Apostolos Siskos Sets Greek 200 Back Record To Become First Man Inside 1:55 This Year
Apostolos Siskos set a national 200 back record of 1:54.66 at the Greek Championships in Thessaloniki to become the first man inside 1:55 this year.
The 2024 European silver medallist followed up his 1:55.18 at the Giant Open in Paris the previous week as he took 0.16 from the previous national record of of 1:54.82 set by Apostolos Christou on his way to an historic silver at Paris 2024 as he became the first Greek man to win a medal in the pool since 1896. That had been a PB for Siskos who shaved 0.52 from his time this weekend.
Christou was second in 1:57.08 with Apostolos Papastamos third in 1:58.76.
The four-day meet acts as trials for the World Championships in Singapore.
Christou claimed his 12th gold medal across all his Greek Championships appearances as he topped the men’s 100m backstroke in 52.55, well inside the QT for Singapore.
Evangelos Makrygiannis was second in 54.35 followed by Siskos who rounded out the podium in 54.83.
European champion Apostolos Papastamos made the Singapore QT in the 400IM as he stopped the clock in 4:14.37 which followed the 200IM where he fell just 0.03 shy of the 1:59.05 time he needed for the worlds.
Nikoletta Pavlopoulou broke the women’s Greek 100m breaststroke record in 1:08.39 as she lowered Angeliki Exarchou’s 1:09.98 that had stood since 2009.
Artemis Vasilaki also set a national record in the women’s 200IM, lowering Pavlopoulou’s standard to 2:13.91.
Anna Ntountounaki won her 11th consecutive title in the specialty by touching in 26.41 and Dimitrios Markos won his third straight 200 free title in 1:47.06.