The high diving competition at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 reached its conclusion on Saturday, with Ukraine’s Nelli Chukanivska and Romania’s Catalin Preda taking the women’s and men’s 20m platform titles respectively, in front of hundreds of fans who lined the banks of the Seine in baking heat to watch the action unfold.
Having opened their account with rounds one and two on Friday, the divers returned to the purpose-built platform on Saturday for the third and fourth rounds, with medals on the line in both the men’s and women’s competitions.
Women’s 20m platform
Chukanivska set the tone from the very first round on Friday, topping the standings after a back 1 somersault pike (202B) and an inward 3 somersaults 1/2 twist tuck (5461C) combination that yielded 152.30 points.
She never relinquished top spot across the remaining two rounds, adding a forward 2 somersaults 1 1/2 twists free (5143D) in round three and rounding out her card with an armstand back 2 1/2 somersaults pike (625B) in the fourth and final round, scoring a huge 98.00 for the dive to secure the gold medal with a total of 324.70.
The importance of the final dive seemed not to trouble the 19-year-old, who has only been on the senior high diving circuit for a matter of months. She kept her cool and sent the crowd on the Seine into raptures with the dive.
Italy’s Elisa Cosetti pushed Chukanivska throughout the competition, sitting in second place from round two onwards. Her final-round inward 3 somersaults 1/2 twist tuck (5461C) scored 87.40, enough to hold off a late charge from Germany’s Maike Elena Halbisch, who produced the highest degree of difficulty dive of the round – an armstand back 3 1/2 somersaults tuck (627C) rated at 5.0 – to move up to bronze.
Switzerland’s Morgane Herculano, who had held third after round two, slipped to fourth by the finish.
Men’s 20m platform
The men’s event told a story of shifting fortunes across the four rounds. Italy’s Andrea Barnaba set an early marker on Friday, leading after rounds one and two with a huge forward 4 somersaults 1/2 twist pike (5181B) that scored 118.80 on the second round, ahead of Spain’s Carlos Gimeno and Romania’s Constantin Popovici.
Saturday brought a change at the top, with Gimeno edging ahead of Barnaba by the narrowest of margins, just 0.20 of a point, after round three, while Romania’s Catalin Preda climbed into medal contention in third.
It was the final round that decided the gold, and Preda produced the dive of the competition to do it. His back 4 somersaults pike (208B) rated at a degree of difficulty of 5.2, drew scores as high as 10 from the judges and was worth 145.60 points, launching him from third to first and giving Romania the title with a total of 411.60.
It meant a lot to the Romanian, who went around on the back of the transport jetski to celebrate with the fans when the result was announced.
Barnaba held on for silver despite dropping his final dive’s difficulty back to 4.9, finishing on 386.00, while France’s Gary Hunt produced a strong back 4 somersaults tuck (208C) of his own in the last round to move into the bronze medal position, capping the competition with a total of 382.50.
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Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics
