Naples, 19 July (LaPresse) – Third consecutive silver medal at the World Championships in Sentosa for Ginevra Taddeucci in the new 3 km sprint knockout event. The 28-year-old Florentine, already an Olympic bronze medallist in Paris, finished second behind Japan's Ichika Kajimoto, who touched in 6'19"9 with a two-second lead. Third place went to Australian 5 km and 10 km world champion Moesha Johnson, who tied with Hungary's Bettina Fabian (6'23"1). Another debutant, Antonietta Cesarano, was eliminated in the semi-finals, but still put in a good performance. ‘I never imagined I would be on the podium,’ said Taddeucci, the first Italian to win three individual medals in a world championship. "I was resigned to fifth place; the girls in front were battling it out, I saw the gap, took advantage of it and suddenly the race turned into a 50-metre freestyle. I put my legs to work and was going great. Paradoxically, I felt worse in the first 1500 metres. My coach Giovanni Pistelli told me I was fast in training, that he almost thought I had lost my threshold. Instead, everything went great."

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