Chiara Pellacani wins two diving golds in two hours at European Championships, taking Paris tally to three

Three golds in three days

Chiara Pellacani arrived at the Centre Aquatique Olympique with a score to settle after two fourth-place finishes at the 2024 Olympics. By Saturday evening she had turned the same pool into her personal stage, collecting a third European title in as many days. The sequence began on Friday with a mixed team event gold alongside Matteo Santoro, Sarah Jodoin Di Maria and another teammate. On Saturday she first partnered Santoro again to dominate the mixed 3 m synchro, then returned barely two hours later to claim the 1 m springboard crown.

The 1 m triumph

Pellacani's 1 m final was effectively decided after three dives. Her inward two-and-a-half somersault drew 67.50 points and opened a gap none of the rivals could close. She finished with 298.90 points, a margin of 40.10 over Switzerland's Michelle Luisa Heimberg (258.80). Great Britain's Desharne Bent-Ashmeil took bronze with 254.35, while the other Italian in the field, Elisa Pizzini, placed fifth. Coach Tommaso Marconi celebrated on the pool deck as the result confirmed Pellacani's defence of the continental title she first won in Antalya in 2025.

Synchronised dominance with Santoro

Earlier in the afternoon Pellacani and the 19-year-old Santoro, reigning world champions from Singapore 2025, led the mixed 3 m synchro from the first dive. Their opening effort was the only one of the final to approach 50 points, and they never surrendered top spot. The fifth and last dive, a forward three-and-a-half somersault, earned 70.20 points, the highest single-dive score of the entire 55-dive contest. The total of 305.85 left neutral athletes Ilia Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina almost 20 points behind (286.17), with Germany's Luis Carlo Avila Sanchez and Lena Corona Hentschel third (284.19).

Sicuramente una gara dominata ma insieme diamo sempre il meglio di noi: siamo super soddisfatti. Sono una sorta di sorella maggiore; lui per me è un fratellino. Questo ci lega.

Santoro had failed to reach the 1 m final the previous day and admitted to nerves. "Nei primi due tuffi mi tremavano le gambe, ma quando ho lei al mio fianco ce la faccio sempre," he said. The pair grew up diving together at the Fratelli Marconi club in Rome and describe their bond as that of siblings.

What comes next

Pellacani is not finished. She still has the individual 3 m springboard and the women's 3 m synchro with Sarah Jodoin Di Maria on her programme. Her stated goal is to win at least one more medal and surpass the Italian record held by Tania Cagnotto. "Un oro in più? L'obiettivo è quello ma proverò a vivermela tranquillamente, giorno per giorno," she said after the two Saturday podiums. "Ci proveremo e vedremo i risultati."

Background and redemption

The 23-year-old Roman started diving at age six at the federal centre in Pietralata and was competing nationally by ten. She entered the senior national team at fifteen and has since collected medals at every level: European gold in Glasgow 2018, three medals at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, and a bronze in the 3 m synchro at the 2023 Worlds in Fukuoka. After the disappointment of Paris 2024 she briefly considered walking away from the sport, even enrolling in a boxing course, but regained her motivation the following summer. She graduated in psychology from the University of Miami in autumn 2025 and now competes for the Fiamme Gialle sports group under coach Domenico Rinaldi.

Artistic swimming silver

Italy also reached the podium in artistic swimming. Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero won silver in the mixed technical duet with 229.0092 points, missing gold by just 0.6691 points behind Britain's Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin. The Italian pair had already taken bronze in the free duet earlier in the championships.