Quadarella competed in the women's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships,[4][5] winning the bronze medal.[6] After her international explosion, which took place in 2017 at the age of 19, Simona Quadarella won 9 international medals in the two-year period 2017-2018 (7 gold and 2 bronze), including a trio of gold medals at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships in 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle.[4]
Than in July 2019, Quadarella won her first world title at the World Championships in Gwangju, taking gold in the 1500 m in a time of 15:40.89.[3] She also won a silver medal in the 800 m race in a time of 8:14.99.
At the European Championships in Budapest 2020, held in May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Quadarella won three gold medals (400 m, 800 m, 1500 m freestyle - the same feat achieved three years earlier in Glasgow 2018) and a bronze medal in the 4x200m freestyle.[7] In July 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were also postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, she won the bronze medal in the 800 metre freestyle with a time of 8:18.35.[8]
At the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, held two months later in Rome, Quadarella won the gold medal in the 800 metre freestyle with a time of 8:20.54.[13][14][15] The title was her third-consecutive in the 800 metre freestyle at LEN European Aquatics Championships and was the first time a female swimmer achieved the title in the event three times in a row.[16] Three days later, she won the gold medal in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 15:54.15.[17][18] The win marked her third-consecutive gold medal in the event at LEN European Aquatics Championships.[19] Her medal also brought her total number of gold medals won at LEN European Aquatics Championships to eight, setting a new record for the most gold medals won by a female Italian swimmer over the course of their career at the Championships.[20] The final day, she won the silver medal in the 400 metre freestyle, finishing behind gold medalist Isabel Marie Gose of Germany with a time of 4:04.77.[21][22]
