Gkolomeev Secures Olympic Bid In 50 Free, Vasilaki Downs Greek Women’s 400 Free Record

2024 GREEK NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, May 17th – Sunday, May 19th
• Thessaloniki, Greece
• LCM (50m)
• Olympic Qualification Event
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

Day 2 of the 2024 Greek National Swimming Championships brought about additional qualifications for this summer’s Olympic Games, including 30-year-old Kristian Gkolomeev.

Racing in the men’s 50m freestyle, the 2019 World Championships silver medalist fired off a winning time of 21.93. That performance garnered the veteran a 13th consecutive victory in the splash n’ dash, earning him an Olympic berth in the event.

Gkolomeev’s time dipped under the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 21.96.

He was the only swimmer to accomplish the feat as Odysseas Meladinis earned silver in 22.30 while U23 champion Stergios-Marios Bilas reaped bronze in 22.65.

Already earning a Paris bid in the 200m back, Apostolos Christou doubled up with an impressive outing in the 100m sprint.

Christou touched in a time of 53.17 to take the event for an 11th time, clearing the OQT of 53.74 in the process.

Behind Christou was Vangelis Makrygianni who fell painstakingly shy of the Paris mark in 53.87 while Apostolos Sisko rounded out the podium in 54.81.

On the women’s side, 28-year-old European champion Anna Ntountounaki produced a winning effort of 58.96 to get to the wall first in the 100m fly.

For the 7th consecutive year, Nountounaki topped the podium, although she needed to beat the OQT of 57.92 to earn an Olympic berth.

Additional Notes

• Artemis Vasilaki won the women’s 400m freestyle in a new lifetime best of 4:11.47. That shaved .12 off the Greek national record of 4:11.59 Zoe Dimoshakis put on the books at nearly 25 years ago at the 2001 European Junior Championships.
• The women’s 50m free saw Nora Drakou clock a time of 25.26 to earn her 9th national championship victory in this event over the course of her career.