Italy earned the first gold of the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026 in dramatic fashion at the Olympic Aquatic Centre today as they overtook the Neutral Athletes B quartet to win the mixed team diving event.
There was drama too in the contest for bronze as the defending champions Ukraine came from a long way back to overtake Poland by just 0.15 points, with their 20-year-old talisman Oleksii Sereda rising to the challenge once again to claim a 12th European medal.
Italy, bronze medallists in this event at last year’s Championships in Antalya, made a good start.
Their world bronze medallist Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro scoring 69.75 and 65.00 respectively on their individual dives before combining in the 3m synchro at which they are world champions to score 66.00 for a total of 198.75 after three rounds.
The NAB, however, were leaders at that point on 203.30 thanks to a sound dive from Nadezhda Trifonova scoring 63.00 and an outstanding effort from Grigorii Ivanov, whose Forward 4½ Somersaults Tuck (109C) garnered 89.30 – the highest score of the competition.
The two NAB contenders missed the chance to follow up their advantage however as, in a debut pairing in the 3m syncho, their effort went awry and they scored on 51.00.
The baton then passed to the 10m platform specialists, and Italy tipped the scales in their favour as the 2025 women’s champion Sarah Jodoin di Maria scored 72.00 and Raffaele Pelligra excelled with his Back 3½ Somersaults Tuck (207C) to register 74.25 – to the obvious delight of the watching Pellacani.
The immediate response from NAB was faltering as Ekaterina Beliaeva scored 59.20 and world silver medallist Ruslan Ternovoi earned 56.10, sending them into the final round in silver position by 26.40.
Jodoin di Maria and Pelligra, making their 10m synchro debut in these Championships, maintained the gold standard with a concluding effort of 65.60 for a final total of 410.60.
The gold was effectively secured, with NAB needing to better 92.00 with the final effort from Beliaeva and Ternovoi, who were also making their syncho debut together. A creditable 67.20 earned them silver on 385.80.
“I think this competition is really good to start the meeting,” Pellacani told European Aquatics.
“I was feeling a little bit nervous on my first dive and after that everyone did amazing, so it was very fun to compete.”
Pelligra added: “I was very happy about my dive, and also in the synchro with Sarah because we didn’t practice a lot so we were very happy about how it went.”
Jodoin di Maria commented: “I am very happy about my dives and all the team’s dives. It was the first time Raffaele and I made synchro so it was fun. I think it was a great competition and it’s a good start to the competition!”
Sereda, who led Ukraine to victory in this event last year in Antalya, was the driving force as they rose into contention.
After the first two 3m dives Ukraine were eighth out of nine with 85.00 points. Sereda paired with Kseniia Bochek in the 3m synchro to move the team back in the direction as they scored 63.00
But at this point they were still seventh, and 25.95 points behind Poland in third place.
Having played his part in the springboard diving the world silver medallist lived up to his reputation in the 10m competition, following Kseniia Bailo’s gutsy 67.20 with an individual effort of 81.00.
A final effort of 75.20 from Poland’s Maria Lukaszewicz and Maciej Bujak earned a concluding score of 368.05 which left the Ukrainian pair needing something around 72.00 to take bronze. They scored 72.00.
“It was pretty intense and we were happy to get a bronze medal and to start like this,” Sereda said. “Of course we didn’t make our best, we had some mistakes in our programme, but still it’s a great start.
“I’m not nervous too much because I have a lot of European Championships already and I feel confident when I dive here. That’s experience!”
NAB’s Ivanov commented: “It was not perfect but it’s good for a start. There were two debuts in our synchro today. Of course we did some bad work. But it is what it is and I am looking forward to the next events.”
Ternovoi added: “This is really a team competition because I did a mistake today but the team was good enough to get a silver.”
Fifth place went to Spain on 346.30, with France – who thrilled home supporters by taking up bronze-medal position after two rounds – finishing sixth on 338.60.
Germany, silver medallists a year earlier, had a disappointing result, finishing seventh on 319.20.
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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
