2026 European Championships Previews: Gose Holds Edge Over Quadarella in Women’s 400 Free ...Middle East

By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam

2026 European Aquatics Championships

By the Numbers: Women’s 400 Freestyle

The women’s distance events at the European Championships have a few favorites who are leading all three events, and the 400 free is no different.

Two-For-Three

Just like in our 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle previews, the women’s 400 free looks like it will be another showdown between Germany’s Isabel Gose and Italy’s Simona Quadarella.

Unlike those previews, however, Gose holds a slight edge for favorite coming into the event and she will be trying to repeat her 2022 title with a win in Paris.

Gose has been a staple in the women’s 400 freestyle for a while now, and at every World Championships and Olympic Games since 2021, she has been the highest finishing European Athlete in the event, occasionally being the only one in the final.

She is coming into this meet with a season best time of 4:02.92 from the 2026 German Swimming Championships in April, which ranks 7th in the world this season. This swim was her 5th fastest performance ever, coming in about seven tenths off her lifetime best of 4:02.14, which she swam to finish 5th at the 2024 Olympic Games.

credit @scattodistile with permission

She finished 6th at the 2025 World Championships in the event, stopping the clock in 4:02.90, and at the 2025 SC European Championships, she won the event by more than two seconds over Quadarella, swimming 3:54.33 to take more than two seconds off her previous best of 3:56.84 and break the short course European Record.

If she takes two seconds off her best long course time, she could become just the 2nd European Woman in history to break 4:00

Quadarella has seen a slight comeback in this event over the last few years. She set her lifetime best of 4:03.35 in August of 2018 to win that edition of the European Championships, and then she didn’t break 4:04 again until last summer’s World Championships. In Singapore, she swam 4:03.44 in the opening split of her European Record 800 freestyle.

In April, she swam the event individually at the Italian Long Course Championships, stopping the clock in 4:03.59, her 3rd fastest long course performance ever and 2nd fastest in an individual 400 free.

Simona Quadarellacredit: © Andrea Staccioli / DeepBlueMedia.eu – Photo courtesy FIN. Editorial use permitted for registered media outlets.

She also swam the event individually at the SC European Championships in December, where she dropped three seconds from her previous best of 3:59.50 from December of 2023. She swam 3:56.70 to finish 2nd overall and become the 7th fastest European woman ever.

Other Medal Contenders

Russia’s Kseniia Misharina has the 3rd fastest European time this year with the 4:05.54 she swam at the European Junior Championships in July. This swim was a lifetime best for her, taking a full second off the 4:06.67 she swam in April of 2024. Misharina has only swum at two senior international meets during her career, the 2024 SC Worlds and the 2025 LC Worlds. At both meets, she added from her lifetime best times. If she matches her best times in Paris, however, she will easily qualify for the final.

Freya Colbert had a massive performance at SC Euros, finishing 3rd just one hundredth behind Quadarella in a lifetime best 3:56.71. This was her first time under 4:00 in the event and took almost six seconds off her pre-season short course best of 4:02.32, which she had set just a year prior in November of 2024.

Colbert has already set a lifetime best in the long course event this season, touching in 4:06.16 at the Edinburgh International Meet in March. This was a six tenth drop from the 4:06.80 she set back in 2023.

Freya Colbert Pre 200 Freecredit: Mickaël MalaperMalaper Photography

She struggled a bit at the Commonwealth Games, but dropped the 200 IM from her schedule for the European Championships, and even if she doesn’t drop any time she is a major medal contender.

Germany’s Maya Werner was the only European swimmer other than Gose to qualify for the final in Singapore, swimming 4:06.75 in the heats before finishing 8th in the final 4:09.38.

Werner has a season best time of 4:06.18, which she swam in April and currently ranks 22nd in the world this year, just behind Colbert. She finished 4th in the event at SC Euros in 4:01.46, dropping two seconds from her previous best of 4:03.78. Her lifetime best in the long course event is 4:06.04, which on its own will likely qualify for the final.

Russia picks up another potential medalist in Sofia Diakova. She swam 4:06.86 at the European Junior Championships. Her lifetime best comes in at 4:05.16 from July of 2024, but she has been pretty steady in the 4:06-4:07 range since that swim.

Germany’s Linda Roth is the final 4:06 seeded athlete after she swam 4:06.89 at the AP Race in London. This was a new lifetime best for her, taking nearly six seconds off the 4:12.87 she swam in April and seven seconds off her pre-season best of 4:13.69. This is a significant drop for the 18-year-old, and she might not have much more in the tank at Euros to drop for a medal, though 4:06 feels like a safe bet to final at this stage.

Potential Finalists

There are six swimmers who have been 4:08 or faster this year.

Portugal’s Francisca Soares Martins is the most likely person to slot into that final spot in the top eight. She has a lifetime best 4:07.50, which she swam at the World University Games last summer to finish 1st overall in the event. So far this season, she has been 4:08.18, which she set at the Canet stop of the Mare Nostrum Tour.

Other potential finalists are Italy’s Bianca Nannucci (4:08.24), Hungary’s Vivien Jackl (4:08.28), Belgium’s Sarah Dumont (4:08.49), Hungary’s Nikolett Padar (4:08.49), and Great Britain’s Amalie Smith (4:08.49).

The Verdict

While Gose and Quadarella could put on a very exciting race and either one could go home with the gold, we have given the edge to Quadarella for her proven prowess in the individual 400 free over the last few years.

Behind them, Freya Colbert and Kseniia Misharina could also go either way.  Colbert struggled slightly at the Commonwealth Games, but she historically has performed well internationally. She dropped the 200 IM and will only be racing the 200 freestyle before this, which improves her chances of a strong performance.

Misharina has the faster lifetime and season best times, but she has historically been off her bests, adding seven seconds between European Juniors and World Juniors in the event last year.

Dark Horse: Barbora Seemanova (CZE) – Czech freestyler Seemanova has one of the fastest lifetime bests in the field in the 400 freestyle, coming in at 4:03.41 from May of 2024. This is the only time she has ever been under 4:06 in the event and she only has two other swims under 4:08, from October 2023 and June 2024. Her season best time is 4:11.32 from the Monaco stop of the Mare Nostrum Tour, but if she can tap back into that speed, even dipping back into the 4:06 range could put her in medal position.

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