Ukraine and Italy on the first Roma 2022 artistic swimming podium as in life: together

Ukraine, the favourites, won gold in the artistic swimming’s technical team event. Italy, the host, claimed a scintillating silver, their first medal at their home European Championships. It is a special podium, the first ever in Roma 2022, which saw the triumph of the Ukrainians, welcomed to Ostia and Savona by the Italian Swimming Federation to support them in training after the outbreak of war.

Ukraine secured victory with a score of 92.5106, rewarding their freshness and elegance. A very young team, the 'oldest' being Veronika Hryshko who will be 22 on 31 August. Italy are second with 90.3772, but the win is obviously more valuable for the joy of sharing the podium with the Ukrainian 'sisters'. France placed third, after surprisingly beating Greece by almost a point and getting on the lowest step on the podium with 88.0093 points.

"Our performance is called 'Fight to Olympus' (the mountain),” Ukraine’s Maryna Aleksiva said. “Italy is our second home since it welcomed us, it has always helped and supported us. I started to learn a little Italian. People are very kind, when we walk they smile at us. All this makes victory here in Rome even more beautiful. It was a wonderful feeling to stand on the top of the podium with our friends.”

"When we were together, they helped us in refining our pushes. We know that they are the best team in the world. We are honoured to be on the podium with them and the French national team bringing home Italy's first medal at these European championships," Italy's captain Gemma Galli said.

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