Munich 2026: Day three at EA Junior Artistic Swimming Championships is good news for AIN, Spain and Italy

Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), Spain and Italy continued their impressive runs at the European Aquatics Junior Artistic Swimming Championships, each adding three medals on day three.

The AIN led the way at Munich\\\’s iconic Olympia Schwimmhalle with three gold medals, while Spain earned two silvers and a bronze and Italy added one silver and two bronze medals to their championship tally.

Italy\\\’s Ginevra Marchetti emerged as one of the standout performers of the day, claiming three medals across the three events she contested, highlighting both her consistency and the demanding schedule she successfully navigated.

The women’s solo free final produced no changes to the podium from Tuesday’s preliminaries, with the top three all holding their positions to claim the medals.

AIN’s Ekaterina Shtatnova captured the European junior title with 272.4036 points after another commanding performance of her dramatic \\\”Apocalypse Survivor\\\” routine.

Swimming with remarkable height and power from start to finish, Shtatnova impressed throughout the performance, carrying the same intensity through to the closing moments.

This victory followed her performance earlier this year when she claimed bronze at the World Cup in Xi\\\’an earlier this year with the same routine, marking her international debut.

Marchetti secured her first medal of the day as she earned silver with 255.9338. After placing second in the preliminaries, the 19-year-old Italian maintained her position with an elegant and heartfelt routine to \\\”Triste Vals\\\” by Yasmin Levy, performed with the highest degree of difficulty (DD) in the field at 59.95.

After earning five medals as part of Spain\\\’s duet and team events at last year\\\’s European Junior Championships, Naia Alvarez Vicente opened her medal account in Munich by completing the women\\\’s solo free podium with 252.4413, retaining the third place she held after the preliminaries.

Her routine, themed \\\”From Darkness to Liberation,\\\” continued a string of consistent international performances after placing fifth at the World Cup Super Final in Toronto and sixth at the Pontevedra World Cup earlier this season.

The AIN cohort secured a second gold medal of the morning as Alina Rumiantseva and Zakhar Trofimov comfortably won the mixed duet technical title with a score of 224.2434.

The defending champions bounced back emphatically after settling for silver in Wednesday\\\’s mixed duet free event, delivering a clean and technically polished swim.

Their routine, \\\”From Love to Hate,\\\” explored the rapidly shifting emotions within passionate relationships, moving from moments of happiness to conflict in an instant. It also carried the highest DD in the final at 33.05.

Spain\\\’s Martina Garcia i Boque and Eneko Sanchez Aguilar claimed silver, scoring 218.4416 for their energetic “Tuku Taka” routine and in their first international appearance together in this event.

\\\”We were a little more nervous today because this is a more difficult routine; we have to think about a lot of things,\\\” Sanchez Aguilar told European Aquatics.

\\\”We are also very happy because we had only 1.4 points of synchronization deductions. We didn\\\’t expect that at all, because in training, we weren\\\’t that together!\\\”

Sanchez Aguilar had claimed gold in the mixed duet free less than 24 hours earlier and admitted he felt the effects of the quick turnaround during the morning training session before finding his rhythm once competition began.

\\\”I was a little bit tired this morning because yesterday we didn\\\’t do recovery,” he said. “I felt very heavy in the water in training, but in the competition I felt very good, super light in the water once the routine started.\\\”

Garcia i Boque said the partnership has developed quickly over the course of the last few weeks.

\\\”Since it was our first season training together and competing together, at the beginning it was a bit hard, but I think we were able to manage quite well.

“This competition, to tell you the truth, brought us together. We connected a lot swimming and expressing the routine together.\\\”

Unveiling a brand new routine to the French singer Monroe’s “Regarde” song, Marchetti and Gabriele Minak completed the podium with 195.4750.

Although they received a basemark on their final hybrid their strong artistic impression over the rest of the field proved sufficient to secure third place.

This bronze capped an extraordinary stretch for Marchetti who, in less than 24 hours, had managed to capture three medals in total. She then went on to win another bronze in the evening’s team technical competition.

\\\”This morning was kind of busy because I had two competitions with just a 10-minute break between them,” she said after the mixed duet technical final.

“But I could manage because I really tried to take it one routine at a time, without thinking about it all together. You have to focus on one thing if you want to do it well.\\\”

Despite the demanding schedule, the Italian said she finished the morning feeling stronger than expected and looked forward to moving on to the team events, where she was due to appear across all three routines.

\\\”It is a great feeling to manage to do all of these routines, and to win medals,” she added. “Yes, I have a busy schedule but it\\\’s very satisfying; I\\\’m very proud of doing all of this, actually.\\\”

The third and final medal event of the day brought together 15 nations for the fast-paced technical team final, closing Thursday\\\’s program with a thrilling contest that remained undecided until the very end.

The AIN collected a third gold medal of the day with a commanding performance that earned a score of 280.6967. Swimming fifth, they set a mark that none of the remaining contenders could surpass.

Their routine, set to a medley of songs by Madonna, combined a contemporary feel with entertaining choreography that clearly resonated with both the athletes and the crowd.

Although the routine featured a DD of 44.05, actually outside the top three in the field, the team\\\’s exceptional execution, precise technical elements, clear pattern changes and impressive height throughout proved decisive.

Reigning champions Spain closed the competition as the final team to perform, producing another energetic and crowd-pleasing routine to \\\”Mambo\\\” that earned 274.6542 points and the silver medal.

The choreography is adapted from the routine performed by Spain\\\’s senior national team at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where it won the bronze medal.

With a DD of 45.90, the second-highest of the final, the Spanish swimmers once again showcased the playful character and infectious energy that has become a hallmark of the routine.

Italy, silver medalists a year ago, ultimately secured the bronze medal with a total of 263.559 after a successful appeal overturned an eight-point penalty that had initially dropped them off the podium, meaning they moved ahead of Belarus.

Swimming to the Eurythmics classic “Sweet Dreams”, the Italians entered the final with the highest DD in the field at 46.00 and received full credit for all of their elements. Their ambitious routine, combined with strong artistic impression, secured another European junior team medal for the nation.

The action continues tomorrow with three medal events once more, starting with the duet technical final at 10:00, followed by the men’s solo technical final. Then, the show-stopping team acrobatic final will close out the day at 18:00.

Christina Marmet for European Aquatics