Paris: bronze and national record for Siskos

Greek swimmer Apostolos Siskos finished third in the 200m butterfly at the 38th European Swimming Championships in Paris on Saturday, 15 August 2026, setting a national record with a time of 1:54.13. The Greek swimmer had already broken the previous national record in the semi-final and improved it further in the final. This is his second medal at the championships, after the silver he won in the 200m backstroke, and his third European medal, following a silver in Belgrade in 2024. The 200m butterfly final took place on Saturday evening in the Paris swimming venue.

According to the Greek Swimming Federation, Siskos’s bronze represents Greece’s 45th medal in the history of European swimming championships. In his statement after the award, the athlete dedicated the medal «to our country» and to «the firefighters fighting fires,» referring to the active fires on Skyros, Andros, and other areas of the country on the same day. The 200m butterfly is considered one of the most technically challenging swimming events, combining the most difficult movement technique with a distance requiring pace management. Greek presence in these races has been historically limited.

The Greek team had other successes at the same meet. Artemis Vasilaki qualified for her third final in the 400m freestyle, while the men’s 4x100m mixed relay team set a national record, missing qualification for the final by just 34 hundredths of a second. Earlier at the championships, Apostolos Christou had easily qualified for the 100m backstroke final and finished fourth in the 50m backstroke with a national record. The Greek Swimming Federation characterized this championship as one of the most productive of recent years for the national team.

The achievement comes days after Greek successes at the European Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, where Antigone Drispioti and Penny Tsinopoulou finished fourth and fifth respectively in the marathon race walk, as TodayGrid reported. The Greek summer in athletics was completed by Miltos Tentoglou’s fourth European title in the long jump. These performances gain additional significance as the next cycle of qualifications for major international competitions approaches. The Greek swimming team has been on an upward trajectory in recent years, with consecutive national records in individual and team events, while the Paris championship continues with two more days of competition.