Ukraine’s 19-year-old phenomenon Oleksii Sereda earned men’s 10m platform silver today behind Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau in the final event on the diving programme.

Sereda, three-times European champion in this discipline, was satisfied to have taken another step up the world podium after winning bronze in Doha last year.

“I feel happy,” he told World Aquatics. “I see that I get the silver medal, first in my life. I see progress, and I’m feeling great. It’s a really great feeling when you’re working and you get a result. So I will be working even more to be the first.”

The articulate young Ukrainian, who also has two world silvers and a bronze in syncho competition, made a strong bid for gold with a last effort yielding him 91.80 for a final total of 515.20, having occupied second position with the fourth of his six dives.

That put the onus back on the leader to perform to his best in response – which Rousseau did as he collected 99.90, the highest single-dive score of the competition, lifting him to a final total of 534.80 that enabled him to reclaim the title he won in 2023.

Asked what had been going through his mind before his last dive, the 24-year-old Australian told World Aquatics: “When I saw Oleksii nail his last dive, it was a really good dive so I was just thinking, ‘What the f***.’ Like, why did he have to do that because now I have to go above and beyond. Thankfully I was able to do it.”

Mexico’s Randal Willars Valdez earned bronze after moving up from fifth place with final dives meriting marks of 90.00 and 98.40 for a total of 511.95.

That created a rarity in international diving – a podium without a Chinese athlete on it, something that had not occurred in this event since 1982.

 Zifeng Zhu, who had already taken the 10m synchro title with Cheng Zilong, dropped from first to fourth following his fourth-round effort netting 61.20 and could not improve despite a last score of 97.20 and a total of 506.10.

His 14-year-old team-mate Renjie Zhao was a creditable fifth on 499.95.

Asked about the absence of Chinese divers from the top three positions, Sereda commented: “I wasn’t thinking that it can happen. Always when I compete somewhere, I’m thinking ‘Okay, I can be third’, because the Chinese are first and second all the time. But today is a different day, and it was unexpected.”

Reflecting on his preparation for these World Championships, Sereda added: “It’s really hard to train again in Ukraine now because of the conditions, because of the war in Ukraine.

“That’s why we had to go somewhere abroad to prepare normally, physically and mentally to not hear rockets, shelters and stuff like this. To sleep normally, to just live normally. T

“That’s why we went to Hungary and Poland. We trained there for one month and now we’re here.

“But mentally, it’s also really, really hard when you know that my father is fighting. He’s almost on the front line. That’s why I’m feeling stressed every single day because of him, trying to call him as much as possible, because it’s really dangerous to be there.

“I think today he watched me. I’m not sure, because he is really close to the front, and I don’t know if he had a chance to watch me, but I think probably yes. I know I will ask him about it.”

Asked what this result meant for Ukraine, he responded: “For Ukraine, I think that it means that we are capable to achieve great results. We are capable to fight even in these conditions, and we are capable to win.

“I hope that I inspire someone. I don’t know, because I’m not a world champion, that’s why I don’t know if I can inspire someone. But anyway, I would really like this war to end as fast as possible, because it’s not normal life. It’s not how it must be.”

On what’s next, he added: “Kyiv. I’m going to Ukraine. For September, I will have vacation for 20 days, I guess. And then again, work. Work as hard as possible.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be alive. I mean, really I’m not kidding. Everything is possible. Today, in Mykolaiv, my pool where I’ve been training for five years and when I was young, was partially destroyed. And sometimes, rockets are really close, and you have no idea if you’re going to wake up again.”

Sereda’s final flourish put Ukraine on the medals table in joint eighth place with Germany.

China maintained its pre-eminence in international diving, topping the table with nine golds in a total of 19 medals ahead of Australia and Mexico.

Italy finished fourth thanks to the individual bronzes earned by Chiara Pellacani in the 1m and 3m springboard, and the 3m synchro gold she took in partnership with Matteo Santoro.

Great Britain finished joint fifth with a silver and bronze thanks respectively to the partnerships of Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen in the women’s 3m synchro and Anthony Harding and Jack Laugher in the men’s 3m synchro.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics