Ilia Molchanov and Nikita Nikolaev were the dominant pair in the men’s synchronised three metre springboard final ©Getty Images

Ilia Molchanov and Nikita Nikolaev claimed Baku 2015 European Games gold in style as the pairing finished well clear of their competitors in the men’s synchronised three metre springboard final here tonight.

Molchanov had been leading yesterday’s one metre springboard individual event only to be forced to settle for silver by his compatriot Nikita Shleikher.

There was no danger of a repeat here as in a straight final Molchanov and Nikolaev took an early lead and increased built upon it in every round to post a winning total of 324.69.

Their final three dives of the five-dive competition scored over 70 points, which underlined their dominance over the field, as only Britain’s James Heatly and Ross Haslam were able to score over that mark out of the remaining pairs.

The British duo’s fourth round dive, a forward 3½ somersault in pike position, earned a score of 71.61, helping them to a final total of 286.05.

It proved enough to earn them silver, giving Heatly his second medal of the Games having won bronze in yesterday’s one metre springboard competition.

Russia's Maria Polykova's produced two excellent final dives to win the women's platform final as Maria Polykova’s penultimate dive of the four round competition moved her into the gold medal position, which she was then able to secure with a solid final dive.

Russia's Maria Polykova's produced two excellent final dives to win the women's platform
Russia's Maria Polykova's produced two excellent final dives to win the women's platform ©Getty Images

Germany's Nico Herzog and Frithjof Seidel earned bronze with their final dive of the event, as they took advantage of a poorly executed dive  by Switzerland’s Jan Wermelinger and Fabian Stepinski to complete the podium with their score of 284.22.

Russia then clinched their second gold of the night in the women’s platform final as Maria Polykova’s penultimate dive of the four-round competition moved her into the gold medal position, which she was then able to secure with a solid final dive.

Her fellow Russian Ekaterina Nekrasova had qualified for the final in first position, but was replaced at the top of the leaderboard by Germany’s Louisa Stawczynski and Ukraine's Diana Shelestyuk after the second round, with the German leading by just 0.25.

Although the pair were surpassed by Polykova into the gold medal position, their battle for the silver medal was one of the highlights of the competition, with Stawczynski eventually prevailing with her score of 392.20 points.

Shelestyuk completed the podium on 388.45, while Nekrasova recovered from indifferent second and third dives but ended up missing out on the medals with a score of 386.80.



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