Day four of the European Aquatics Junior Diving Championships Athens 2025 saw Ukraine take the plaudits with two gold medals from three events under the lights of the Athens Olympic Aquatics Centre’s diving pool.
Following a preliminary session which saw the top 12 athletes from the Girls B 1m Springboard and Boys B Platform progress to the evening showdown, as well as the 11 teams for the Boys Synchronised 3m Springboard final, all was set.
It was in the former event where the exhibition of Ukraine’s dominance began. Yelyzaveta Diadiuk carried over an impressive score from her required dives in the prelims, which didn’t matter given the circumstances. Despite always being the one to beat, she executed all three of her final dives with relentless focus – her highlight being a score of 59.80 for her Forward 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (105B), which all-but sealed the deal as she continued on to claim the gold on a final score of 342.40.
Neutral athlete Margarita Kuvshinova kept with her throughout the preliminary dives, and again on the opening round of final dives, but ultimately fell away – still doing enough to claim the silver medal on a score of 312.35.
Poland’s Patrycja Tkacz was just a handful of points behind on 304.35, with her huge score of 52.80 for her Inward 1 ½ Somersaults Pike (403B) being enough to keep her on the podium from that point on, despite a good attempt from Great Britain’s Siena Rae Mills, who finished fourth.
Diadiuk’s compatriot Nazarii Kononenko provided a much similar story in the Boys B Platform final. Once again seeded first following the prelims, the 13-year-old never looked under pressure as he put in three 70+-scoring dives – including a score of 76.80 for his Back 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists Pike (5253B) – to seal victory by almost 50 points on a total of 450.20.
Neutral athletes Tsimafei Patskevich and Kirill Belavin took the silver and bronze medal respectively, with both maintaining a strong 60+ average throughout their dive list, for the most part.
The competition was rounded off with a strong Boys Synchronised 3m Springboard Final, which saw the lead change hands in all but one of the five-round list.
With no preliminary event, all of the dives meant that little bit more to the 11 pairs looking to make their own piece of history.
With a closely contested first round that saw the frontrunners separated by just a few points, it was in the second round where the divers began to make their mark. Italy’s Simone Conte and Valerio Mosca reeled-off two controlled dives – notably a 74.25-score for their Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults 1 ½ Twists Pike in the third round – to see them move just ahead of Great Britain’s Todd Geggus and Connor Lano with two rounds to go.
It was on the the penultimate round where things got interesting. The Brits put in a huge Forward 2 ½ Somersaults 2 Twists Pike (5154B) – which carried a 3.4 degree of difficulty – on their way to sneaking into provisional first place, despite a solid effort from the Italians.
On the final round, the Italians took that lead back. Despite scoring 66.60, the British pair couldn’t gainsay the incredible synchronicity from Conte and Moscam, which saw them score 71.10 and take the gold medal on a total of 312.30.
Geggus and Lano did enough for the silver on a total of 311.28, and neutral athletes Vladislav Kachanov and Artem Makarov finished just behind in third on 308.31.
The next day sees a return to sole springboard action, with the Girls A 1m and Boys A 3m set to provide the Greek capital with another display of high-quality diving.
Click here for the full results
Click here to watch all the action on European Aquatics TV
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
