Greece was one of the major movers up the rankings at the 25th European Short Course Championships in Glasgow which finished yesterday.
When the dust had settled on the competition Greece had jumped to tenth place with a medal haul that included two gold and a bronze for Andreas Vazaios and a first-ever medal by a Greek woman – on her way to winning the bronze for the 100m butterfly, Anna Dountounaki set a new national record. Greece had finished 14t in the previous championships held in 2017. On Sunday, Greece had moved to tenth position.
Vazaios won gold in the 200-metre individual medley (IM) and also in the 200m butterfly events. He earned the bronze in the 100m IM which was held just half an hour before he won the 200m event. He doubted whether he would have enough left for the longer event but he and coach Alexandros Nikolopoulos decided to take the risk.
In swimming his way to gold with a time of 1:50:23, he broke the European record set by Laszlo Czech and set the third highest time in the world. He also set a new Greek record in the semi finals of the 100m event.
A slow starter, Vazaios was eighth in the first 50m and had climbed to fourth after 100m before beating German Ramon Clents who took silver with a time of 1:51:51.
The results puts him at the peak of Greek swimming achievements to date and are an ideal preparation ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Vazaios is a two-time Olympian – at the 2012 Olympic Games he placed 26th in the 200m IM. Four years later, he qualified for the semi-final with an improved overall time of 1:59:54 earning him 11th place. He won the 200m IM at the 2016 European Championship and was ninth in 200m IM at the FINA World Championships in Budapest.
For Dountounaki, from Chania, her race to bronze was a pioneering. With a time of 56:44 in the 100m butterfly, she became the first Greek woman to ever win a medal in the history of the championship. During the semi-final race, Dountounaki set a new Pan-Hellenic record of 57:18 and was first in the first 50m of the race with a time of 26:11.
Apostolis Christou was not able to prevail in the championships. He finished eighth overall in the 50m backstroke with a time of 23:51. Just before the semifinals, he achieved a time of 23:33 which was a new national record.
Panos Velentza managed to reach the semifinals of the backstroke in the afternoon despite a poor performance in the mornin. He made it to three finals in the discipline, setting new national records in each distance that he competed in.
READ MORE: Andreas Vazaios wins second gold medal in another record-breaking performance
Meanwhile at the 44th International Airgun Competition Grand Prix held in Belgrade, Anna Korakaki took first place in the 10m event.
On her way to winning, the Greek Olympic medallist (in Rio 2016 she won gold and bronze) set a new world record with a score of 587/600. She won comfortably with a score of 243.6 points. Hungary’s Renata Riske finished second with a score of 237.2.
Korakaki competed in Belgrade with a new weapon that gave her some problems on the first day of the competition on Saturday.
