RIJEKA, Croatia – Everyone seemed to be tested on Day 2 of the Junior World Championships.

Saturday’s first final was an exercise in patience when an intense and sudden rainstorm interrupted the girls’ synchro platform event in the third round. The attempted re-start was delayed further when nature failed to relent. When it finally did, it tested the strength of the youngest competitors. China was looking for its first gold of these championships, and it was up to the youngest athletes in the field to produce it: 13-year-old Jiang Yuehan and 14-year-old Yuan Qingcheng, both of Shanghai.

The girls only started to dive together last month, but Jiang and Yuan took the lead in round 2 and held it to claim gold for China.

The same event tested Suri Cueva Lobato, 16, who was charged with bringing her family its third medal in two days. On Friday, Suri’s younger twin sisters, Mia and Lia, finished 1-2 the 1m girls springboard event for ages 14-15. Could Suri and her synchro partner Adriana Torres Martin, 16, combine to give Mexico (and her family) its third medal of these championships? Yes. They claimed silver, 25.26 points behind China.

Then came the test for bronze. Australia’s Ruby Drogemuller, 18, (a 2024 silver medalist in synchro platform) and Maggie Grey, 16, (the 2024 junior world champion in individual platform) clung to a top-three position through four rounds. But the gap was closing. On the fifth and final dive, the 2026 junior European champions, Russia’s Viktoria Kazantseva, 18, and Aleksandra Kedrina, 16, overtook the Aussies by 1.08 points to claim bronze.

Next, in the boys’ 3m (ages 16-18) final, all the pressure was on Finn Awe, 17, of Germany. Two years ago, he swept gold in the boys' 1m and 3m springboard (ages 14-15) at the Junior World Championships. Earlier this year, he won the junior European title on 3m. He was the top qualifier for Saturday’s final, too.

By the fourth round, Awe had built a 20.65-point edge over his shadow on the leaderboard, Russia’s Matvei Pomoshnikov, 18, who was equally hungry and had just beaten Awe and his synchro partner on Friday to take the first silver medal here. 

In the end, Awe’s final dive, a double-twisting forward 2½, was good enough to clinch the German’s first gold in the 16-18 age group. Pomoshnikov took his second silver in two days. Joining them on the podium was Fiji’s first Junior World Championships medalkist in history: Maori Pomeroy Farrell, who was born in Canada, trains in Mexico, and speaks Fijian, Spanish and English.

Find out what everyone had to say afterwards.

Girls Synchro Platform

After winning the girls’ synchro platform gold on Saturday, Jiang, 13, said in English, “I know I’m the youngest and I’m a little bit nervous today.

Fellow gold medallist Yuan, 14, said that even though she and Jiang had only been diving together since July, their partnership works, because at home “we change partners a lot, so I have the capacity to be suitable for different competitors.”

Silver medallist Cueva Lobato, said her coach paired her with Torres Martin in Guadalajara five months ago. “I had another synchro partner before Adriana, but Adriana is my favourite because our synchronization is really good.” As for the twins, she said, “My sisters motivate me every day. I love them.”

Torres Martin, 16, added, “This was our first time training in the rain. At home, we have two pools, one inside and one outside but for the last two months, we train inside.”

Bronze medallist Kazantseva, 18, said she had no idea she and Kedrina were in fourth place for three of the five rounds. “I didn’t look,” she said, but “our whole programme, we tried to everything correct. We fought until the end [knowing] every dive could be crucial to the medal.”

Kedrina, 16, started diving with Kazantseva two years ago. Kazantseva is a second-year university student studying to be a sport coach, and Kedrina is in her final year of high school. “Next year will be hard,” said Kedrina, the younger diver, “because I’ll have exams to graduate from school, exams to get into university and still be competing.”

Boys' 3m springboard (ages 16-18)

Gold medalilst Awe said, “In the fourth round and had to do 107B and was slightly over, so it was close and I focused on the last dive. For me, [this gold] is very special because it’s on another level. Youth is very easy dives. The A [group] is much harder and closer to men’s springboard. After this, I compete 1m on Tuesday, then I have holidays and prepare for the next season.”

Silver medalist Pomoshnikov said his second silver – and first individual one – in Rijeka “means a lot for me. It’s my debut into the world arena. Not everything was perfect. A lot can be improved, but I’m happy with what I got. I’m on ninth cloud.”

Pomoshnikov didn’t know he was chasing Awe in every round. “I didn’t watch results,” he said. “I was focused on myself, concentrating on my deep power. I don’t use any special words. I just think about the next dive and remind myself the best dives I had while training, how to compete, how to get into the flow.

It will be more interesting in the 1m competition.” Asked why, he replied, “I’ll win!”

Bronze medalist Pomeroy Farrell, 17, was super-proud to bring Fiji its first junior world championship diving medal, explaining that “on Monday, I sprained my right ankle in warm up, doing dome hurdles. I felt my ankle roll over. I’ve been working through it and I’ve been praying to God that my results would be as best as possible,” adding:

After saying a few words in Fijian, Pomeroy Farrell explained, “I was born in Vancouver, raised in Canada. My father’s from Fiji. We moved to Mexico to train diving in January 2019. I’ve been training in Guadalajara ever since. My coach is Salvador Chavez and Ivan Bautista.”  Pomeroy Farrell will also have another shot at a medal in the Boys A 1m event on Tuesday.

Up Next:

More immediately, Sunday’s two finals will be in Girls’ 1m (ages 16-18), followed by Boys’ Platform (ages 14-15). 

Scheduling note: the Mixed Team event is now slated for Monday at 17:30 local time. (It was postponed on Friday due to thunderstorms.)