Code errors: how our athletes started the World Aquatics Championships

Russian athletes consistently win medals at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris. On the first day of the competition, the divers took silver in the team mixed, Maya Doroshko and Elizaveta Minaeva were the second in the synchronized duet, Zakhar Trofimov won bronze in the men's solo. On the second day, Maya Doroshko and Alexandra Schmidt took third place in the women's duet free skate, and on August 2, Alina Rumyantseva and Zakhar Trofimov took bronze in the mixed duets. It should be noted that so far the Russians have a lot of questions about the organization of the tournament: from refereeing to too chlorinated water. In two cases, the Russians' grades were lowered altogether for incorrectly filled in the codes in the application cards.

The breakthrough of the sisters from Greece

Our compatriots still compete in a neutral status at the European Championships. At the same time, in April 2026, the Bureau of the International Aquatics Federation (World Aquatics) announced the lifting of all restrictions on adult athletes with Russian and Belarusian sports citizenship. However, the European Aquatics Federation played a trick and asked to postpone the decision until September. It is because of this that the tournament in France is held without Russian national symbols. However, the opposition of European Aquatics does not prevent our athletes from winning medals. And that's the main thing.

In the early days, Russian synchronized swimmers Maya Doroshko and Elizaveta Minaeva were the closest to victory in the technical program of women's duets. The athletes received a high score of 302.99 for their performance. But it wasn't enough to win: the Greek duo Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri scored 311.43, ahead of our compatriots. Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe from Great Britain also made the top three (297.9).

— We are upset because we are not the first. They are unhappy with their performance," TASS quoted two—time world champion Doroshko as saying.

The next day, Maya had the opportunity to compete for medals again. This time in the free duet program, where the titled athlete was accompanied by two-time vice-world champion Alexandra Schmidt. But once again, the Alexandri sisters showed excellent results — 316.3 points. They were ahead of the Spanish duo Lila Lluis Valette./Iris Tio Casas (315.6). Our compatriots rounded out the top 3 (310.4).

Synchronized swimmers Zakhar Trofimov and Alina Rumyantseva, who participated in mixed duet competitions, could win another award. The Russians scored 238.1 points and were close to the top three, but took fourth place, behind Isabelle Thorpe and Ranjo Tomblin from Great Britain (258.2), Iris Tio Casas and Dennis Gonzalez Boneu from Spain (257.97), as well as Lucrezia Ruggiero and Filippo Pelati from Italy (255.2). In the opinion of our athletes, refereeing could have a significant impact on the final result.

"I don't know what happened. There were no errors where we expected them. I think we've been sued. We would have bypassed them all. This causes outrage. But I haven't reviewed the performance yet," Trofimov said on Match TV.

Later, the athlete noted that he said these words out of emotion. The coach of our duo, Gana Maximova, later explained the situation in detail.

— We are to blame for one thing. We made a completely stupid mistake. Due to the large number of programs and immersion in the training process, we forgot to correct the coaching card. Thus, we lost four points," said the mentor.

"I don't think anyone can stop us from taking the European Championship gold"

Maya Doroshko, captain of the Russian synchronized swimming team, talks about the mood for the 2026 World Cup, loads and coach Svetlana Romashina

Bleach and light

Unfortunately, the situation repeated itself the next day. Alina Rumyantseva and Zakhar Trofimov won bronze medals in the technical program of mixed duets. With a score of 215.9 points, our athletes lost to Britons Isabelle Thorpe and Ranguo Tomblin (229.6), as well as Italians Lucrezia Ruggiero and Filippo Pelati (229.1).

Rumyantseva and Trofimov performed well, except for the first element — a red flag lit up at the start. As Match TV commentators Olga Vasyukova and Vlada Chigireva later reported, citing the press attache of the Russian national team, the reason for the low scores was an incorrectly filled out application card. Neither the athletes nor their coach Gana Maksimova suspected anything at first, and they didn't hide their emotions when they found out the scores.

At the presentation of the bronze medals, the synchronized swimmers also looked confused. Later, Trofimov posted a short video with a "facepalm" on social networks. "How's that?" the athlete wrote. The duo received high marks for their difficult support, but due to an error in the protocol, they were actually reset. The Russians lagged behind the winners by 13.76 points.

"We have the highest marks among all the participants,— synchronized swimmer Alina Rumyantseva told Match TV. — Even for the first support, which went to zero, there were dozens. I am very pleased that we were so appreciated. Unfortunately, the coaches indicated the wrong code in the card, which is why the support went to the database. This is the minimum coefficient. There were no questions about the support we provided. She was rated at almost the maximum score.

— We have to be good. That's it! This is the most basic thing. We have to be so good that it's obvious to every referee," Russian national team coach Tatiana Danchenko told Izvestia.

It is impossible not to mention the conversations of Russian synchronized swimmers about the quality of water at the European Championships in Paris. The same Trofimov is indignant because of the large amount of bleach.

— There is a lot of chlorine in the water, you have to work more with glasses so that your eyes don't strain so much. Literally, we do everything without glasses once, saving energy for the performance," TASS quoted him as saying.

Doroshko also paid attention to this.

— The eyes begin to hurt very much, a veil appears. Yesterday we had a training day, and after running the free skate, we worked for half an hour without glasses. It was the first time I had this, I didn't see anything at all. That is, it even gets a little scary, especially when you dive under the water, and you have a veil, you can't see. It would be fine if you just didn't see it, but it also hurts you," she told Match TV.

On July 31, Nadezhda Trifonova, Ekaterina Belyaeva, Grigory Ivanov and Ruslan Ternovoy took our first medal at this World Cup. They took second place in the diving team competition (385 points), losing only to the Italians (410).

— There are no questions about the organization. The only thing is that there is almost not enough light in the pool. But there's no telling. Trampolinists are still fine. I'm fine on a 10-meter tower, but many foreigners complained that it was uncomfortable. But in general, there have been some of the best conditions in Europe," Ternovoy told TASS.

Russians Ilya Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina became silver medalists in the mixed synchronized three-meter springboard at the European Aquatics Championships. The athletes scored 286.17 points after five jumps. Italians Clara Pellacani and Matteo Santoro won with a score of 305.85 points. The third place was taken by the Germans Lena Hentel and Luis Sanchez (284.19 points).

Our other divers also have a good chance of winning medals. Kristina Aidarova and Ulyana Klyueva reached the finals from the meter springboard from the second and sixth places, respectively.