Italian fans celebrated hugely after witnessing a peerless exhibition of diving from Chiara Pellacani, who ended day 3 at the European Aquatics Championships with two golds – the first partnering Matteo Santoro in the mixed 3m synchro, the second in retaining her women’s 1m springboard title.
The chant of “Chiara, Chiara, Chiara!!” rang out at the Olympic Aquatics Centre after a peerless exhibition of diving in which, over the course of the evening, she had won every round contested. This was her European night of nights.
In the mixed 3m syncho she and Santoro, reigning world champions, finished almost 20 points clear of their nearest opposition, the NAB’s Ilia Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina, to win their third European title together.
In third place were Germany’s defending champions Lena Hentschel and Luis Avila Sanchez, who had beaten them to the title a year earlier by just 0.03.
Pellacani, who had also earned mixed team gold on day 1 of the diving, produced a margin of victory in the women’s 1m springboard that was even more emphatic – she finished 40 points clear of second-placed Michelle Heimberg of Switzerland, needing only to better 13.90 with her final dive to win.
That she managed with something to spare, finishing with a total of 298.90, with Heimberg, bronze medallist in this event last year, taking silver on 258.80.
Bronze went to Great Britain’s inspired Desharne Bent-Ashmeil, the 2024 3m springboard champion, who was 12th and last qualifier in the morning but who totalled 254.35 to finish ahead of NAB athlete Uliana Kliueva on 251.20.
The previous year Pellacani and Santoro had pair appeared on the brink of victory after their final dive left the Germans needing to score more than 72.51 to win.
Hentschel and the 19-year-old Avila Sanchez, making his international debut, duly produced a finale worth 72.54, taking gold by the narrowest winning margin in the event since it was introduced to the Championships in 2016.
There was no such drama today as a pairing who have known each other since childhood and competed together internationally for six years showed almost preternatural understanding, winning every one of the five rounds.
Santoro had failed to reach the previous day’s men’s 1m springboard final after finishing a dejected 17th in the preliminaries, but he looked a different athlete 24 hours later as he and his partner put the rest of the field under relentless pressure from the start.
After scoring 69.30 and 69.75 in rounds three and four they arrived for their final effort with the gold theirs to win. There was no faltering as their Inward 2½ Somersaults Pike (405B), with a degree difficulty of 3.0, earned them 70.20.
Germany responded well, but their last score of 67.89, the best they had produced, could not bridge the gap this time as they finished on 284.19.
The NAB pairing of Ilia Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina then did what they needed to maintain silver-medal position with a final total of 286.17.
Ukraine’s pairing of Kyrylo Azarov and Diana Karnafels put together a late charge similar to their team’s efforts in the two earlier events, but on this occasion they fell just short of the podium, placing fourth on 273.60, with Switzerland’s Michelle Heimberg and Erik Passerone fifth on 263.85.
Home pairing Gwendal Bisch and Nais Gillet raised early hopes after finishing second in the opening round, but subsequently dropped to sixth, totalling 252.33.
There was further distress for Gillet in the women’s 1m final, where she went into the fourth of the five rounds in second place but produced two bad dives that left her in 12th place.
Speaking about the mixed 3m synchro win, Pellacani told European Aquatics: “We were very confident. We didn’t practice too much together as always, but we are very similar divers so it’s kind of natural for us to dive together. But we are very proud of our performance, it was very consistent and we are very happy.”
Santoro added: “We knew we had a lead but we were just doing our dives without thinking too much about it. I was pretty nervous because I was sad about yesterday, which was a bad day. So I wanted to do well.
“I had so much fun with Chiara it was magical. We are like brother and sister, we have known each other since I was four she was eight.”
Pellacani added: “I feel we can understand each other just by looking each other in the eyes. That is very helpful for us. Honestly we just enjoy so much diving together. And this is why it works so well.”
Asked if she had ever had a winning margin such as she achieved in the women’s 1m springboard, Pellacani responded:
“No, I don’t think so. This is the first time, I felt like I was ready for this competition. I worked so hard in the preparation with my coach and I just felt like it was my moment. This is my personal best by a lot of points so I am very proud and happy.”
Asked about needing just over 13 points on her last dive to win, she replied:
“I knew I needed those points. But I was focusing on finishing well and I was trying to hit 300 – at that point that was the goal. I’m happy I managed to finish so close.
“This is the first time for me winning two golds. It means a lot to me. I was very confident, but it’s something you dream about and when it happens it is something very magical – and I loved it.”
Speaking about earning bronze in the mixed 3m synchro, Germany’s Hentschel commented: “We are very happy with the bronze. We struggled a little bit at the beginning but we finished really strong.”
1m silver medallist Heimberg said: “I’m really happy, it’s already my ninth medal at Europeans. For a country like Switzerland where diving is not so huge it’s amazing and I am proud of myself. I’m looking forward to defending my 3m next week.”
1m bronze medallist Bent-Ashmeil commented: “I just want to say Glory to God first, because that’s who brought me here. I really was trying to stay focused, not looking at anyone else, just listen to my music, watch some reels and just enjoy the process.”
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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics