Italy, Hungary open strong, three medals apiece

Italy and Hungary got a flying start on the opening day of the swimming competition at the European Aquatics Championships in the London Aquatics Centre by clinching three medals apiece. Gabriele Detti (ITA) and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) captured the individual golds on offer, and both nations got two more medals. In the free relays the Netherlands and France finished atop, both with quite convincing performances.

DETTI Gabriele ITA gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Men’s 400m freestyle final Day 08 16-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DETTI Gabriele ITA gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Men’s 400m freestyle final Day 08 16-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

HOSSZU Katinka HUN gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Women’s 400m medley final Day 08 16-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

4×100 Relay M (L to R) Italy ITA; France FRA; Belgium BEL 4×100 freestyle Men relay Podium London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming day 01 finals Day 08 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

400 I.M. Women (L to R) MILEY Hannah GBR; HOSSZU Katinka HUN; JAKABOS Zsuszanna HUN 400 Individual Medley Women Podium London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming day 01 finals Day 08 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

France Relay FRA 4×100 freestyl Men relay London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming day 01 finals Day 08 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

NED Relay W (L to R) KROMOWIDJOJO, STEENBERGEN, HEEMSKERK, V.D. MEER NETHERLANDS 4×100 freestyle Women relay London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming day 01 finals Day 08 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Four years ago, in this pool, Katinka Hosszu aimed to clock a 4:30 time and finally earn an Olympic medal on the opening day in the 400m IM – but in the end she left empty-handed: the Hungarian finished 4th at the Olympics and heard the most dreadful sentence of her life from her then-coach in the team area when she asked, ‘what’s next?’. ‘Open a beauty salon in Budapest,’ was the answer and the Hungarian swimmer felt the utmost bitterness at that very moment. Soon she was set to quit but her boyfriend (now her husband and coach) Shane Tusup saved her – ultimately for swimming. If she had clinched the silver then – the times she clocked today in the heats (4:30.97) and in the final (4:30.90), both with ease, would have been more than enough to come second in 2012 – her journey might have been different.

But the mental process required to bounce back made her tough, and today the Iron Lady showed something extraordinary: two Championship records in the 400m IM, her third straight title, plus two great swims in the 200m back, the second one in the semis, just 15 minutes after the 400m IM final. She is set to do something big on Tuesday when she will switch back to top gear for the backstroke as well.

In the medley, the hosts also celebrated their first medal, courtesy of Hannah Miley, while the other Hungarian, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, came third.

Italy’s Gabriele Detti managed to step forward, after clinching bronze medals in Berlin 2014 (800m, 1500m), silvers and bronzes at the short-course Europeans (came second in 2012 and third in 2015 in this event) now he finished atop at a big event, for the first time in his career. And he did it in style, with a seemingly effortless swim, setting a Championship record, gaining 2:48sec on the field. Causing a pleasant surprise even for himself, Norway’s Henrik Christiansen captured the silver, while Peter Bernek (HUN) out-touched Felix Auboeck (AUT) for the bronze by 0.07sec.

In the relays the Dutch women team returned to the throne after eight long years. With a couple of 52sec legs in the mix – the only ones in the final – their win was never in danger. The battle for the silver favoured Italy, who hit the wall 0.16sec ahead of the Swedes.

Among the men, the French quartet retained their title. This was a more exciting race but in the end their winning margin was 0.81sec. The fight for the minor spoils was tremendous, though. Three teams arrived at the wall in a span of 0.13sec, the Italians edged out the Belgians by 0.01 sec for the silver, though Pieter Timmers (BEL) swam like hell on the anchor leg. He had the biggest blast in the final, 47.37, which brought his team from fourth place to third (almost second), to the sadness of the Greeks who nearly caused an upset by reaching the podium.

For detailed results please visit LEN’s renewed website: www.len.eu

Direct link: http://len.eu/?p=4378

Daley close to perfection, Cagnotto makes it 20

Tom Daley’s outstanding performance highlighted the last day of diving action in the London Aquatics Centre. The Briton won the 10m platform with a 570-point overall score, which is higher than what was required here to clinch the Olympic title four years ago. Italy’s Tania Cagnotto added another historic chapter to her illustrious career by becoming the first athlete to reach the 20-gold barrier in the European Aquatics Championships. It was also their 8th win in the 3m synchro with Francesca Dallape. What a way to celebrate her 31st birthday.

