Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou wins gold to become European Champion

Greece’s Apostolos Christou won gold in the men's backstroke at the European Championships in Rome, breaking also the Greek record in the category, reported World Swimming magazine.

Apostolos Christou set a Greek record of 24.36 en-route to the gold medal in the 50 backstroke at the European Championships in Rome.

According to the news report, this was the fourth European medal for Christou but his first in the 50m, having claimed bronze in the 100 back at the last three editions, as he took 0.03 off his national mark of 24.39 from the World Championships in June.

“That was a fantastic race in a fantastic atmosphere.” said Christou,

“When I came out and I saw the crowd and heard the cheering that really pumped me up, it gave me a lot of energy even if the cheering was for Ceccon but that just made me more competitive.

“That’s my personal best and it came with a gold medal!

“So I’m a European champion now, I cannot be any much happier!”

Christou competed for Greece at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In the men's 100 metre backstroke competition, he placed 18th in the heats with a time of 54.12 seconds and did not qualify for the semifinals.

In the men's 200 metre backstroke competition, he placed 24th in the heats with a time of 1:59.78 and did not qualify for the semifinals.

Christou also swam on the men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay team for Greece. They placed 15th in the heats and did not qualify for the final.