Russian Dmitry Sautin won an unprecedented sixth three-metre springboard diving title at the European swimming championships.

Sautin, who turned 34 last Saturday, seized the lead from newly crowned one-metre springboard champion Illya Kvasha in the fifth round of the six-dive final with a magnificent reverse 2 and 1/2 somersaults piked which earned him five perfect 10s and two 9.5s from the seven judges.

Ukrainian Kvasha, 20, maintained the pressure with a strong sixth effort but Sautin, the most prolific medal winner in Olympic diving, more than matched him with the last dive of the final to retain his title by 25 points with an aggregate total of 493.70 points.

Kvasha took silver with 468.70 and Finland's Juha Puhakka, Wednesday's one-metre silver medallist behind the Ukrainian, claimed bronze with 441.80.

"I don't yet know whether I'll retire after the Olympic Games in Beijing. But why should I?" Sautin, the 1996 Olympic platform champion, said.

"At my advanced age of 34 I still have a word to say among the world's top divers. The Chinese are not unbeatable either."

Sautin previously won the European three-metre title in 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002 and 2006 and was silver medallist in 1993. No other man has won it more than three times.

Sautin has won 16 European medals, 11 of them gold. "Of course I'm particularly happy with my 11th European title," he said. His Olympic tally is seven medals, two of them gold, and his world championship medal count is nine, including five gold.

Reuters