.68
4. Lani Pallister, Australia – 15:28.33
5. Lotte Friis, Denmark – 15:28.65
6. Simona Quadarella, Italy – 15:29.74

Quadarella became pre-qualified for the Italian team to the Tokyo Olympics when she swam a 15:57.18 at the Italian Winter Championships in 2019, before the pandemic hit. That came after winning the World Championship when American Katie Ledecky became sick during the meet and scratched the event where she’s both the World Record holder and far ahead of anybody else in history.

Ledecky would bounce back to win gold in the 800 free, but the Quadarella battled her there as well. The Italian finished second in 8:14.99 behind Ledecky’s 8:13.58.

Global records in the women’s 1500 free are a little soft globally for a few reasons. The race has only recently become an Olympic event, which has resulted in it not being swum in many major international competitions – even those that offer other non-Olympic events – like the International Swimming League and the European Short Course Championships.

But the race is beginning to get more attention now that it is scheduled for an Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021.