Kvasha sends the locals to seventh heaven
Kiev (LEN) รขโฌโ A seventh European title for Illya Kvasha on 1m, seventh heaven for the local fans. This is the balance after host Ukraine got the first gold at the 2017 European Diving Championships. Kvasha finished atop in his “living room”, at the Sport Centre LIKO as he took the lead after the fourth dive and claimed gold with a total of 431.75 points in a thrilling competition. Great Britain stroke another gold, this time in the womenรขโฌโขs 10m synchro.
Behind the local hero came two former winners, Patrick Hausding (2014) from Germany and Matthieu Rosset (2015) from France. They fought a hot duel for silver and bronze respectively. After the fourth round only 0.1 points separated them. In the end, credit to a strong last dive, Hausding secured silver with 419.80 points. Rosset won his second medal in Kiev after taking gold in the team event on the opening day, this time a bronze with 412.95 points.
รขโฌลThat was my seventh European title on the 1 m springboard since 2008,รขโฌย said Kvasha. รขโฌลThe support of the audience helped me a lot. Coming to the end of the competition I knew that I was leading. But I only realised after the last dive that I had won. I hope I can repeat this performance in my next events here.รขโฌย
After the misfortune on the first competition day with his blackout in the team event, Patrick Hausding was happy with the silver: รขโฌลIรขโฌโขve showed difficult dives and can be satisfied with my performance today. To beat Illya Kvasha in front of his home crowd is almost impossible. He is an institution and his victory was absolutely deserved.รขโฌย Bronze medallist Matthieu Rosset was also satisfied with his performance: รขโฌลToday we had a really good and great final, although it was a bit difficult for me to compete right after Illya Kvasha. My jumping phase was not quite optimal today. On the other hand, the diving phase was much better than in the past.รขโฌย
In a close competition, British divers Ruby Bower and Phoebe Banks grabbed the synchro platform gold with a total of 299.19 points. The young duo took the lead after the fourth of the five dives. Earning only two points less, Russiaรขโฌโขs Iuliia Timoshinina, together with her new partner Valeriia Belova, claimed the silver medal (297.00 points), while Ukraineรขโฌโขs Valeriia Liulko and Sofiia Lyskin were able to win bronze (288.96) in the first big final of their careers.
รขโฌลThis was an exciting competition with a completely surprising end for usรขโฌย, Brit Ruby Banks said. รขโฌลAs the youngest duo today, we would never have expected to win, especially since this was one of our first synchro competitions together.รขโฌย The Ukrainians, who had flirted with the silver medal, had to settle for the bronze in the end. รขโฌลพWe were very nervous, thatรขโฌโขs why we made some stupid mistakes. Otherwise we could have made it to second place. While the competition was running, we didnรขโฌโขt look at the scoreboard, but focused only on ourselves.”
Medal table (after 5 of 13 competitions)
| Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Br. | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ukraine | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| France | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Russia | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Press release from LEN, images courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Giorgio Scala
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