Rostock (LEN) – Russia’s Ilya Zakharov and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tania Cagnotto of Italy continued their impressive winning series at the Arena European Diving Championships in Rostock. For the fifth consecutive time, the Russian pair won the synchro 3m, collecting a total of 462,96 points. Italy’s Cagnotto claimed her sixth title since 2009 in the non-Olympic 1m springboard event (291.20 points). At the same time it was her 15th gold medal at Europeans – and her tally now comprises 23 European Championships medals.best Running shoes | Women's Designer Sneakers - Luxury Shopping
“It was a tight and exciting event right up until the very last dive,” said Tania Cagnotto who relegated Nadezhda Bazhina (Russia/279.40 points) and Ukraine’s Olena Fedorova (275.40) to second and third place respectively. The bronze medal was Fedorovas’ first ever medal in the 1m springboard event. “This is what I was still missing from my collection,” she explained.
The Russians performed their dives with almost clockwork precision and eventually claimed the title with a large winning margin. “It was quite all right, but we can do the dives even better. We botched the fourth dive a bit,” explained Zakharov. Ukraine’s Illya Kvasha and Oleksandr Gorshkovozov (430.89) earned the silver medal. After having failed to claim a medal in the 1m and 3m springboard events in Rostock, especially Kvasha seemed relieved to have taken his second medal after a bronze in the Team Event.
Germany’s Patrick Hausding, who earned the bronze medal together with his partner Stephan Feck (419.73 points), celebrated a “silver” jubilee: he claimed his 25th medal at European Championships. “We fought for silver. But Russia and Ukraine both showed a world-class performance today. However, we know that we can do this, too.”
Together with her partner Francesca Dallapè, Cagnotto will be aiming to continue her winning streak in the synchro 3m on Saturday. So far, the pair has earned the title in this event six times in a row. Their strongest rivals are Nadezhda Bazhina and Kristina Ilinykh (Russia) as well as Olena Fedorova and Anna Pysmenska (Ukraine).
In the men’s 10m platform event, Victor Minibaev of Russia is the strongest title candidate. The defending champion already claimed the top spot in the Team Event in Rostock. Local hero Sascha Klein, 2014 bronze medallist, will not compete due to a back injury.
Medal table (after 7 of 11 competitions)
1 Russia 3 3 1 7
2 France 2 1 0 3
3 Ukraine 1 1 3 5
4 Italy 1 0 1 2
5 Germany 0 1 1 2
6 Great Britain 0 1 0 1
7 Hungary 0 0 1 1
Total 7 7 7 21
Results, webcast and news: www.len.eu – www.microplus.com
