Russia kept on rolling on the penultimate day of the European Diving Championships. After two golds a day earlier, two more came on Saturday. Evgenii Kuznetsov, champion in the 3m and maintaining his superb form, dominated the men’s 3m synchro final with Nikita Shleikher. Germany’s Patrick Hausding, jumping with Lars Ruediger, clinched his 4^th medal Kyiv, a second silver besides two golds. The women’s 1m final brought some extraordinary scenes as Vitaliia Koroleva who could only compete in the final after a late withdrawal, ended up winning the title after top favourite compatriot Kristina Ilinykh blew her victory with a missed last dive.

KUZNETSOV Evgenii, SHLEIKHER Nikita RUS Russia Gold Medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving 3 meters Synchro springboard men podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

(L to R) FEDOROVA Olena UKR Ukraina Silver Medal, KOROLEVA Vitaliia RUS Russia Gold Medal, ILINYKH Kristina RUS Russia bronze medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving 1 meter springboard women podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KOROLEVA Vitaliia RUS Russia Gold Medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving 1 meter springboard women podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KOROLEVA VITALIIA RUS Russia Women – 1m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KOROLEVA VITALIIA RUS Russia Women – 1m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

FEDOROVA OLENA UKR Ukraina Women – 1m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HARDING ANTHONY GBR Great Britain, HOULDEN JORDAN GBR Great Britain Men – 3m Synchronised – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KUZNETSOV EVGENII RUS Russia, SHLEIKHER NIKITA RUS Russia Men – 3m Synchronised – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KUZNETSOV EVGENII RUS Russia, SHLEIKHER NIKITA RUS Russia Men – 3m Synchronised – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HAUSDING PATRICK GER Germany, RUEDIGER Lars GER Germany Men – 3m Synchronised – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

ILINYKH KRISTINA RUS Russia Women – 1m Springboard – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 10/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Medallists, Day 6

Men’s 3m synchro: 1. Evgenii Kuznetsov, Nikita Shleikher (RUS) 435.69, 2. Patrick Hausding, Lars Ruediger (GER) 398.64, 3. Anthony Harding, Jordan Houlden (GBR) 387.60

Women’s 1m springboard: Vitaliia Koroleva (RUS) 266.70, 2. Olena Fedorova (UKR) 263.45, 3. Kristina Ilinykh (RUS) 263.05

Evgeny Kuznetsov managed to bring on his great shape from Friday and Nikita Shleikher also bounced back from his disappointment to win the 3m synchro title (Shleikher had won the prelims on Friday but due to a dreadful start in the evening only finished fourth in the individual final). Kuznetsov dived a on constant high level in the synchro final as well (all 12 marks between 7.5 and 8.5) and even though Shleikher had two shakier attempts, neither of those were failed dives so the vast majority of their synchro marks remained above 8.0 in each of the six rounds.

It was a kind of start-to-finish victory for the Russians with three jumps above 80 points, the last one was almost a 90-pointer, while their main rivals could perform only one low 80+, so it was no wonder that Kuznetsov&Co. built a 37.05 points winning margin by the end.

Patrick Hausding and Lars Ruediger didn’t fall below a certain level either, apart from a weaker jump in Round 4 they produced fine dives, their synchronisation was also sound, in the range of 8.0s and even 9.0s sometimes. So Hausding, the chief medal collector – it was his fourth in as many appearances here and his 33^rd European podium in total – could be relieved as he wanted to see his younger partner standing next to him on the podium after their 4^th place finish at the Worlds, and it just happened as he had wished for.

The race for the bronze was rather close, the Ukrainians took off really well, Oleksandr Gorshkovozov and Oleh Kolodiy were keeping their place among the top three for five rounds – only to see the Brits ‘over-jumping’ them with the very last dive of the final. The local duo somewhat faded towards the end, their last two attempts were ‘below-par’, so to say, while Anthony Harding and Jordan Houlden came up with their best when it counted the most. Their 4 and half somersaults became the best effort after the Russians’ dives, credited them 82.08 points, enough the bridge the 10-point gap they had been trailing to the Ukrainians before the last round (they edged out the hosts by 1.05 points for the bronze).

The women’s 1m final saw some real twists. Vitaliia Koroleva didn’t make the cut in the morning, finished 13^th, she could compete in the evening only because of Italy’s Elena Bertocchi’s withdrawal. But she lived up to the chance pretty much as she ended up on the top of the podium.

She offered a very balanced performance, no outstanding dives though no mistakes, most of her marks were 7.0-7.5s. She stood 5^th after three rounds when the top two, compatriot Kristina Ilinykh and host favourite Olena Fedorova were already in a neck-to-neck battle with only 0.05 points separating them. Ilinykh then gained a 4-point advantage in the penultimate round ahead of Fedorova, but Koroleva also came up with a good one to enter the ‘medal round’ in the third place.

She then opened the final phase with another quality attempt to move first, then had to sit through the remaining time to see who could get ahead of her. When Fedorova produced a slightly erroneous dive and landed behind her by 3.25 points, it was clear that Ilinykh’s last dive would decide the outcome.

