From sickbed to European Championship gold.
Diver Elna Widerström took a surprise gold on the one-metre springboard in Belgrade.
It feels completely unreal, she says to TT.
It was a double Swedish medal on the one-metre springboard as OS-qualified Emilia Nilsson Garip also took bronze.
For 20-year-old Widerström, the gold came as a complete surprise.
I've been ill for the last 1.5 weeks and haven't trained for over a week. Yesterday's training didn't go well at all, she says.
So today I just came back here and tried to find my way back to diving.
She did it so well that she dominated greatly. Widerström scored a total of 250.25 points, and the gap to second-placed Aleksandra Blazowska of Poland was almost 19 points.
Widerström has previously won a European Championship bronze in synchronised diving from 2022 together with Nilsson Garip, so this was her first individual championship medal internationally.
Widerström attends college in the USA, University of Minnesota, and her coach pushed for a European Championship gold before she headed home to Sweden.
Just dive as well as you can and you can take gold, he said. I just tried to keep his words in mind, says Widerström, who is aiming for the Olympics in four years.
I just believe Sweden has a quota spot and Emilia has taken it. So my goal is 2028, she says.
For Emilia Nilsson Garip, the bronze also came as a surprise, considering she started the final poorly.
My start to the competition wasn't what I had hoped. I missed my first two dives quite badly. So it was cool to come third, says Nilsson Garip, who took double European Championship silver last year.
The one-metre springboard is not an Olympic event, and 21-year-old Emilia Nilsson Garip has focused on the three-metre springboard, which is relevant for her in Paris.
The three-metre springboard event at the European Championship will be decided on Midsummer Eve.
