The fourth day of competition at the European Junior Diving Championships 2024 saw six nations feature on the podium across three exhilarating events at the Rzeszów Diving Arena.

Following on from what have already been three days of incredible action, as well as a jam-packed prelims session on Thursday morning, the Ukrainian pairing of Kesniia Bochek and Yelyzaveta Diadiuk took respective gold and silver in the Girls B 1m Springboard final, with Bochek finishing 28 points ahead of her teammate.

Having finished in fifth place in the event at last year’s edition, the 2009-born athlete looked determined in her pursuit of the gold that would eventually come her way and was the only athlete in the field to achieve scores of 50 or more in all three of her final dives.

Her Forward 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (105B) was the pick of the dives, scoring her 54.60 in the penultimate round before she maintained her dominance to finish on the top step of the podium with a huge score of 347.10.

The battle for the other medals was a much more tense affair. Diadiuk fell as low as fourth at some points in the final three dives, with Bulgaria’s Iva Ereminova and Germany’s Nina Berger going dive-for-dive with each other through the rounds.

Sitting in third with one dive to go, Diadiuk put in the highest-scoring dive of the group to leapfrog Ereminova into the silver medal position, as her Forward 2 ½ Somersaults Pike (105B) proved most fruitful for her with a score of 50.70 points.

It ensured she made it a Ukrainian 1-2, adding to what has already been a great competition for the Eastern European nation.

Ereminova did enough for the bronze medal, with Berger agonisingly missing out in fourth.

The Boys B Platform final saw a similar level of dominance, with Great Britain’s Robbie Wood putting in two 70+ scores on his way to the gold medal.

The emerging athlete was in first place right the way through the four-round final, with some memorable dives on the way to glory. There was no argument as to the best dive of his list with his Reverse 2 ½ Somersaults Tuck (305C) wowed both the judges and the crowd to score him a huge 75.60 and help him on his way to a total of 436.20.

Italy’s silver medallist Davide Barberi didn’t have it all his own way in his pursuit for the podium, as he was engaged in a fierce battle with Switzerland’s Erik Passerone and Ukraine’s Valerii Malieiev right the way through to the final dives.

Behind Passerone with one dive to go, Barberi showed his class when it came to the business-end of the competition to claim the runner-up position, thanks to a stunning Back 3 ½ Somersaults Tuck (307C), which scored him 70.95 and saw him just shy of breaking the 400-point barrier on 399.15.

Passerone took the bronze on 394.60, with Malieiev just missing out on the medals in fourth on 393.75.

The final event of the night provided a tighter competition for the gold, as Italy’s Valerio Mosca and Matteo Santoro went head-to-head with Ukraine’s Kyrylo Azarov and Maksym Mirza over the five rounds of dives.

The two required rounds of dives went without a hitch for most of the 10 teams, before the Italians made a move on round three, executing a solid Forward 2 ½ Somersaults 1 Twist Pike (5152B) to give them a comfortable lead with two rounds to go.

It was the Ukrainian pairing that managed the highest-scoring dive of the event to close the gap on the penultimate round, with their Forward 2 ½ Somersaults 2 Twists Pike (5154B) earning a huge 78.54 points and putting them within six points of the gold ahead of the final round.

It was Santoro and Mosca who held their nerve under pressure to seal a second gold medal of the competition for the country, as their Forward 3 1/2 Somersaults Pike (107B) saw them come out on top with a score of 75.33 to Ukraine’s 72.54, who performed the same dive.

The final scores were 320.43 to Italy with Ukraine’s 311.88 good enough for silver. Croatia took their first medal of the competition so far, with Luka Martinovic and Matej Nevescanin doing enough for a clear third place on 296.43.

• Keep up with the action on the European Aquatics TV YouTube Channel.
• For results go to the Euro Aqua App.