Nick Hope byline
Constantin Popovici claimed the first
ever men’s European Championship High Diving gold on dramatic evening of action
at the Foro Italico.
A Romanian athlete with the surname
Popovici standing on top of the podium has been a familiar sight at Roma 2022 –
with Constantin’s namesake David claiming two European titles and a world
record in the pool.
However, this historic moment
belonged exclusively to the high diver as the men’s competition reached its
conclusion.
The women’s event, won by Iris
Schmidbauer of Germany on Friday had been completed inside 48 hours, but the
men’s was stretched over three days, with one round on each of the first two.
As such, fans packed into the venue
were treated to two final rounds of spectacular action as the best divers in
the continent battled it out for the landmark gold.
Catalin-Petru of Romania had held a
narrow lead of just 1.40 over two-time world champion Gary Hunt after the
opening round on Thursday and extended that to 13.45 heading into the final
dive.
With ‘mega scores’ – which far exceed
those possible in 3m springboard and 10m platform diving – possible in this
discipline though there were at least six divers realistically capable of
challenging for the medals.
Carlos Gimeno Martinez of Spain was
the first to put down a high scoring three figure score – 127.20, but earlier
errors meant his would not be in contention for the podium.
Alessandro de Rose, in fourth after
the third round, certainly would and 124.55 wase enough for bronze as Frenchman
Gary Hunt slipped down the leader board.
33-year-old Beijing 2008 Olympic 10m
diver Popovici was in third before his incredible final routine – which scored
147.00 – put him top of the pack.
Countryman and previous leader Preda
scored well – 112.20. It would not be enough for gold, but he was still happy
with silver.
“This gold is very special to me,”
Popovici told LEN TV after achieving a total of 455.70 from his four routines.
“I know Alessandro (de Rose) for ten
years and Rome has been in my heart since the 2009 Worlds when I competed in
the 10m platform.
“And of course it’s a very big
coincidence – the name Popovici, we know each other, myself and David Popovici
a great guy and great athlete and I’m happy we both won gold!”
Silver medallist Preda – after
attaining a total of 436.20 – said the experience was “absolutely awesome” and
hailed the “energy of the crowd.”
Home favourite and Rome-based diver
de Rose was full of praise or the Italian Federation after attaining his score
of 416.45, which secured bronze.
“This title gives me very strong
emotions and what I want to say is that this is not my medal, I owe it to the
whole Italian Federation, to our team manager Markus Stuppner, who believed in
this project, to the staff and to Oreste Varese.”
Italy, who also claimed bronze
through female diver Elisa Cosetti on Friday, were awarded the High Diving team
of the tournament award for their combined performances across the two events.
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