Great Britain’s Maisie Bond became a double European gold medallist at the age of 19 as she added the women’s 10m platform title to the women’s 10m synchro she had earned two days earlier with Lois Toulson.
She put out of mind her blip in the morning qualifying, where she dropped from first to fifth, keeping her nerve to defeat a field that included all three of last year’s medallists, with Pauline Pfeif of Germany and Dutch diver Else Praasterink repeating their respective silver and bronze performances of 2025.
Earlier Germany won the men’s 3m synchro as Lou Massenberg and 21-year-old Jonathan Schauer, who had narrowly defeated the 2025 champions Moritz Wesemann and Timo Barthel in the national trials, maintained their winning mode in admirable fashion.
Silver went to NAB’s 36-year-old Evgenii Kuznetsov and Nikita Shleikher, with Italy’s Stefano Belotti and Matteo Santoro, who had won mixed 3m synchro gold with Chiara Pellacani the previous night, snatching bronze from Britain’s Olympic bronze medallists Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher with the last dive of the final.
Bond had finished fifth in the morning’s preliminaries having put herself into a winning position with an excellent dive in the penultimate round before dropping off in her final effort.
“I’m surprised, to be honest,” Bond told European Aquatics. “I knew I could do it but it’s not been an ideal season for me. This was only my third competition of the season. It’s not been an ideal season for me, it’s been difficult, the hardest I’ve had.
“Back in March I was going to quit. So I think I’m very surprised but also it’s relieving. I know I worked hard for this, but I lost a lot of confidence in myself and my ability, so to be able to have this, and that proof that I am good means I can build back confidence again from now.”
Asked if she was thinking about her dropped last dive in qualifying when she lined up for her final effort of the evening she replied: “Yes! That was the only thing I was thinking – did not want to land on my back, did not want to land on my back. That was all.
“I tried to keep calm and composed but it was very difficult when I knew what I had done previously. I just wanted to improve from the prelims and do my best. It was better than the prelims so I’m glad for that.”
Asked if she was aware of the support from the crowd, she responded: “I can always hear my team mates and I always look to my Mum in the crowd.
“I always feel supported whether I am doing the worst performance or the best.”
She was back to her assured best in the opening round of the final as she totalled 67.20, a score that was only surpassed by Germany’s 2025 world and European silver medallist Pauline Pfeif, who totalled 70.50.
There was a poor opening effort from Italy’s defending champion Sarah Jodoin di Maria, who totalled 46.40 to go into round two, and Spain’s 19-year-old Ana Carvajal, winner of the preliminaries, who scored the same to finish joint 11th.
Bond also nailed her second dive, scoring 68.15 to total 135.35. And this time Pfeif didn’t come past her after a score of 62.40 left her on 132.90. Jodoin di Maria improved marginally in the second round, with 58.50, but still went into round three in 11th place, while Carvajal rose to eighth.
Bond’s momentum faltered with her third dive as she scored 52.50 for a total of 187.86. She was in front – but four were still to dive, including Pfeif. Elsie Praasterink of The Netherlands moved past her with a score of 61.50 which gave her 189.85.
Jodoin di Maria got back to business as usual with a 67.50 that took her to 172.10 before Pfeif took over at the top with a superb 75.50 for her Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists Pike (5253B) with a degree difficulty of 3.2 which gave her a total of 208.10.
As the field moved into the fourth round, the medal positions were held by Pfeif, Praasterink and Bond, with NAB’s European junior champion Alexandra Kedrina just 3.25 off a medal place.
It was Kedrina’s turn to falter in round four as she dropped back after scoring 33.00. But Bond stepped up again, netting 76.80 for her Back 2½ Somersaults 1½ Twists Pike (5253B) with a degree difficulty of 3.2 to total 264.65.
A 54.40 from Praasterink dropped her to second behind Bond, and Jodoin di Maria’s second successive 67.20 saw her move into third place. All eyes were on Pfeif…and this time it was the German who fell off her standard as she scored 34.80 to total 242.90.
So, going into the fifth and final round, Bond led on 264.65, more than 20 points clear of her two closest challengers Praasterink on 244.35 and Pfeif on 242.90.
Bond scored 62.40 on her last dive for a total of 327.05. Not certain for gold. Would anyone catch her?
