Pellacani claims fourth European diving gold in Paris, surpassing Cagnotto's single-championship record

Chiara Pellacani secured her fourth gold medal of the Paris 2026 European Aquatics Championships on 4 August, winning the women's 3m springboard final with a score of 358.05. The victory moved her past Tania Cagnotto's Italian record of three golds in a single edition of the championships.

Fourth gold and a record

Pellacani, 23, from Rome and a member of the Fiamme Gialle sports group, had already won the mixed team event, the mixed synchronized 3m springboard with Matteo Santoro, and the 1m springboard earlier in the meet. On 4 August she added the 3m springboard title, the Olympic discipline, with a score of 358.05. She had led qualifying with 336.85, more than 30 points ahead of Russia's Nadezhda Trifonova. In the final, Britain's Yasmin Harper took silver with 318.70, Trifonova bronze with 312.40, and Italy's Elisa Pizzini placed fourth with 306.25.

Surpassing Cagnotto's benchmark

The four golds broke the Italian record of three in a single European Championships, set by Tania Cagnotto in 2009 and matched in 2015. Cagnotto, now vice-president of the Italian Swimming Federation, achieved her tally before the mixed team and mixed synchro events were added to the programme. Pellacani becomes the fourth woman to win both the 1m and 3m springboard titles at the same European Championships, joining Vera Ilyina (1995, 1999), Anna Lindberg (2006, 2012) and Cagnotto (2009, 2015, 2016). The victory brought Pellacani's career European Championships medal total to 10.

Pellacani: "I put my heart into it"

I love this sport and I'm really giving everything every day. I'm overjoyed and it almost doesn't feel real. The 3m is in my heart and I'm really happy with how I approached this competition. I wasn't thinking about the result, just my sensations and how to jump on the springboard.

She added that her scores from both the 1m and 3m events were the product of work split between Rome and Miami, where she trains and studies.

I hope to write many more pages of history because I put my heart into it, even if I don't think about records, just living the moment and having fun. I think that's one of my strengths. I hope all this helps our sport get a bit more visibility and brings more young people closer to it.

Coach targets five golds

Coach Tommaso Marconi said that before the championships Pellacani asked what her objective should be.

I told her five gold medals. It's not over yet, but we keep chasing them.

Pellacani will have a chance at a fifth gold on Thursday 6 August, when she partners Pizzini in the women's synchronized 3m springboard.

Wider Italian success

The Italian diving team also earned a surprise silver on 4 August, as Simone Conte and Raffaele Pelligra finished second in the men's synchronized platform event. Italy's overall medal count at the championships stands at 14 (five golds, four silvers, five bronzes), with Pellacani responsible for four of the golds.