Two More Golds for Ukraine At European Aquatics Diving Championships As Teenagers Rule Day 4

Courtesy: European Aquatics

Ukraine enjoyed more glory on day 4 of the European Aquatics Diving Championships as 16-year-old Kseniia Bochek and 18-year-old Diana Karnafel marked their senior international debut with gold in the women’s 3m springboard synchro – shortly before their 19-year-old compatriot Oleksii Sereda claimed his third men’s 10m platform title.

On what turned out to be a memorable afternoon for talented teenagers, silver in the men’s 10m platform went to Germany’s 17-year-old Ole Rosler, with Austria’s Anton Knoll – who only recently turned 20 – earning bronze.

World junior champions in the 3m syncho last year, Karnafel – who also won European junior gold and bronze last year – and Bochek were able to translate their understanding to telling effect against a field stacked with Olympic, world and European medallists.

They finished on 274.84, with silver going to Germany’s Lena Hentschel and Jette Muller on 264.90.

Britain’s Desharne Bent-Ashmeil and Amy Rollinson, seeking a third consecutive title, finished on the podium as a composed performance earned them bronze on 264.90.

The two teenagers never faltered on a day when all their opponents failed to avoid mistakes of varying significance.

The most telling occurred on the very first dive of the competition, which came from the Italian pairing of Chiara Pellacani – who finished fourth in this event at the Paris 2024 Olympics in company with Elena Bertocchi – and her new partner, 20-year-old Elisa Pizzini.

Pizzini was not in the right position on the hurdle, and Pellacani, to her right, noticed and reacted quickly. They halted, incurring a two-point penalty from each of the judges, but were able to re-set and avoid a failed dive, eventually accruing 32.40.

A determined renaissance – involving three escalatingly strong final dives culminating with a score of 63.00 – saw them secure a final total of 263.70 in fourth place.

History cannot be re-written, but having those 12 lost points would have seen them finish second…

Hentschel and Muller – who finished sixth at the Paris 2024 Olympics three years after the former athlete had won Tokyo Olympic bronze with Tina Punzel – lost the lead after their level dipped in the third round with a score of 54.00, and remained in second place thereafter.

There could not have been more pressure on the Ukrainian debutantes as they prepared to defend their lead with their fifth and final effort. They delivered a score of 63.84 – the best dive of the competition.

That left Germany needing to better 65.79 to overtake them, but despite huge encouragement from other members of a team that has already won big at these Championships they could only generate a score of 54.90.

In what was the last dive of the competition the British pair, knowing they needed to exceed 60.00 to overtake the renascent Italians, delivered with a 61.20 to earn their country’s third medal of the Championships so far.

Commenting upon how she and her partner had managed to perform at such a consistently high level, Bochek told European Aquatics: “I was nervous. We were nervous, even though it wasn’t shown on our faces.

“Because you  breathe, you calm yourself down to do your best in those dives. When you are angry or very energetic its very hard to do your best. So it’s very important to know how to control your emotions.”

Once gold was secured, however, the emotions flowed.

“My coach said that there is no hope for us to get a medal because of our age, because we weren’t even at one time in this kind of competition,” Bochek added. “So everything was for the first time, and it was unreal to win a medal.

“But – it’s like magic! It happened – here is the medal in my hand! I am really proud of myself, I am really proud of my partner and I am really happy with this result. I was crying – a lot. It was tears of happiness; tears of joy.”

Hentschel commented: “We knew from the beginning that we definitely had a chance to win and medal, and then going into that last dive we know we needed a good one. Unfortunately it wasn’t our best performance, but we are really happy how the competition turned out.”

Reflecting on the bronze-medal performance, Rollinson commented: “I’d say it’s a mixture of emotions. Obviously we are slightly disappointed. But I think considering the prep we had before we arrived –  I think I had two weeks’ training probably since my last event – to come out here and still come away with a medal,  I’m still really happy with it.”

On the subject of their final dive, Rollinson added:  “In that situation I don’t know the exact score we needed but I’d seen that the Italians had done a good dive so I knew we needed something just as big to get above them.”

Sereda effectively backed himself into a corner before these Championships by boldly stating: “For me, only one way: gold medal. I have no other option.” It’s a corner in which this phenomenally talented and self-assured performer clearly feels at ease.

Despite finishing second to Knoll in the morning’s preliminary competition, where he made some uncharacteristic errors, and despite underperforming in a big way with his opening dive of the final, Sereda simply couldn’t be denied his latest rendezvous with the top of the podium.

Since becoming the youngest ever European champion in earning his first 10m platform gold in 2019 aged 13 years 7 months – three months younger than Britain’s Tom Daley, who previously held that honour – Sereda has matured into an increasingly confident performer.

So when his opening effort of the final accrued him just 48.00 points, leaving him jointly at the bottom of the pile, he responded with his next dive to score 90.65 – to the joy of his watching supporters and team-mates. Up to fourth. Back in the game…

By the end of the fourth round Sereda led by just over a point from Italy’s 17-year-old Simon Conte, 297.65 to 296.55.

His fifth dive – an Armstand Back Double Somersault 2½ Twists Free (6245D) with a degree difficulty of 3.6 – had yielded a relatively paltry 43.20 in the morning’s preliminaries, but second time around he earned 81.00 with it. The mark of a champion.

For the avoidance of any doubt, he concluded with a score of 90.00 to secure a winning total of 468.65.

“It wasn’t that easy,” Sereda said. “Because in my first dive I scored just 48.00 points. Awful. One of the easiest dives – I just messed up with a really big mistake. At this time I thought: ‘Oh no. Why did I do that?’

“But then I went next dive, next dive, next dive – great, great, great, great, and I win the gold medal. Maybe lucky. But I am happy with my result, I know that I can do better, but still this is aa gold medal anyway, no matter what, was it luck or not. Gold medal. I am here with it. Second gold for this competition.”

Speaking about the earlier win for his two younger compatriots, he added: “I’m proud for Ukraine, I’m proud for the girls, because this is first medal for them and first gold medal. They were really, really happy, they were crying, I saw it, their parents also were crying as well.

“I am so happy for them, I know how it feels, because when I was almost their age I also won and it felt different because when you are young you feel more emotion. I think for them this is a perfect start for their careers.”

Rosler and Knoll had to face their own challenges en route to the podium. The young German, who had qualified 12^th and last, had made a dynamic start to the final with a score of 80.00, but an under par fourth-round effort had dropped him to sixth place. He responded with final scores of 84.15 and 76.50 to secure a second silver to add to the one he earned in the opening day’s mixed team event.

“Honestly it just feels amazing to be in second place,” said Rosler. “This is my first European Championships and I am really happy to perform like this. The first dive is always the most important one for me because if I do it good then the rest of the competition is probably good as well.”

Having won the preliminary in fine style, Knoll – who last year won the 10m platform synchro title with Dariush Lotfi – was unable to break into the top three for five of the six rounds before an inspired final effort yielding 72.00 took him to bronze on 423.35.

“For the last dive I knew it had to be really good so I was quite excited and nervous.” Knoll said. “But it was an awesome feeling because I had it in my grasp to be a bronze medallist. So it was really, really exciting but also stressful. So I concentrated on what I had to do, I believed, and finally I did it!. So that is it.”

Italy’s 2023 bronze medallist Riccardo Giannini was fourth on 420.15, with Britain’s 2024 bronze medallist Ben Cutmore, who put himself in with a shout of a repeat with a final flourish of 83.25, finishing fifth on 415.25.

With three more days of competition remaining at the Gloria Sports Arena, Ukraine top the medals table with three golds ahead of Germany and Italy, who each have two golds.