Tania CAGNOTTO Francesca DALLAPE ITA Gold Medal Women’s 3m Synchronized Springboard London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

CAGNOTTO Tania ITA gold medal with her birthday cake London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Women’s 3m synchronised springboard final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DALEY Tom GBR gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Men’s 10m platform final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DALEY Tom GBR gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Men’s 10m platform final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DALEY Tom GBR gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Men’s 10m platform final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DALEY Tom GBR gold medal receives the LEN Award London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Men’s 10m platform final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

DALEY Tom GBR gold medal, MINIBAEV Viktor RUS silver medal, SHLEIKHER Nikita RUS bronze medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Men’s 10m platform final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Team GBR Great Britain receives the LEN Award as winning team LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Women’s 3m synchronised springboard final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

CAGNOTTO Tania DALLAPE’ Francesca ITA gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Women’s 3m synchronised springboard final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

CAGNOTTO Tania DALLAPE’ Francesca ITA gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Women’s 3m synchronised springboard final Day 07 15-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

It was the Olympic year, 2008, and the European Aquatics Championships in Eindhoven. A 13-year old kid, Tom Daley, was placed 6th after three rounds but then, all of a sudden, jaws dropped. Two dives followed, and four 10s flashed on the scoreboard. After both dives. No one could believe their eyes but the tiny British boy was crowned European champion. A year later his feat was validated by the world title he added to his tally. Since then Tom Daley has been a trademark name in the diving world and a real sensation whenever a platform event is held.

In fact, he had some ups and downs – however strange it may sound in the case of a diver – but in recent years he cemented his place among the best. He was third here in London at the Olympics and also in Kazan at the 2015 World Champs. Each time he was the highest ranked European. And today he delivered what the capacity crowd wanted to see while filling almost all seats even alongside the adjacent swimming pool.

Daley had one bad attempt in the prelims, still he was first with a 36.90-point margin ahead of Russia’s Viktor Minibaev. In the final his performance neared perfection. Back in 2008 he had amassed 491.95 points. In Rome 2009 he won with 539.85. Four years ago in London he had 556.95, David Boudia, the US champion, got 568.65. Now Daley had 570.50.

Among the 42 marks he got from the judges here, 8.0 was the lowest, he got two for his fourth dive. All the others were at least 8.5, but even more 9.0s, 9.5s and the perfect 10 three times. The opening, low DD dive was worth 83.20, not one of the remaining dives brought him fewer than 96 points.

He had the answer to Minibaev’s challenge. The Russian also staged a strong start, just like Daley, he barely got marks weaker than 8.5, he got a 10 for his first attempt, led after two rounds but the gap opened up in the fourth when he produced a relatively weaker 77.40 pointer. In other meets it wouldn’t have meant the end of a duel but as Daley was close to perfection, this ended the Russians’ golden quest. This was Daley’s third European crown in the individual platform event – which has become a tradition in the Europeans held in Olympic years (2008, 2012, 2016). The bronze went to the other Russian competitor, Nikita Shleikher, who edged out Germany’s veteran Sascha Klein by 2.80 points.

The closing event saw another milestone in European diving history as Tania Cagnotto clinched her 20th title in the continental event, as well as becoming champion for the 8th time in 3m synchro with Francesca Dallape – a stylish way to celebrate her 31st birthday. It was a clean job from the Italians. They opened up with a great dive, followed by a perfect one – a 10 came for synchronisation – and even a couple of good though not really excellent attempts were enough to secure the top spot.

The local fans were delighted by the performance of Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree. The Brits did a fine job and as the Russians committed a slight mistake in the fourth they grabbed the chance and finished second, while Nadezhda Bazhina and Kristina Ilinykh had to settle for the bronze this time.

The closing day’s performance was also a great kicker for the Brits in clinching the Championship Trophy ahead of the Russians and they also finished atop the medal table with 10 podium finishes (3-4-3).

