Gay teen diver has a boyfriend and now a world gold medal
Italy’s Matteo Santoro and Chiara Pellacani are world champions. Santoro’s boyfriend, elite diver Max Linan, sent an emotional message. The post Gay teen diver has a boyfriend and now a world gold medal appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
Italy’s Matteo Santoro has become a world champion, after just this month going public about his relationship with boyfriend and fellow elite diver, Max Linan.
Santoro, 18, and his mixed 3-meter springboard partner Chiara Pellacani claimed gold medals Wednesday at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly playbook is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
Italy had never previously won gold in a synchro event at a World Championships.
The duo finished ahead of Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau and Maddison Keeney, who took silver, with the Chinese pair of Cheng Zilong and Li Yajie winning bronze.
Earlier this month, Santoro’s relationship wth 19-year-old Linan was confirmed when the latter posted to Instagram to celebrate one year of dating.
Related
These 2 gay teen divers celebrate first anniversary as boyfriends
Gay teen divers Max Linan and Matteo Santoro have been together a year and will compete at the World Aquatics Championships.
It was the first time the couple had gone public about their relationship, with Linan also confirming to Outsports that they are both gay.
Linan is competing at the World Championships too, for Spain. He placed 23rd out of 59 entrants in the 1m springboard competition Sunday, and was 14th alongside compatriot Juan Cortes in the men’s 3m synchro the next day.
Both Santoro and Linan are entered into the 3m springboard event, which begins Thursday.
Linan posted to his Instagram story to congratulate his boyfriend and Pellacani, using gold medal and ‘happy cry’ emojis.
Rome-born Santoro is a diving phenom who competed in his first senior World Championships in Budapest in 2022, winning silver alongside Pellacani.
The pair now have eight medals in mixed synchro between the World Championships, European Championships and European Games. Santoro previously said they are “almost like brother and sister.”
After their victory in Singapore, Santoro shared his excitement with supporters.
“I’m so happy,” he said. “With Chiara, I can remain calm. I did breathing exercises, distracting myself. Tomorrow I have the 3-meter individual. I’m celebrating, but I’ll have to reset immediately.”
In August, Santoro will move to the University of Miami to become part of the Hurricanes swim and dive team. Pellacani is already based there.
“We know each other very well, and that helps us,” she said of her diving partner. “We know how we dive, and I can’t wait for Matteo to join me in Miami so we can train more.”
Other gay male divers who have won titles at the World Championships include the USA’s Greg Louganis (five gold medals, 1978-1986); Great Britain’s Tom Daley (four gold medals, 2009 to 2024); and Australia’s Mathew Helm (synchro gold in 2003).
Subscribe to the Outsports newsletter to keep up with your favorite out athletes, inspiring LGBTQ sports stories, and more.
The post Gay teen diver has a boyfriend and now a world gold medal appeared first on Outsports.
