Italy's Chiara Pellacani has captured 3 gold medals in the opening days of the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, establishing herself as the standout performer in the diving competition and positioning herself to challenge the legendary record of Tania Cagnotto—Italy's most decorated diver, who amassed 20 European golds over her career.
Why This Matters
• Historic pursuit: With 6 career European golds to date, the 24-year-old Rome native has two more events remaining in Paris and could narrow the gap with Cagnotto's record.
• Dual-threat dominance: Pellacani won two golds in a single day—trampolino 1 metro individual and sincro misto 3 metri with partner Matteo Santoro—demonstrating exceptional endurance and concentration.
• World champion pedigree: Pellacani and Santoro entered Paris as reigning world champions in mixed synchro 3m, and they delivered a commanding performance with 305.85 points to defend their European title.
Three Golds in Three Days
The competition opened with a bang for Italy's diving squad, with Pellacani claiming her first gold in the mixed team event on the opening Friday. Twenty-four hours later, she stood atop the podium twice more: first alongside Santoro in the synchro mixed 3m final, then in the individual 1m springboard just two hours later—a scheduling gauntlet that left little room for error or recovery.
In the individual 1m final, Pellacani posted 298.90 points, finishing more than 40 points clear of silver medalist Michelle Luisa Heimberg of Switzerland (258.80) and bronze winner Desharne Bent-Ashmeil of Great Britain (254.35). Her teammate Elisa Pizzini placed fifth after a shaky final dive that cost her a podium finish.
The synchro mixed event showcased the chemistry between Pellacani and Santoro, who opened with a backward dive piked that earned 49.20 points, followed by a near-flawless reverse piked dive scored at 47.40. The Italian pair never surrendered the lead, finishing nearly 20 points ahead of the neutral athletes from Russia—Ilia Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina—who tallied 286.17 points. Germany's Luis Carlo Avila Sanchez and Lena Corona Hentschel took bronze with 284.19.
The Cagnotto Comparison
Pellacani's medal haul has inevitably drawn parallels to Tania Cagnotto, the trailblazer who set the standard for Italian diving. Cagnotto's first European gold came in 2004 at age 19 on the 10m platform. In 2009 at the European Championships in Turin, she made history by sweeping three golds in a single edition—1m, 3m individual, and 3m synchro—a feat no female diver had accomplished before.
Speaking to Sky Sport after her double-gold day, Pellacani acknowledged the weight of the comparison but framed it as an honor rather than a burden. "I've said it before: I'm honored to be compared to a champion like Tania," she said. "I'm trying to write my own story. We'll see what happens."
With 6 European golds already in her career—including victories in Glasgow 2018, Budapest 2021, Antalya 2025, and now three in Paris—Pellacani still trails Cagnotto's career tally of 20 by a considerable margin. But at 24, she has time on her side and two more chances in this championship alone: the individual 3m springboard and the women's synchro 3m with partner Sarah Jodoin Di Maria.
What This Means for Italian Sports Fans
For Italians following the European Championships, Pellacani's performance represents a resurgence in a discipline where Italy has historically punched above its weight. Her success—and the broader strength of the Italian diving team—affirms the value of the federal training center at Pietralata in Rome, where Pellacani began diving at age 6 and entered the national youth system.
By age 10, she was competing in national meets; by 13, she was winning junior national titles; and by 15, she was a fixture on the senior national team. Now a member of the Fiamme Gialle (the Italian Finance Police sports group) and coached by Domenico Rinaldi, Pellacani specializes in the 1m and 3m springboard events—both individual and synchronized.
Her partnership with Matteo Santoro has become a cornerstone of Italy's medal prospects at major championships. Santoro has described their dynamic as almost fraternal, noting that diving with Pellacani makes everything "easier" and more enjoyable. That chemistry was on full display in Paris, where the duo executed their program with composure and precision from start to finish.
Broader Italian Success in Paris
Pellacani's golds were not the only Italian triumphs in the pool complex. In artistic swimming, Filippo Pelati and Lucrezia Ruggiero claimed silver in the mixed technical duet, narrowly missing gold by just 0.67 points. The Italian duo earned 229.0092 points (130.18 for technical elements, 98.82 for artistic impression), finishing behind Britain's Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjuo Tomblin, who benefited from a slightly higher difficulty coefficient. Neutral athletes from Russia took bronze with 215.92 points.
Patrizia Giallombardo, Italy's technical director for artistic swimming, praised Pelati and Ruggiero's performance as "impeccable" and expressed pride in their growth trajectory. The pair, who won bronze at the World Championships in Singapore in 2025, added another medal to their collection after Saturday's success in the free duet.
The Road Ahead
Pellacani has made clear her ambition to add at least one more gold before leaving Paris. "Another gold? That's the goal, but I'll try to take it day by day," she said. "We'll give it our best and see what happens." The individual 3m springboard is widely considered her strongest event, and the synchro 3m with Jodoin Di Maria offers another legitimate medal opportunity.
If she succeeds in either—or both—she will have notched 7 or 8 career European golds, placing her firmly among the elite of European diving and within striking distance of Cagnotto's legacy. For now, the Rome-born diver is savoring a historic weekend, one that has already secured her place as the breakout star of the 2026 European Aquatics Championships.
For Italian sports fans, Pellacani's performance is a reminder that the country's diving tradition—forged by pioneers like Cagnotto—remains in capable hands.
