The European Aquatics Junior Diving Championships Hungary 2026 came to a magnificent close at the Duna Arena on Sunday, with Germany’s Emily Deml cementing her status as the standout individual performer of the week, Russia’s Kirill Kosimov producing one of the most dramatic platform performances of the entire championship, and Russia crowned as the overall Team Trophy winners with nine gold, six silver and two bronze medals across the seven days.
Deml, who defended her girls A 1m springboard title on day five, produced another commanding display in the girls A 3m springboard final to claim a second individual gold of the championships. Beginning third after the opening dive following an inconsistent performance in the morning’s preliminary rounds that saw her go through in fourth, she progressively pulled clear of the field, producing a Forward 3½ Somersaults Pike (107B) and then a Reverse 2½ Somersaults Pike (305B) that earned 66.65 and 67.50 points respectively to move into a lead she would not relinquish.
Her final score of 456.35 gave her victory by 6.60 points over Russia’s Nadezhda Trifonova, who added yet another silver to a week in which she has been Russia’s most consistent springboard performer, finishing on 449.75. Ukraine’s Kseniia Bochek, who led after the first dive, took bronze with 446.20, while Russia’s Viktoriia Kazantseva finished fourth in what was a remarkable final featuring four divers within 17 points of each other.
Deml, who had already described her preliminary round as not quite going to plan, was measured but satisfied in her assessment. “I’m pretty happy, I’m pretty satisfied because I know I could do it and I was pretty satisfied that I could show what I can do in the final,” she said. “The prelims, I don’t know if they were really going according to plan. I planned them to go a bit better, but the technique and the takeoffs were pretty good, so I was confident that I could do it in the finals. There were no big issues. It went pretty well.”
The evening’s boys A platform final produced the most extraordinary result of the closing day to round off the competition. Russia’s Kirill Kosimov entered the event having led from the preliminary rounds but with the knowledge that nothing was guaranteed against a field of high-class platform divers.
After a modest opening dive, Kosimov responded with a Forward 3½ Somersaults Pike (107B) worth 67.50 to move into the lead, and then delivered the defining moment of the final in the fourth round: a Back 3½ Somersaults Tuck (207C) that earned a staggering 84.15 points and gave him a comfortable cushion to what was a close chasing pack at that stage.
He closed with a solid Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists Pike (5253B) to finish on 517.50 and take gold. Speaking after the competition, Kosimov was candid in his assessment. “I expected to win a medal, but not the gold,” he said. “I believed in myself and in my own strength, but going into the final dive I was thinking 50-50 — do it or not. I just needed to concentrate and be confident. I am very happy to be champion today.”
Behind him, Russia’s Timur Khaile Mariam recovered brilliantly from a drop on his Armstand Back 3 Somersaults Tuck (626C) in the second round to take silver with 505.00, his fifth dive a Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists Pike (5253B) worth 80.00 that was the second-highest scoring dive of the final.
Italy’s Raffaele Pelligra finished third on 502.20 for a bronze that represented a fine individual achievement and Italy’s most eye-catching platform result of the week. Great Britain’s Jorden Fisher-Eames was fourth on 498.20, finishing on a solid note in what was a mixed week overall for the British team.
Russia’s nine gold medals were the story of the week. Across all seven days, the country were rarely away from the podium. They asserted dominance across virtually every discipline and both categories. Germany finished second on the gold medal count with five, taking a remarkable series of springboard titles through Finn Awe and Deml in particular, while Ukraine’s eight bronze medals reflected a squad that was consistently competitive but found the podium’s top step elusive when Russia were at their strongest.
The continent’s attention now turns to the European Aquatics Championships in Paris in just over a month’s time, which will see the senior athletes compete for titles of their own.
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Click here to access the event page, which includes all of the results from the week.
Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
