Italy finished the open-water programme at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris as the best team of the competition, claiming the overall team trophy for the most successful nation across the Championships when four days of racing on the River Seine drew to a close on Saturday.
Ginevra Taddeucci was the standout performer of an Italian week full of podiums. The women's 10km on 4 August ended with a one-three for Italy: Taddeucci surged clear inside the final two kilometres to beat Hungary's Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, while Linda Caponi took bronze. A day later the Italian completed the double, coming from behind after Barbara Pozzobon's fast start to win the 5km, with Pozzobon claiming bronze behind her. “I’m very happy. Today was a very hard race, but I’m happy and the location is beautiful,” she said.
The final open-water event delivered the tightest finish of the week. Florian Wellbrock anchored Germany to gold in the mixed 4x1500m relay in 1:03:39.2, with Italy's quartet of Pozzobon, Taddeucci, Marcello Guidi and Gregorio Paltrinieri taking silver just 2.0 seconds adrift and Hungary bronze. “Yes, of course. It was a great performance by the German team to get top of the medal table,” said Wellbrock. Paltrinieri, a seven-time European open-water champion, had earlier taken bronze in the men's 5km, his 27th European medal across pool and open water. Germany topped the open-water medal table with four golds; Italy matched Hungary on seven medals but ranked ahead on golds.