European Championships: Santoro and Pellacani Deliver as Expected—A Dominant Gold Medal Win

Chiara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro lived up to expectations at the European Swimming Championships: the Italian duo, the reigning world champions, won the gold medal in the mixed synchronized 3-meter springboard event. The two Italian divers dominated the final, finishing ahead of the Russian pair, who took silver, and Germany, which won bronze.

Pellacani and Santoro were the only pair to score over 300 points, finishing the final with a score of 305.85 and leaving their rivals in the dust. Trailing by more than 19 points were Ilia Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina, while the third step of the podium was claimed by the German duo Luis Carlo Avila Sanchez and Lena Corona Hentschel, the reigning continental champions. Next came Ukraine, Switzerland, and France.

For the two Roman divers, this is their second gold medal at the continental competition currently underway in Paris, following the one they won on Friday in the team event alongside Riccardo Giovannini, Sarah Jodoin di Maria, and Raffaele Pelligra. After the competition, Chiara Pellacani expressed her enthusiasm: “Together we give our best; we dominated the competition. It’s as if I were her older sister.” “It’s true, I was nervous, but with her by my side, it was a whole different story,” Santoro confirmed.

On Friday, the Italian quartet had kicked off the European Championships in Paris with a victory in the team event, prompting technical director Oscar Bertone to comment enthusiastically: “Starting off like this is fantastic. They’re all very young athletes and need to gain experience—especially this kind of experience. Bringing home the gold medal will certainly help the whole team as they continue the European Championships and, above all, get off on the right foot.”