At the end of the ceremonies LEN President Paolo Barelli presented the 2015 LEN Trophy for the respective diving winners, Tania Cagnotto and Tom Daley, as a recognition for the achievements last season. Though based on their results here – Tania got 3 golds and silver, Tom 2 golds and a silver – they are already on their way to collecting these trophies for this year’s feats.

For detailed results please visit LEN’s renewed website: www.len.eu

Direct link: http://len.eu/?p=4378

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia

Queen of Europe, Tania Cagnotto captures 19th gold

Italy’s Tania Cagnotto took a 28-27 ‘lead’ on the all-time medal table at the Europeans over Germany’s Patrick Hausding by clinching the 3m title with ease on Saturday. Ukraine added another gold to their impressive tally in diving (3-2-3) by winning the mixed 10m synchro ahead of the Brits and that puts them atop in the diving medal table (GB has 2-4-3) with one day to go.

TIMOSHININA Yulia SHLEIKHER Nikita RUS bronze medal, WARD Georgia LEE Matthew GBR silver medal, PROKOPCHUK Iuliia DOLGOV Maksym UKR gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Mixed synchronised platform final Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

WARD Georgia LEE Matthew GBR silver medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Mixed synchronised platform final Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

PROKOPCHUK Iuliia DOLGOV Maksym UKR gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Mixed synchronised platform final Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Tania CAGNOTTO ITA Italy Gold Medal Women’s 3m Springboard Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Tania CAGNOTTO ITA Italy Gold Medal Women’s 3m Springboard Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Usci FREITAG NED Netherlands Silver Medal, Tania CAGNOTTO ITA Italy Gold Medal, Grace REID GBR Great Britain Bronze Medal Women’s 3m Springboard Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Day 06 14-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Tania Cagnotto has become the most decorated diver in the history of the Europeans by clinching her 28th medal in the event’s history, 19 of them are gold. It’s interesting that among the 19 titles Cagnotto has amassed, this is only her 3rd gold in the 3m event – she had 2 from 10m (her first two titles, indeed), 7 from 1m and further 7 from 3m synchro. The previous two 3m wins came in 2009 and in 2015 at the stand-alone diving Europeans so this was the first time that Cagnotto was able to win this individual event at the ‘big’ Europeans.

She came up with a balanced performance, began with two 70+ pointers and didn’t make any big mistake thereafter. Ukraine’s Anastasiia Nedobiga, winner of the prelims, was ahead of her after two rounds but bowed out of contention in the third through a disastrous attempt. Other rivals also had smaller errors here and there while Cagnotto didn’t succumb to the pressure and saved her best to the last round by showing the best dive of the final, the only one gaining over 80 points with 9.0s and 9.5s in the mix. Her winning margin (30 points) mirrored the difference between the respective performances, Cagnotto was the only one in the field with three out of five dives over 70 points (one over 80), while in the top six only two other 70+ attempts were recorded altogether.

Uschi Freitag brought some joy to her ‘new’ but native country, the Netherlands, the former German athlete clinching the silver, the first diving medal for the Dutch in almost 30 years. The hosts also had a fine day, the hunt for the bronze turned into an in-house competition between Grace Reid and Rebecca Gallantree. Reid edged out her British team-mate by 5.30 points (and was really close to the second place, she trailed only 2.05 points to Freitag).

The mixed 10m event’s premiere couldn’t have been any more thrilling and tighter. After the penultimate round the top three stood within 5.16 points, with the Ukrainians leading the race. And Iuliia Prokopchuk and Maksym Dolgov kept their calm and the top position in the last round as they managed to produce their best dive upon the last attempt, indeed the best of the final for 77.76 points. This was Prokopchuk’s second gold after coming first in the 10m individual event, while Dolgov had a bronze from the men’s 10m synchro.

The Brits, Georgia Ward and Matthew Lee did the second best (75.84) in the fifth round and earned the silver, while the Russians managed to overtake the Italian pair in the very last round, so Yulia Timoshinina and Nikita Shleikher captured the bronze, ahead of Noemi Batki and Maicol Verzotto – it was quite tight, the duos were separated by 3.07 points.

For detailed results please visit LEN’s renewed website: www.len.eu

Direct link: http://len.eu/?p=4378

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia