Ukraine's Diving Team Finishes in the Top Three of the 2026 European Junior Championships Medal Table

Team Ukraine won the second-highest medal count, including three golds.

The European Junior Diving Championships have wrapped up in Budapest, Hungary, with Ukraine finishing third in the overall medal table. The national team, represented by 12 athletes, won 14 medals in total, three of them gold.

For comparison, in 2025 the team won 12 medals, including six golds, topping the medal table that year. The top three that year also included the 'neutral athletes' and Germany, who once again finished among Europe's best teams this year.

How Ukrainian Athletes Fared at the 2026 European Junior Diving Championships

• The first day of the 2026 championships opened with the mixed team event. There, Ukrainians Sofiia Vystavkina, Yelyzaveta Diadiuk, Nazarii Kononenko, and Valerii Malieiev finished third, opening Ukraine's medal count for the tournament.
• On the second day of competition, the national team won four medals at once. Tournament debutant Alina Polonets and Nazarii Kononenko stood out in the individual events, along with the Kononenko/Malieiev and Esman/Shevchenko synchro pairs.
• Two bronzes came on day three, courtesy of Dmytro Stepanov and Sofiia Vystavkina. Dmytro, notably, made his debut in the 'A' age category, which features athletes aged 16–18.

• The following day, the national team swept a full set of medals — Valerii Malieiev and Dmytro Stepanov brought home bronze in synchro, Nazarii Kononenko took silver, and Alina Polonets triumphed at the European Championships for the second time, winning gold on the 1m springboard. That brought the team's total to 10 medals over four days.
• Team Ukraine's medal haul later grew by four more. Two of them came courtesy of senior national team member Kseniia Bochek, and two more from Valerii Malieiev and the Alina Polonets/Daria Poliakova pair.

All of Ukraine's Medals at the European Junior Diving Championships in Budapest

• Gold: Nazarii Kononenko (1m springboard, group B), Alina Polonets (3m springboard, group B, and 1m springboard, group B);
• Silver: Nazarii Kononenko (platform, group B), Nazarii Kononenko and Valerii Malieiev (platform, synchro), Alina Polonets and Daria Poliakova (3m springboard, synchro);

• Bronze: Sofiia Vystavkina, Yelyzaveta Diadiuk, Nazarii Kononenko, Valerii Malieiev (mixed team event), Kseniia Bochek (1m springboard, group A, and 3m springboard, group A), Dmytro Stepanov (1m springboard, group A), Sofiia Vystavkina (platform, group A), Sofia Esman and Diana Shevchenko (platform, synchro), Valerii Malieiev and Dmytro Stepanov (3m springboard, synchro), Valerii Malieiev (3m springboard, group A).

2026 European Junior Diving Championships Medal Table

1. Russia — 17 medals (9 gold + 6 silver + 2 bronze)
2. Germany — 9 (5+2+2)
3. Ukraine — 14 (3+3+8)

In total, the European Championships brought together 158 athletes from 27 countries. Medals at the continental championships, however, went to athletes from just nine of them.

The next international diving events this season are the senior European Championships, taking place July 31–August 6 in Paris, and the Junior World Championships, hosted by Rijeka, Croatia, August 21–28.