The 400 metres freestyle final proved a fantastic duel that was in doubt until the final moments 19 centimetres separated gold from silver. 

In the end it was the Italian who prevailed in 4min 05.68sec ahead of Belmonte in 4:05.87, who had to settle for silver with Margarida Duraes of Portugal in third.

"Although my strength is normally the finish, I could not have done any more," said Belmonte.

Earlier, Belmonte had claimed her second gold medal of the Games in her signature 200m butterfly.

Her winning time 2:07.80 was almost three seconds outside her Rio 2016 performance but she was all smiles Ana Monteiro of Portugal was second and Alessa Polieri of Italy third..

Egypt's Farida Osman posted a Games record of 24.83sec to win the gold medal over 50m freestyle.

She beat Lidon Munoz of Spain into second and Theodora Drakou of Greece was third.

There was to be no sprint double for Algeria’s Oussama Sahnoune. 

The gold went to Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece in 21.66 as Sahnoune claimed the silver medal and Ali Khalafalla of Egypt the bronze.

The men’ 200m butterfly went to Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanović in front of Italy's Filippo Berlincioni. 

The real drama was in the race for the bronze medal. 

The two Greeks Stefanos Dimitriadis and Andreas Vazaios could not be separated and were given the same time of 1:58.16 and both came away with bronze medals.

At El Morell, France had cause for double celebrations in the badminton doubles.

In the men’s events, Bastian Kersaudy and Thom Mark Gicquel beat Turkish pairing Serdar Koçar and Serhat Salim in straight games 21-19 , 21-9. 

Italy’s Kevin Strobl and Lukas Osele took the bronze medals.

French women’s pairing of Lea Helene Palermo and Delphine Delrue also won in straight games against a Turkish pairing. 

They beat Benginsu Erçetin and Nazlican İnci 21-17, 21-16.

 Slovenian sisters Lia and Iza Salehar won the bronze medals.

Italy’s Lara Mori won the gold medal in the women’s all around gymnastics at the Reus Olimpic Pavilion. 

She was the outstanding performer on the beam and in floor exercises and scored 53.200 points.

Louise Vanhille of France won the silver medal and Spain’s Ana Perez bronze.