Matteo Santoro edges Euro Junior Diving 1m gold
Santoro wins by 0.05 points – the tiniest margin possible!
- In a rare scenario, the tiniest possible gap decided the title in the boys’ 1m final at the European Junior Diving Championships in Otopeni. Italy’s Matteo Santoro won by 0.05 points ahead of compatriot Stefano Belotti – Jake Passmore delivered a historical first-ever bronze for Ireland.
- Sweden’s Amanda Lundin came from behind in the girls’ platform final with a fine and balanced performance to pip Spain’s Ana Carvajal for the title.
The boy’s 1m final quickly turned into an in-house battle of the two Italians. Matteo Santoro’s 72-pointer in the second round gave him a comfortable lead, but Stefano Belotti came closer and closer in the remaining three rounds, thanks to his higher DD-s – though the fourth jump of the older Italian (he turns 18 in three days, Santoro is yet to celebrate his 16th birthday) earned him only 45 points.
Santoro had a 2.3DD dive in the last round, performed it safely for a series of 7.0s but he could bag only 48.30 for that. Belotti’s last one, a 3.1DD, was also a good jump, he also got 7.0s but he remained in the second position; he trailed by the tiniest gap possible, 0.05 points.
The bronze went to Ireland’s Jake Passmore, this was the nation’s first-ever podium in any major international diving events.
The girls’ platform final unfolded similarly. Sweden’s Amanda Lundin managed to overcome her 20 points deficit from the morning prelims (in age-group diving the combined scores of the first four attempts with limited DDs are taken over to the finals and the scores for the four free DD dives are added to them).
Lundin’s all four jumps landed her 50+ points, she took over the lead before the final two dives and never looked back, won by 6.20 points at the end.
Spain’s Ana Carvajal, winner of the prelims, opened her afternoon quest with two lower scoring attempts before bouncing back and managed to hold the second place, just 0.10 points ahead of Britain’s Chloe Johnson.
The Brit offered the best efforts in the afternoon, her dives were rewarded between 53.30 and 58.80 points, the last one was the highest scoring attempt in the final to land her the bronze after she had finished 6th in the prelims.