2024 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- 10-15 December 2024
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Ungheria
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Roster index
The Greek national team has announced its roster for the Budapest Short Course World Championships, noting a significant absence: Apostolos Christou. The 27-year-old, silver medalist in the 200m backstroke in Paris and just off the podium in the 100m, is not on the list of entrants for the Hungarian capital.
His coach Panagiotis Velentzas said that they made this decision in order to focus on the most important event of 2025: LCM World championships in Singapore. Christou has already competed in five consecutive editions of the championship, with his first appereance in Doha 2014, leading to Melbourne 2022. In Abu Dhabi he finished 8th/6th in 50 back and 7th/8th in the 100 back. The greek swimmer owns a medal from every major competition (LCM Worlds and Euro, SCM Euro and now Olympic Games), but he’s missing one in the SCM Worlds. Christou will try to achieve it in 2026, when he will be 30.
Despite this news, two other Apostoloses will carry the honor of Greece: Apostolos Siskos and Apostolos Papastamos. Both are quite young, at 19 and 23 years old, respectively, and both reached the semifinals in Paris.
Siskos, who will compete in the 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly, participated in the former event in Paris, finishing 14th with a time of 1:57.77. Papastamos, who is specialized in the 200m and 400m IM, is the reigning European champion in the longer distance,won gold at the European Championships in Serbia last June. The 23-year-old also swam at the Defense Arena in Paris, finishing 15th in the 400m medley and 16th in the 200m.
In addition to the many swimmers from the youth divisions, there is also an Olympic athlete and veteran of the national team. Nora Drakou will compete in the 50m backstroke and 50m freestyle, events in which she holds both national records. The first (27.40) was set when she won silver at the European Championships in Belgrade in 2024, and the second (24.69) was set at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.
MEN
- Apostolos Siskos (200m backstroke/200m butterfly)
- Dimitris Markos (200m freestyle/400m freestyle/800m freestyle)
- Konstantinos Englezakis (100m freestyle/200m freestyle)
- Vangelis Makrygiannis (50m backstroke/100m backstroke)
- Georgios-Arkadios Aspougalis (50m breaststroke/100m breaststroke)
- Daniel Iourtzidis (100m medley/400m medley)
- Apostolos Papastamos (200m medley/400m medley)
WOMEN
- Marilia Drasidou (50m breaststroke/100m freestyle)
- Georgia Damasioi (100m butterfly/200m butterfly)
- Nora Drakou (50m backstroke/50m freestyle)
- Artemis Vasilakis (800m freestyle/1500m freestyle)
