Ukraine’s
Karina Hlizhina claimed her second gold medal in as many days, adding the
Girls’ B 3m springboard title to the 2023 European Junior Diving Championship
Mixed Team Event gold she secured on Saturday.
Her
team-mates Diana Shevchenko and Alisa Mieshkova also claimed victory in the
Girls’ A/B synchronised platform event, while Espen Prenzyna and Ole Johannes
Rösler of Germany won the Boys’ equivalent.
Great
Britain Oliver Heath was the other Rijeka 2023 champion on day two in Croatia;
impressively winning the 1m springboard Boys’ B crown.
Over 300
14–18-year-old divers are participating in 17 medal events during seven days of
competition in Croatia’s third-largest city, with those aged 14-15 placed in B
Group and 16–18-year-olds in the A Group disciplines.
Hlyshina
had only qualified for the final in fourth and with five scores from the
preliminaries carried forward into the medal showdown, rivals from Italy,
Germany and Great Britain were likely to provide significant challenges.
So it
would prove, with Italy’s Beatrice Gallo the strongest of the contenders, but
she would finish in second with an overall total of 333.70, behind Hlyshina’s
score of 341.35.
Rounding
off the podium places was Elly Ekebäck of Sweden (319.50), who edged German’s
Nina Berger (318.10) into fourth.
Britain’s
Heath continued his nation’s proud diving tradition by claiming his maiden
international honour with European 1m junior gold on the second day of
competition.
The
teenager hails from the same part of the UK as his nation’s Olympic champion
Tom Daley – Plymouth – and he produced an impressive display achieve a total of
376.55.
Lithuanian
Martynas Lisauskas scored just off the 400 point mark in the preliminaries but
was unable to rediscover his best form in the final and his score of 369.65 saw
him take silver, with Germany’s Finn Awe (356.15) third.
“I’m very
proud considering it’s my first Europeans so I’m over the moon,” Heath told LEN
after the Boys B 1m final.
“I saw it
was close between the top three and because we all have the same last dive it
was a bit more nerve-wracking, but it all worked out.”
Germany
were the other nation to top the podium for the first time at the 2023 edition
of the European Junior Diving Championships, following an entertaining
performance from their Boys A/B synchronised finalist Espen Prenzyna and Ole
Johannes Rösler.
They
attained a total of 291.12 for their routines, with Jordan Fisher-Eames and
Noah Penman (283.02) of Great Britain taking silver.
Bronze
was awarded to Italian duo Simone Conte and Romano Hao Jun Wang (280.02).
“It’s
crazy to think that we just won gold as we missed some of our dives, but in the
end it didn’t matter and it feels great,” Prenzyna told LEN.
Johannes
Rösler added; “It’s very special for me as it was my first ever synchro event
here and it was great, I hope it’s the first of many.”
Rounding
off the second day of competition was the Girls’ B synchronised platform event
which saw the nine finalists compete from 7.5m and 10m heights.
Ukrainian’s
Diana Shevchenko and Alisa Mieshkova recovered from a slow start to attain a
total of 245.13 points and secure their nation’s third gold of Rijeka 2023.
Juliette
John and Hannah Newbrook of Great Britain were close behind with 242.16, while
Romanian duo Iona-Andreea Carcu and Nazanin-Adelyne Ellahi (233.34) took
bronze.
“It was
very difficult and we are so happy about first place,” Shevchenko told LEN. “It
was very special for Ukraine and for us both.”
The LEN
YouTube Channel will be streaming each event from Rijeka 2023, while live
scores can be accessed HERE.
For more
information about the competition, head to the official Rijeka 2023 website.
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