European Aquatics Athlete of the Year Awards 2025: women’s diving nominees

Chiara Pellacani combined with Matteo Santoro to earn Italy’s first world diving gold since 2015 in the 3m synchro event, and also secured her first individual medals at this year’s World Aquatics Championships.

It was the culmination of ambition for a pair who had been mixed 3m synchro silver medallists at the World Aquatics Championships in 2022 and 2024 and bronze medallists in 2023.

Pellacani, who turned 23 on September 12, had already earned four world medals, all in synchro events, but in Singapore she won bronze medals in the 1m and 3m springboard.

Earlier in the summer Pellacani had achieved success at the European Aquatics Diving Championships in Antalya, where she won the 1m springboard title and she and Santoro took 3m synchro silver.

Germany’s Pauline Pfeif also managed a landmark achievement in Singapore as she won her first world medal, taking silver in the 10m platform.

Pfeif had earlier come away from Antalya laden with medals. She earned silver in the team event and the 10m platform and bronze in the mixed 10m synchro and women’s 10m synchro.

Italy’s 25-year-old Sarah Jodoin Di Maria claimed the first individual European gold of her career as she beat Pfeif to 10m platform gold.

The Canadian-born diver, who already had European team gold and silver medals, secured the 10m title after an intense competition with her German rival.

Di Maria also earned silver in the mixed synchro 10m, partnering Riccardo Giovannini.

Switzerland’s Michelle Heimberg, who had taken the rest of 2024 off after failing to qualify for the Paris Olympics, made a telling return to international competition as she took bronze in the European 1m springboard event which she had won in 2023 before adding gold in the 3m springboard.

Pfeif’s team-mate Lena Hentschel earned dramatic success at the European Aquatics Diving Championships as she and her 19-year-old partner Luis Avila, making his international debut, claimed gold in the mixed 3m synchro by 0.03 after overtaking Pellacani and Santoro with their last dive.

Hentschel, 23, also won European silver in the women’s 3m synchro in partnership with Jette Muller.

Hentschel and Avila, who went on to earn mixed 3m synchro gold at the Summer World University Games in Berlin, finished fifth in the Singapore World Championships.

Hentschel, 23, also won European silver in the women’s 3m synchro in partnership with Jette Muller.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics

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