The other Russian, who came first in the prelims, needed just a fine last dive as she was the only one in the field to have a 3.0DD jump in the mix (all others max difficulty stood at 2.6). In fact, Ilinykh didn’t make it clean in the morning (5.5s she got) but even that jump would have won her the title. However, nerves took over, she messed it up, got only 4.5s and slipped back to the third place.

She will probably not recall this meet among her fondest memories: after missing the 3m title by 1.25 points, here she had all chance to win but failed in the last hurdle… At the same time, Koroleva was all smiles: she was a kind of lucky loser before the final but deserves all credits for her brilliant and ultimately winning efforts.

Quotes

Evgenii Kuznetsov, Russia, gold, 3m synchro:

“The whole competition was very exciting. It was a pleasure to be here, and I’m really happy because of this gold medal. This event turned out to be very good for us, the dives were great – but what makes me really happy that the season is over now!”

Lars Ruediger, Germany, silver, 3m synchro:

“This was definitely a very nice end to the season which was really long. We started well and I think that was the best job I ever did. Still, I had two jumps which left the some points in the pool but we fought our way back and, I think, deservedly won silver. The Russians were unbeatable today, and I don’t think we could have beat them today even with our best series. They jumped really perfectly.”

Patrick Hausding, Germany, silver, 3m synchro:

“I agree with Lars on the Russians. They are ahead of us with their level of difficulty. If they perform the quality they show in training, we have no chance of reaching their level right now. Still it was a very good competition except for the third and fourth rounds. We are slowly establishing ourselves through stability in the competitions, we had many events this season with good scores. This is very positive for Tokyo. Here we almost reached our best-ever total score here and we still have a lot of reserves in our dives, so that’s good.”

Anthony Harding, Great Britain, bronze, 3m synchro:

“I was very nervous before my last dive. But I knew that was our favourite and most consistent one so I was sure it was going to go well. We were expecting fourth or third place in the final. We knew that also depended on the others, but I knew we definitely had a chance for a medal. We have the bronze now so we are very happy.”

Vitaliia Koroleva, Russia, gold, 1m springboard

“I was so nervous, afraid of this final. It was extremely hard to do my best but finally I made it. This final was so exciting, I really enjoyed it. It’s incredible that I won, I’m very happy.”

Olena Fedorova, Ukraine, silver, 1m springboard

“I’m so happy, I got silver. The final was good but the last dive wasn’t that great. I kind of over-rotated it a bit. I got marks like 6-6.5s, I would have just needed a little bit higher ones and I could have won.”

Kristina Ilinykh, Russia, bronze, 1m springboard

“This bronze is not bad. At least I won a medal… But I can dive much better than this. I made a bad jump in the last round but I know I could perform that better. The small gap didn’t favour me at the end.”

For detailed results please visit:

http://divingkyiv2019.microplustiming.com/index_web.php

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia / Giorgio Scala

Russia enjoyed a fine afternoon, claiming both titles on offer on the fifth day of the European Diving Championships. Evgeny Kuznetsov was superior in the 3m final and clinched gold for the second time after 2016, ahead of Patrick Hausding who stood on the podium for the third time in Kyiv. The mixed 10m synchro also saw a Russian triumph, Ekaterina Beliaeva and Viktor Minibaev dominated the whole final from the beginning.

(L to R) WILLIAMS NOAH, CHENG EDEN GBR Great Britain Silver medal, MINIBAEV Viktor, BELIAEVA Ekaterina Russia RUS Gold medal, WASSEN Christina, FANDLER Florian GER Germany bronze medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving 10 meters platform synchro mixed Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

MINIBAEV Viktor, BELIAEVA Ekaterina Russia RUS Gold medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving 10 meters platform synchro mixed Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

(L to R) KUZNETSOV Evgenii Russia RUS Gold medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving 3 meters springboard men podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

(L to R) KUZNETSOV Evgenii Russia RUS Gold medal, HAUSDING Patrick GER Germany Silver medal, HEATLY James GBR Great Britain bronze medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving 3 meters springboard men podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

(L to R) KUZNETSOV Evgenii Russia RUS Gold medal Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving 3 meters springboard men podium Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KUZNETSOV EVGENII RUS Russia Men – 3m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HAUSDING PATRICK GER Germany Men – 3m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HEATLY JAMES GBR Great Britain Men – 3m Springboard – Preliminary Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

FANDLER FLORIAN GER Germany, WASSEN CHRISTINA GER Germany Mixed – 10m Platform Synchro – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

BELIAEVA EKATERINA RUS Russia, MINIBAEV VIKTOR RUS Russia Mixed – 10m Platform Synchro – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

CHENG EDEN GBR Great Britain, WILLIAMS NOAH GBR Great Britain Mixed – 10m Platform Synchro – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

KUZNETSOV EVGENII RUS Russia Men – 3m Springboard – Final – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HAUSDING PATRICK GER Germany Men – 3m Springboard – Final – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

HEATLY JAMES GBR Great Britain Men – 3m Springboard – Final – Final Kyiv, Ukraine UKR 09/08/2019 Diving Len European Diving Championships 2019 Sport Arena Liko Kyiv, Ukraine Photo © Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Medallists, Day 5

