RIJEKA, Croatia –  Several divers have already won multiple medals at the 2026 junior world championships, but so far, the most impressive achievements came on Wednesday, as Yuan Qingcheng of China won her third gold – in a dramatic girls’ (14-15 age group) platform final that featured amazing dives followed by significant difficulties – and Russia’s Miroslav Kiselev claimed his third gold medal of the week in the boys’ 3m final.

First, the drama:

The girls’ B platform final was a quick three rounds. (Each finalist’s scores were added to her first five dives from prelims to determine the winner.)

Mia Cueva Lobato of Mexico was vying for her fourth medal in her fourth event. She was among the top three qualifiers. But on her first dive, she nearly landed on her back. The dive (an inward 2½) scored 34.10 points, and she was immediately out of contention.

“I was a little nervous,” she said, “because platform is not my strongest event.”

By the end of the first round, China’s gold-medal winning synchro partners Jiang Yuehan, 13, and Yuan Qingcheng, 14, were first and second, respectively – more than 28 points ahead of the field.

In the second round, the very first diver, American Lindy Johnson, 15, ripped a spectacular reverse 2½ to earn 72.80 points and vaulted herself up from sixth place to third behind Jiang (even though Yuan scored 86.40 points for the same dive as Jiang – an armstand back double with 1½ twists – and was now within three points of her synchro partner).

In the third round, Johnson was up first once again. Now it was her turn to execute the same dive that the Chinese girls nailed. But as Johnson was getting into her armstand, she lost her balance. Unable to recover, she twisted and flipped through the air with her limbs apart, and landed in a cat-like position facing the water. Although she quickly resurfaced and got out of the pool, the dive scored zero points and a potential bronze medal vaporized.

Shortly afterwards, her coach, John Proctor, reported, “She’s fine. She’s been struggling with that [armstand] thing a little bit this week. She did a pretty decent one in the prelim to get into the final. She just kind of panicked. Some days you’re the bug, some days you’re the windshield, you know?”

Jiang and Yuan were the last two divers. Both had planned to do a 2½ with 1½ twists. Jiang, the leader, went first and subsequently splashed the landing to stun the crowd and earn 4.0s from five of the seven judges.

Yuan, however, finished strongly to clinch her third gold, as the only diver to clear 400 points. Jiang took silver (35.75 points behind Yuan). The bronze went to Mia’s twin sister, Lia Cueva Lobato, who finished 72.80 points behind Yuan in the wide-open final.

Of Yuan’s three gold medals this week, she said her individual 10m gold was most difficult to achieve 

Silver medalist Jiang said softly in English afterwards, “The last dive was a little bit bad. I don’t know what happened. I don’t really know. I went over [rotated].”

Bronze medalist Lia Cueva Lobato said she didn’t see Johnson’s fall on the armstand. If she had, she said it would have made her extra nervous. Before her final dive, Lia simply told herself, “Believe in me. It’s your turn. You can do it!” She still has one more event. “It’s time for gold,” she said as she left the pool.

Earlier, during the four-round final of the boys’ B Group 3m event, the top-three athletes held their positions, but there was still a bit of pressure on the top two.

Ian Caleb Nava Gutierrez of Mexico began the final with the second-highest combined score from the first five dives in prelims (which would be added to his final dive scores to determine the winner). Kiselev was less than three points behind him.

In the first round, Kiselev took the lead and continued to expand it until he was up 19.30 points over Nava Gutierrez with one dive to go.  Both divers saved their hardest dive for last. Nava Gutierrez dove first. With his right thumb taped (due to an injury from platform prelims earlier in the week), the mighty Mexican nailed his double-twisting forward 2½ (with 3.4 DD) to earn the highest dive score of the final (78.20 points).

Kiselev was next. He chose the hardest dive in the contest: a 3.5 DD reverse 1½ somersaults with 3½ twists. He already had two gold medals on platform (plus a bronze in the mixed team event) but the blond Russian wasn’t about to cede the title.

When he emerged from the water, judges rewarded him with 75.25 points for a combined total of 492.95 – 16.35 points more than Nava Gutierrez, and a gaping 43.40 points ahead of bronze medalist Hayden Brinckley of Australia.

After accepting his gold (and a plushy orange mini-squid mascot) Kiselev said, “I still have one more event!”

“Actually, this [win] was harder than the platform,” Kiselev added. “I didn’t expect the gold today because big pressure and a lot of good divers from Mexico, Germany. I didn’t expect it at all.” As for his last dive, he said, “I made a lot of work on it step by step: 1 twist, 2 twists, 3 twists, with the coach. I was 70% confident of it.”

Silver medalist Nava Gutierrez said, “I feel happy. All the preparation and hard work has a great result.” Of his own last dive, with the 3.4 DD, he said, “This is the best dive on the list, most comfortable.” He will meet Kiselev again on 1m on Friday.

Brinckley, however, was done. His 3m bronze was his third medal of the week (along with 10m bronze and 10m synchro silver). Of the three, he said his 10m individual medal was both the hardest-earned and his favorite “because that’s my favorite event.” As for his 3m podium, he said, 

Coming Up: 

Thursday marks the penultimate day of the 2026 Diving Junior World Championships when the two finals will be: girls’ 3m (for ages 14-15) and boys’ platform (for ages 16-18).