Synchronous victories: Russia pursues leaders before the decisive starts of the Water World Cup

On Monday, August 10, the final week of the European Aquatics Championships starts in Paris. On this day, swimming competitions will begin in the pool, where Russia expects to take about 20 awards. But the results of our team in the first part of the championship can already be assessed. Synchronized swimmers, divers, open water swimmers and divers have completed the program. The total is 13 medals: five gold, four silver and four bronze. Seven of them were brought by synchronized swimmers, six by jumpers, while in the other two disciplines the Russians did not climb the podium.

Foursome performance

The synchronized swimming team has shown the best result among Russian athletes in Paris so far. She finished the tournament with seven awards — three gold, one silver and three bronze. We got all three victories in the group exercises.

The first gold was won in the free skate. The Russians scored 285.0346 points, the Spaniards - 282.3541. Before the final part of the composition, the coaching staff decided to increase the complexity of one of the bundles, and the experiment worked. This was followed by victories in technical and acrobatic programs.

It is important to note three points. Firstly, in each of the disciplines, we beat the Spaniards, who before the tournament stated that they were going to the French capital solely for the highest-quality awards. This is probably why our main rivals reacted painfully to their silver medals, including accusing our national team of plagiarism in the free skate.

The Spaniards, who were trendsetters in synchronized swimming in the Old World during our ban, lost three Olympic disciplines out of three in the groups. This proves that we have returned to the global stage competitive. Despite the fact that synchronized swimming has become a different sport during the suspension period, as many experts said.

Secondly, we have brought an updated national team to the World Cup 2026. If we leave out the experienced Maya Doroshko, we have a very young team. Valeria Plekhanova is 16, Elena Shabanova is 17, Kira Cherezova, Svetlana Pavlova, Olga Tyutyunik, Evelina Simonova are 18, Ekaterina Kossova and Elizabeth Smirnova are 21. That means that the girls potentially have at least three Olympic cycles ahead of them. And the first experience of a big international launch in Paris will be a good help for them for further success.

Leadership conflicts: Russia wins in synchronized swimming again

Our girls won the second gold of the European Championship

Thirdly, our team scored a golden hat-trick with a new coach, the legendary Svetlana Romashina, who had almost no similar experience before. Except for the 2022 World Cup, where, together with Alexandra Patskevich and Vlada Chigireva, they staged the program of the Italian national team, which eventually won the bronze.

The seven-time Olympic champion was appointed head coach of the Russian national team in January 2026. Tatiana Pokrovskaya, who has led our team since 1997, announced her retirement in November 2025 and presented Romashina as her successor.

At that time, not everyone took the news positively, noting that there are more experienced specialists in our synchronized swimming. Therefore, the first major start of the national team under the leadership of Romashina was viewed under a magnifying glass, and now we can say that the renowned champion coped with her task. In addition to the results, this is evidenced by the feedback from experts, including Pokrovskaya, as well as the reaction of the team, who happily dragged their mentor into the pool.

— Besides Svetlana Romashina, I want to pay tribute to Roman Izmailov, the coach of our acrobatics team. I know that there wasn't much time, there were a lot of other tasks. He's a great guy, a real coach," Tatiana Pokrovskaya emphasized in an interview with Izvestia.

At the same time, Romashina herself evaluates the performance of her wards to the "four". The reasons are also clear. The Russians failed to win in duets. Maya Doroshko and Elizaveta Minaeva became the second in the technical program, losing to Anna-Maria and Eirini-Marina Alexandri from Greece. Doroshko and Alexandra Schmidt took the third place in the free duet. Zakhar Trofimov won two more bronze medals in the technical solo and he and Alina Rumyantseva won the mixed duets technical program.

Therefore, seven medals does not mean complete superiority in all types of programs. In general, Great Britain was higher in the synchronized swimming medal standings, largely due to the results of Ranjo Tomblin in men's solo and mixed duets (however, these are not Olympic programs).

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The Golden double of Thorn

The divers added six medals to the Russian result — two gold, three silver and one bronze. Athletes from Russia took the third place in the final table of their discipline. Italy is higher with five gold awards and Germany with three.

Ruslan Ternovoy became the main figure of the Russian team. First, he and Nikita Schleicher won the synchronized jumping from a ten-meter tower. The pair, who became the silver medalist of the World Cup a year earlier, received 96.12 points in one of the jumps. Then Ternovoy won the individual competition on the tower. The Russian's fifth jump was rated at 100.8 points, after which the first place was secured for him even before the final attempt.

— To be honest, it was a very difficult year, I couldn't do a lot of things, — admitted Ternovoy on Match TV. — I won the Russian Cup, but the total points were small. Later in the World Cups, I was in bad shape, my knee hurt, and now it hurts too. I was already in optimal shape for the Russian Championship, and I was also in good shape for the European Championship. Thank God that everything worked out, I am very glad.

But the six jump awards are not the result of a single Thorn. On the first day, a mixed team consisting of Nadezhda Trifonova, Grigory Ivanov, Ekaterina Belyaeva and Ternovoy won silver. The Russians scored 385.8 points and lost to the Italians. Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nikita Schleicher became the second in the synchronized three—meter springboard, Ilya Molchanov and Elizaveta Kuzina received another silver in the mixed three-meter synchron with 286.17.

The only bronze medal was won by 18-year-old Trifonova in the individual three-meter springboard. She scored 312.4 points, losing to Italian Chiara Pellacani and British Yasmin Harper. After the final, the Russian told the official website of the European Aquatics Federation that this medal meant the beginning of a serious career for her and gave her confidence in her ability to compete with elite-level athletes.

At the same time, there is still a reserve here. Ulyana Klyueva was fourth on the one-meter springboard, Trifonova, along with Ksenia Klyueva, stopped next to the podium in the women's three-meter synchron.

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In open water — without a pedestal

The Russian part of the competition on the Seine turned out to be quite different. Open water swimmers finished the European Championships without medals. Ekaterina Sorokina came closest to the top three several times. At a distance of 10 km, she took sixth place, at five kilometers — seventh, and showed the best result in the new three-kilometer knockout sprint format — fifth place. In the final, Sorokina lost to the victorious German Isabelle Gose by 11.1 seconds. Anastasia Saratova also got into the top ten at five kilometers, taking ninth place.

The men's results were more modest: Vladimir Muratov was the best in five kilometers, finishing 15th, Vladimir Ivanov was 19th, and Alexander Stepanov was 20th. On the final day, the Russian team took fifth place in the 4×1500 m mixed relay.

Germany, Italy, Hungary and France shared the gold in various open water disciplines.

The high diving ended without a reward for us. 17-year-old Pavel Istomin, the youngest participant in the men's competition, took 12th place. However, our young athlete has gained invaluable experience, which, for sure, will contribute to his progress.

Thus, before the start of classical swimming, Russia is in fourth place in the overall standings (13 medals, 5-4-4). Athletes from Great Britain (10, 6-2-4), Germany (18, 7-5-6) and Italy (21, 7-7-9) ranked higher.