Men’s 3m springboard: 1. Evgeny Kuznetsov (RUS) 499.45, 2. Patrick Hausding (GER) 456.85, 3. Patrick Heatly (GBR) 439.90

Mixed 10m synchro: 1. Ekaterina Beliaeva, Viktor Minibaev (RUS) 320.70, 2. Eden Cheng, Noah Williams (GBR) 303.60, 3. Florian Fandler, Christina Wassen (GER) 287.76

Whenever Evgeny Kuznetsov gets into the ‘zone’, there is hardly anyone who can match him – perhaps the Chinese, Jack Laugher, or Patrick Hausding at his best. But the first three were not present, while the German legend was a bit off his peak, so there was no one who could prevent the Russian ace from claiming the title again after 2016.

Three weeks ago it was a bit different, at the Worlds he missed his second dive, then a bit fell apart and slipped back to the 10^th place, finishing with 434.55 points. Today it was a different story, no mistake, only 7.5s and higher, five balanced attempts (all around 80 points) – those gave him a massive lead before the last round where he came up with the best dive of the entire meet so far, 4 and half somersaults for 100.70 points. He was just 0.55p shy of the 500-point barrier at the end, to highlight the difference between his current form and the one at the Worlds.

The others could barely keep him under pressure. In fact experience was the key for succeeding: Patrick Hausding started climbing up the ranks after the opening dive had put him to the 11^th place. He regrouped himself quickly and produced five fine jumps, all around 80 and with each of his young rivals missing the dives here and there, he ended up with a silver around his neck. It was his third podium here after two golds in the team and the 1m events (updating his all-time count: it’s medal No. 32 at the Europeans).

The bronze went to James Heatly who proved that there was life for the Brits in this event even if Laugher was away. His 4.5 somersaults were also a beauty to watch in the fourth round, the second best effort of the evening (91.20), which brought him as close as 8 points to Kuznetsov, but he lost his edge for the last two rounds and had to settle for the third place.

The mixed platform event brought less excitements this time: all five pairs performed the same programmes, only the order of the dives were different – and of course their qualities too. Ekaterina Beliaeva and Viktor Minibaev were a cut above the rest, led from the beginning with no marks below 7.5. They received the highest scores in each round, including two 70+ pointers at the end, the two best efforts in the afternoon.

Britain’s newly formed duo of Eden Cheng and Noah Williams also came up with a solid performance, their fourth dive was just below their level but their silver was never in danger. In the race for the bronze the Germans edged out the Italians by 1.32 points – while Florian Fandler and Christina Wassen had one relatively big mistake but offered four good dives, Noemi Batki and Maicol Verzotto’s three more difficult attempts were all a bit shaky and that made that tiny difference at the end.

Quotes

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Russia, gold, 3m springboard:

“I was worrying a lot before this final but I made it at the end. Some of the favourites were missing from the final, as the Brits so obviously I had better chances to get the gold. I was concentrating pretty much and I’m really happy now to get this gold medal.”

Patrick Hausding, Germany, silver, 3m springboard:

“My first jump was not optimal and that happens more often in recent years, that’s something I have to work on. Still, after that I jumped very constantly, on average, I’ve always been at nearly 80 points per dive. Being judged by my seasonal workload, what I’ve already achieved, also through reaching the level I was able to do now, I can be really happy. I wasn’t close to Kuznetsov today, he made a super series and deserved to win. That should not bother me, I am also very satisfied with silver.

There is one more event to go, I hope that we end up on the podium in the 3m synchro, the colour of the medal is not really important to me. That would be a great end to this European Championship and this season for Lars (Rudiger) and me. After the fourth place at the World Championships, I would like to see him with a medal around his neck tomorrow. Then it’s finally three weeks on vacation!”

James Heatly, Great Britain, bronze, 3m springboard:

“It was good though I felt it was a long event. I was a bit nervous before the final as the World Championships were a big disappointment for me (finished 46^th in the prelims). So to come here and get this medal, it’s a very good thing and it makes me very happy. I didn’t watch the results during the competition, I had no idea how close it was at any stage of the final. I knew I dived very well, so I’m quite glad, this is my first medal in this event at the Europeans.”

Viktor Minibaev, Russia, gold, 10m mixed synchro:

“Personally, I’ve made some mistakes, a couple of my dives were not so good. But at least we got the gold medal, so I should be satisfied.”

Noah Williams, Great Britain, silver, 10m mixed synchro:

“It was a very enjoyable event. Because the mixed synchro it neither mine, nor Eden’s main event so we just dived here for fun. It was quick, enjoyable and I liked it. We are very satisfied with this silver since it was the first time we dived together. Before that, both of us worked with different partners, so it was a bit strange at first but it turned out great and we won a medal at the end of the day.”

Florian Fandler, Germany, bronze, 10m mixed synchro:

“Two of my dives were not so good. Had they been better we would have got the silver but we are still happy with the bronze. Our competition is over now, so we are happy to finish these European Championships with a medal.”

For detailed results please visit:

http://divingkyiv2019.microplustiming.com/index_web.php

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia / Giorgio Scala