Wesemann wins European gold and secures Olympic 3m quota for Germany

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).”

*BAILO Kseniia and BOLIUKH Kirill, UKRAINE – Istvan Derencsenyi/LEN*

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.

*BAILO Kseniia,BOLIUKH Kirill, UKRAINE – Istvan Derencsenyi/LEN*

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.”