Germany’s Moritz Wesemann claimed the
European 3m springboard title on the third day of diving at the 2023 European
Games and secured his nation a place in the event at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
It is the 21-year-old’s first major
medal, having finished fourth in the 1m springboard final at the LEN 2022
European Championships in Rome, Italy.
Wesemann qualified from the
preliminaries with the second highest score – 418.60 – behind Britain’s Ross
Haslam, but the Germany had to recover from a slow start in the final after
placing eight in the opening round.
A series of impressive routines
followed as he fought back into contention, before taking the lead in the
penultimate round.
He achieved an impressive total of
465.40 from his six routines to finish ahead of French duo Jules Bouyer
(440.15) and Alexis Jandard (430.70), who took the silver and bronze medals
respectively.
GOLD MEDALLIST – MORITZ WESEMANN –
GERMANY
“I would say the level was pretty
high especially because it’s close to the World Championships so everyone is
pushing their limits. If you see the first three points (totals) they are all
very high and it’s very hard to get a medal so it’s a very high quality of
competition.”
SILVER MEDALLIST – JULES BOUYER –
FRANCE
“I’m very happy because it was one of
my goals to get a medal and it’s a silver so I’m very happy.”
BRONZE MEDALLIST – ALEXS JANDARD –
FRANCE
I’m happy. I came back from surgery
of my Achilles tendon, in February so it’s pretty close to now, so it’s a good
start to the season. There is the World Championships coming so it’s a good
start to the summer and I’m very happy. It’s the second time I’ve got the
bronze medal at the European Games (after Baku 2015).”
Earlier on the third day of diving at
the 2023 European Games Ukraine claimed their first gold medal of the
competition as Kseniia Bailo and Kirill Boliukh teamed-up to secure victory in
the mixed synchronised 10m platform final.
The pair delivered a thoroughly
professional performance, taking the lead after their opening dive and
maintained that throughout the five rounds.
Their final routine scored 79.68 –
which was the highest of the event – and helped them to a combined total of
322.68.
Two-time Olympian Elena Wassen of
Germany returned to the European Games podium for the first time since the
inaugural event eight years ago when she was a junior.
The diver, who took individual bronze
at Baku 2015, claimed silver alongside Alexander Lube with a combined score of
306.12.
There was also a third medal in as
many days for Italian Sarah Jodoin Di Maria, who followed Team Event silver and
10m platform bronze with another third, this time with Eduard Timbretti Gugiu.
Together they achieved a total of 283.14.
GOLD MEDALLIST KSENIIA BAILO -
UKRAINE:
We were a little bit tense before the
competition but we are really happy with the result and we want to dedicate
this medal to Ukraine, to our soldiers who are fighting for Ukraine.
GOLD MEDALLIST KIRILL BOLIUK -
UKRAINE:
We’re happy to win the gold medal and
it is great to finally be European champion. Tomorrow I have (10m) synchro so
we want to show a great result there also.
SILVER MEDALLIST ELENA WASSEN -
GERMANY:
Elena – We’re really happy with how
the competition went because it’s our first competition together and we only
started training four weeks ago so we didn’t expect anything from this
competition. We were happy to be here and compete together, so we’re very happy
to come away with a silver medals.
SILVER MEDALLIST ALEXANDER LUBE -
GERMANY:
“I was stressed (before the
competition) it’s one of the first time I compete at the international stage
like this, so I felt some pressure but I think maybe that helped me a little.”
BRONZE MEDALLIST SARAH JODOIN DI
MARIA - ITALY:
“I think we’re satisfied with the
performance and the third place, especially as we didn’t train so much this
year, so I’m pretty happy.”
BRONZE MEDALLIST EDUARD TIMTRETTI
GUGIU - ITALY:
“Before the competition I was a bit
nervous and also in the fourth dive which we got wrong, but then we managed to
do the last dive well, so we’re happy about that.”
Sunday’s action will see the women’s
3m springboard field attempt to secure an Olympic quota place for their
respective nations, while the men’s synchronised 10m platform final will be
another major highlight at the Rzeszow Arena.
Diving photos: István Derencsény/LEN
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