Great showing for young Greeks rowers in Belarus
Greece finished second overall in the medal count, winning five golds, one silver, and one bronze at the European U23 Rowing Championships in Brest, Belarus.
The stars for Greece were no doubt the girls from Thessaloniki in the women’s pair, as 17-year-olds Christina Bourmpou and Maria Kyridou won gold in the event, beating out teams with girls much older than them. The girls, who already won gold together at the World Junior Championships earlier this summer, are expected to dominate this event at the U23 level for many years to come. 19-year-old Antonios Papakonstantinou and 18-year-old Ioannis Marokos won gold in the lightweight men’s pair, after having won silver together at this year’s World Junior Championships. Like Bourmpou and Kyridou, they are also part of the bright future of Greek rowing.
In the lightweight men’s double sculls, 20-year-old Ninos Nikolaidis and 17-year-old Petros Gkaidatzis won gold. In the women’s version of that event, 20-year-old Thomais Emmanouilidou and 18-year-old Eleni Agioti won the gold medal. Rio 2016 finalist Stefanos Ntouskos teamed up with this year’s U23 World Champion, 19-year-old Christos Stergiakas, to win gold in the men’s double sculls.
In the women’s double sculls, 20-year-old Dimitra Tsamopoulou and 19-year-old Anneta Kyridou won the silver medal. In the men’s pair, 21-year-old Spyridon Kalentzis and 20-year-old Ioannis Kalandaridis won the bronze. 19-year-old Charalampos Ntinenis finished fifth in the lightweight men’s single sculls, while 18-year-old Grigorios Schizodimos came in eighth place in the men’s single sculls. With most of this year’s team being significantly younger than 23, it is clear that Greece has a bright future in the sport of rowing. These rowers will get the chance to show that in front of their home crowd, as the 2019 European U23 Rowing Championships will be held next September in Ioannina, Greece.
Romania finished first in the medal count with eight gold medals, with Greece coming in second with five golds, one silver, and one bronze. Germany finished third with four golds and three bronzes, and hosts Belarus finished with one gold, six silvers, and one bronze. Last year, Greece had just won two medals in the event. Kalandaridis and Stergiakas won gold in the men’s double sculls, and Maria Kyridou and Tsamopoulou won silver in the women’s double sculls.
GREEK MEDALS AT THE 2018 EUROPEAN U23 ROWING CHAMPIONSHIPS:
GOLD
Lightweight Men’s Pair: Antonios Papakonstantinou, Ioannis Marokos
Men’s Double Sculls: Stefanos Ntouskos, Christos Stergiakas
Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls: Petros Gkaidatzis, Ninos Nikolaidis
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls: Thomais Emmanouilidou, Eleni Agioti
Women’s Pair: Maria Kyridou, Christina Bourmpou
SILVER
Women’s Double Sculls: Dimitra Tsamopoulou, Anneta Kyridou
BRONZE
Men’s Pair: Ioannis Kalandaridis, Spyridon Kalentzis
