Greek female rowers Evangelia Anastasiadou and Dimitra Kontou won gold medal in the U23 Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls competition at the World Rowing Championship in Ontario, Canada, on Friday.
The duo was already looking dominant halfway through the race, leaving Italy behind in second place and France in third. This is the second consecutive year the pair won gold at the top class rowing event.
“We know the Greek duo, they are the reigning champions here in this boat class, the U23 Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls,” the event commentator is heard saying during the final.
The Greek rowers’ win comes less than a week after the pair broke the World Championship Best Time. They beat their previous time, set in 2023, by 8.65 seconds, for a new time of 6:41.48.
Earlier this month, Dimitra Kontou, also known as Milena, became an Olympic bronze medalist in Paris alongside rowing partner Zoi Fitsiou.
A great month for Greek rowing
Greek rowing is having a spectacular moment this August, starting with the Paris Olympics, where it produced four new medals. Besides Fitsiou and Kontou’s bronze wins in the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls Rowing event, Greece’s male rowing duo, Antonis Papakonstantinou and Petros Gaidatzis also won bronze medals in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls competition, covering the event’s distance in 6:13.44.
“It’s been a great season. It keeps on going, I am really glad we could do this again,” Kontou said of having defended hers and Anastasiadou’s title in Ontario.
In her statements following Friday’s World Championship gold win, the Greek athlete noted that this had been her second biggest goal for the year, and she is now aiming for the European Championship.
“It’s our lucky day, [and] I am really happy for today,” added Anastasiadou.
Biggest annual world rowing event
The World Rowing Championship regatta is the biggest annual World Rowing event and the most important of the season.
It is held at the end of each season, usually around August, and includes Olympic and International boat classes.
The regatta spans eight days with a progression system used from heats through to finals to ensure that there is sufficient rest time between races for athletes.
In an Olympic year like 2024, the World Rowing Championships is held for International boat classes only and in conjunction with the World Rowing Junior Championships and World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
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