Praasterink was next – and the bronze medallist of 2025 scored 60.90 to move into second place on 305.15.
What could the defending champion do? Jodoin di Maria couldn’t deliver more than 44.95.
Pfeif then? But she was 84.15 adrift. And her score of 62.40 could only lift her to another silver medal on 305.30.
Bond, 21.75 clear, was an individual – and synchro – European champion at 19.
New medallists were guaranteed in the men’s 3m synchro event given that none of the medallists, including second-placed Lorenzo Marsaglia and Giovanni Tocci of Italy and third-placed Leon Baker and Hugo Thomas of Great Britain, were entered.
First in the order, Laugher and Harding had the opportunity of laying down early markers in this competition and they took full advantage with a first effort that earned them 50.40 for a first-round lead of 0.60.
They produced the same mark for their second 2.0 degree difficulty effort for a total of 108.80 that maintained their lead, leaving them 3.60 ahead of the German pairing.
But a below par effort of 58.59 in the third round with a Forward 3½ Somersaults Pike (107B) with degree difficulty 3.1 dropped them down the order as five teams moved past them.
They were headed by Massenberg and Schauer, who scored 77.52 as they made the most of their Forward 2½ Somersaults 2 Twists Pike (5154B) with a 3.4 degree difficulty to top the list on 174.72.
Italy also made up ground with a 75.33 score on their 3.1 degree difficulty effort to take up second place on 171.93.
They were one place ahead of NAB’s Kuznetsov, who won 3m synchro silver at the London 2012 Olympics, and Shleikher, who won 10m synchro silver at last year’s World Championships.
Next were Ukraine – represented by Kirill Boliukh and Stanislav Oliferchyk, who were fifth at last year’s World Championships, and Spain’s Juan Pablo Cortes and Max Linan.
France’s chance of profiting went to waste with a third-round effort of 43.86 from Jules Bouyer and Alexis Jandard that brought a sigh followed by encouraging applause from the home followers.
The Britons steadied their challenge with a fourth-round score of 70.38 to stay in with a chance of a medal.
But soon the German pair had strengthened their dominant position with a superb score of 80.58 for their Inward 3½ Somersaults Tuck (407C) with degree difficulty of 3.4 to total 255.30.
That saw them through as leaders to the fifth round, followed by NAB on 244.74, Italy on 239.19, Ukraine on 237.12 with the British pair fifth on 229.77.
Harding and Laugher stepped it up again at the start of the fifth round with an Inward 3½ Somersaults Tuck (407C) with degree difficulty 3.4 which yielded 80.58 points and a total of 310.35.
But the leaders were maintaining momentum, and they were in the 80s again with dive five, a Reverse 1½ Somersaults 3½ Twists Free (5337D) with degree difficulty 3.5 which took them to 337.20 – 13.71 ahead of the NAB pairing, with the Britons back in a podium position heading into the final round.
Harding and Laugher’s concluding effort – a Forward 4½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) with degree difficulty 3.8 – yielded 75.24 for a final total of 385.59. All they could do now was wait to see who might come past them. It would be a long wait…
First to do so were the NAB pair who bid for gold with a score of 85.50 for a final total of 408.99.
Next up were Massenberg and Schauer, needing to better 71.79 to consolidate their gold-medal position. They responded superbly, completing their version of the Briton’s concluding dive for a score of 86.64 that gave them a winning total of 423.84.
Italy required 80.10 to leapfrog the Britons with the last dive of the competition. And they did it, scoring 80.58 for a final total of 386.07.
“We did everything during our last dive.,” said Santoro. “We knew that it was very important for us because we trained so much for this. So this is special and we are really, really happy.”
Massenberg commented: “We knew we had the strength to be up front here diving with all the good pairs in this big competition. We beat the other pair at the nationals by a very small margin and we were really lucky to make it.
“The performance just reflects the fight we have in Germany in the synchro and we are just happy with our performance overall.”
Asked about his previous success in the mixed synchro, where he has won two European golds, Massenberg added: “It’s completely different, it’s an Olympic event and everyone watches the Olympic events especially. And the goal for sure is the Olympic Games.
“So this one means a lot and for me this is kind of the first European medal I’ve ever won.”
Asked how it felt to be a European champion at 21 in his first major international championship, Schauer responded: “It’s just unbelievable. I can’t say more.”
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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
