Chiara Pellacani captured back-to-back golds in a single session at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris.
the Italian partnered Matteo Santoro in the mixed 3m synchro before retaining her women’s 1m springboard title.
The Olympic Aquatics Centre rose to recognise the woman who’d dominated throughout with a peerless display of diving.
Ilia Molchanov, Elizaveta Kuzina Neutral Athletes B, silver, Matteo Santoro, Chiara Pellacani of Italy, gold, Luis Carlo Avila Sanchez, Lena Corona Hentschel of Germany, bronze: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini/Deepbluemedia/InsideFoto
In the mixed 3m synchro she and Santoro, reigning world champions, finished almost 20 points clear of the Neutral Athletes pairing of 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 then returned for her individual 1m springboard event where she dominated once more to clinch gold with 298.90pts, 40.00pts ahead of Switzerland’s Michelle Heimberg who scored 258.80.
Bronze went to Great Britain’s 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.
It was Pellacani’s greatest margin of victory and she said through European Aquatics: “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.”
Britons & Germans Enjoy Hard-Fought Tussles
Pellacani’s golden double followed two hard-fought contests between British and German divers in Paris.
Moritz Wesemann clinched a dramatic men’s 1m springboard title with his final dive while Maisie Bond and Lois Toulson won the women’s 10m synchro.
Wesemann, defending the title he won in Antalya last year, went into the last of the six rounds trailing Jack Laugher by 8.85 points after the Briton took the lead with a penultimate round effort scoring 81.60.
Moritz Linus Wesemann: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Laugher’s last dive earned 64.35 but it still left Wesemann needing to better 73.20 with his final attempt. He nailed his Reverse 1½ Somersaults 3½ Twists Free (5337D) with a huge degree difficulty of 3.6 to register 86.40pts for a total of 431.45 to leapfrog Laugher for gold.
Laugher won his ninth European medal with 418.25 for silver as team-mate Jordan Houlden made it two Britons on the podium in 410.30.
It was all or nothing for the 24-year-old German who nailed it to register 86.40 for a final total of 431.45, with the 31-year-old Laugher adding a ninth European medal to his collection on 418.25.
Wesemann was feeling the pressure going into the final dive and said: “I would call it my signature dive because I have been doing it since I was a junior. I really do like this dive. “But also for this one having a little bit of pressure gives you the adrenaline kick to hit the board and go for it.
“Because on this dive you have to go all in or you don’t have a chance.”
Unbreakable Focus Guides Britons To Victory
Bond and Toulson were the top Europeans at last year’s World Aquatics Championships, finishing fifth in Singapore. They were a model of consistency in Paris, where their steely resolve saw them regain the lead from the German duo on the final dive to finish with 300.06pts.
The German pair of Pauline Pfeif and her new partner Elena Wassen were second with 298.20 with bronze going to Ukraine’s Kseniia Bailo and Sofia Vystavkina who moved up to third in the final round with 286.20.
“We came into these Championships wanting to win and knowing it was possible,” Toulson said. “We’d been training really hard and looking good I think. “That was a pb for us. To be able to do that and get a gold medal…we’re really proud.”
It was a first senior international medal for Bond who said: “You never really feel pressure or nerves when you are with someone like Lois because it’s fun, it’s enjoyable as much as it can be, and I think having someone like Lois who has so much experience.”