European Aquatics Athlete of the Yr Awards 2025: males’s excessive diving nominees

European Aquatics has introduced the nominees for the boys’s excessive diving athlete of the yr, recognising a bunch of divers who outlined a landmark season for the self-discipline and underlined Europe’s place on the forefront of the game.

With depth rising and pathways increasing forward of the European Aquatics Championships 2026 in Paris, the shortlist captures a yr that confirmed European excessive diving as a real international drive.

The 2025 marketing campaign was one of the aggressive and visual in latest reminiscence, with European athletes shaping the narrative throughout the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, the World Aquatics High Diving World Cup cease at Porto Flavia and the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series. Against that backdrop, the shortlisted athletes every produced performances that stood out for his or her high quality, consistency and influence.

Spain’s Carlos Gimeno is nominated following a one in all his greatest years up to now. At the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, he delivered a sequence of composed, high-difficulty dives to safe an outstanding silver medal in a fiercely contested males’s occasion, main the competitors at a number of phases. Gimeno carried that kind into the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, the place a number of podium finishes earned him third place total. That, coupled with a third-place end on the World Cup, rounded off a season that firmly established him among the many world’s elite and units up a tantalising run for 2026.

Romania’s Constantin Popovici as soon as once more demonstrated his popularity as one in all excessive diving’s most dependable performers. At the World Championships, he recovered from a shaky begin and put in a sequence of world-class dives because the occasion got here to a detailed to assert bronze, rising on high of a tightly fought three-way battle for the rostrum. His consistency continued all year long, culminating in second place total within the Red Bull sequence, the place he remained in rivalry till the ultimate spherical. He additionally took a podium end within the World Cup cease, as he completed in second.

Gary Hunt options on yet one more shortlist following a yr that noticed him as soon as once more end amongst the world’s greatest. Although he completed sixth on the World Aquatics Championships, the French diver was a relentless presence close to the highest of the sphere all year long. His consistency throughout various venues and situations proved decisive within the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, the place a sequence of podium finishes secured him the general title, which is seen by many excessive divers as probably the most fascinating accolade.

Another Romanian nominee, Catalin Preda, impressed along with his performances on the game’s greatest stage. He completed fifth on the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, persevering with a pattern of robust championship outcomes and contributing to the nation’s rising depth and affect in males’s excessive diving. More top-eight finishes at each of the opposite competitions continued his good displaying all through 2025, and 2026 will virtually definitely see him as a drive to be reckoned with.

Italy’s Andrea Barnaba completes the shortlist after ending joint sixth with Hunt on the World Championships. Competing in one of the aggressive males’s fields seen in recent times, Barnaba’s efficiency positioned him firmly among the many main European divers and highlighted the rising energy of the self-discipline throughout the continent. An spectacular displaying on the Red Bull sequence additional confirmed the clear upward trajectory for the younger athlete.

Click right here to see the nominees for all classes and to vote to your winner.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics