Neutral athletes competing at the European Aquatics Junior Artistic Swimming Championships extended their remarkable run on the penultimate day by collecting all three available gold medals.
Spain added three silvers and Italy secured two more bronze medals.
However, a fourth nation broke through as Belarus claimed its first podium finish of the Championships with a bronze – a day after Italy’s accepted protest against an eight-point penalty had displaced them from third position in the team technical event.
The duet technical final delivered another high-quality contest in Munich, with the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) once again proving untouchable as Kristina Chekhanova and Anastasiia Sidorina claimed a second title of these championships after earning team technical gold.
Competing fourth of the 21 duets, the pair produced a superbly executed routine to “Dance of the Ghost Ladies”, combining impeccable technical required elements with outstanding synchronisation and a memorable acrobatic pair move.
Their performance earned 287.4608 points, a score that none of the remaining contenders could match.
This title continues an impressive breakthrough season for the duo, who announced themselves on the international stage with silver at the World Cup in Xi’an a few months ago.
For Sidorina it also marks a second consecutive European junior duet medal after taking silver in 2025 with a different partner.
Spain’s Naia Alvarez Vicente and Daniela Suarez Fernandez added another medal to their growing collection in Munich, taking silver with 280.1200.
Performing to the song “Ex’s & Oh’s” by Elle King, the Spanish pair delivered the highest degree of difficulty (DD) of the final at 32.65.
Alvarez Vicente, the defending champion in this event with a different partner, and Suarez Fernandez had already stood on the podium in their respective solo events earlier this week, while both had also helped Spain secure team technical silver on the evening before.
One of the stand-out stories of the morning belonged to Belarus, as Anastasiya Dabravolskaya and Aliaksandra Mironchyk secured bronze with 263.9975, earning their country’s first-ever duet medal at a European Championships across all age groups.
The experienced pair, who have been competing together for more than six years, delivered a confident routine to “It Was Murder” by Gothic Storm, showing strong execution on the technical required elements throughout.
Their podium finish especially satisfying given the way Belarus had so narrowly missed out on team technical bronze the previous evening.
“We are so happy for this medal, we worked so hard for it,” Dabravolskaya told European Aquatics.
“We want to say thank you to our coach Natalia Sakharuk. Without her we couldn’t have done this. This morning we gave all our power and really focused on doing our best in this routine.”
The men’s solo technical final produced one of the closest contests of the championships so far as AIN’s defending champion Zakhar Trofimov retained his European junior crown by the narrowest of margins.
The 19-year-old performed an assured routine to the well-known “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” by The Doors, displaying the composure and precision that have made him one of the leading names in junior artistic swimming. His score of 235.6384 secured a second gold medal of the week.
Pushing him all the way was Spain’s rising star Eneko Sanchez, whose outstanding performance to Lara Fabian’s “Caruso” left him just 0.8818 points shy of gold.
Competing last and carrying the highest DD in the field at 29.90, the 16-year-old produced a superb swim featuring exceptional execution of the technical required elements, remarkable flexibility and mature artistic interpretation.
His score of 234.7566 allowed him to add silver to the gold and silver medals he had already collected earlier in the championships.
After finishing fourth at both last year’s edition of these Championships and the World Youth Championships, Sanchez has confirmed his arrival among the sport’s elite junior athletes.
Filippo Pelati of Italy completed the podium with a score of 229.6166 after an entertaining and charismatic performance to Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”. The 19-year-old senior European silver medallist and world bronze medallist fully embraced the character of Freddie Mercury from the opening deckwork to the final pose.
“I really tried to do everything I could to be Freddie Mercury during the routine,” Pelati said.
“I watched a lot of videos of him performing live to see how he performed, how he posed, what he did so I could do the same for my deckwork or for my arm movements, like the clapping of the hands during his Live Aid concert. I really wanted to bring his character to life into the water with me.”
Having waited until the second-to-last day of competition to make his first appearance in Munich, Pelati was pleased with both his performance and artistic progress.
“Finally, I am competing! It’s been four days of only training and stretching for me. It was long but it was finally my time. I felt good in the water today. I think I have done a good routine and also improved my artistic impression, which was one of the most important things.”
The final event of day four saw 10 squads take to the pool in the team acrobatic final, a crowd favourite where spectacular lifts and high-energy choreography brought the day to an exciting conclusion.
The AIN once again led the way, claiming gold with 222.5812 points after delivering a powerful performance of their Rock-themed routine, which also carried by far the highest DD in the final at 25.5995.
Choreographed by three-time Olympic champions Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Olga Brusnikina, the routine was full of energy and featured impressive acrobatic elements throughout, including the most difficult one done across all teams.
Swimming first in the final, the neutral athletes immediately set the bar very high to ultimately secure a second consecutive team gold following their victory in the team technical final.
Spain earned silver with a score of 205.1320 after presenting the second-highest DD in the competition at 23.0875. The reigning champions performed their highly energetic routine set to AC/DC’s famous hit “Thunderstruck.”
Although featuring a different line-up from the team that captured the title last year, the Spanish squad retained the same choreography – which they maintain perfectly reflects the strength and intensity they wanted to bring to the water.
Having already collected silver in the team technical event the previous evening, Spain once again demonstrated its consistency across the team events.
Italy secured bronze thanks to its entertaining “Chicago” routine and a score of 203.1891. Originally choreographed by Ukrainian Olympian Anna Voloshyna for the senior national team, the routine is inspired by the timeless musical, combining theatrical flair and playful choreography to create one of the most distinctive performances in the competition.
The Italian line-up also featured both Pelati and Gabriele Minak, making this team the only mixed one on the podium this evening.
France, bronze medalists at last year’s Championships, had to settle for fourth this time around, although their lively “French Cancan” routine delighted the crowd.
The competition concludes tomorrow with the duet free final opening the morning session at 10:00, followed by the men’s solo free final. The evening session will feature the team free final at 18:00, bringing the Championships to a close.
Christina Marmet for European Aquatics
