Young Greek swimmer Evangelos-Efraim Doumas has made history. On the final day of the European Junior Swimming Championships in Munich, he was crowned European champion in the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Doumas delivered a spectacular, unbeatable performance over the final 50 meters, surging ahead as he neared the wall. Although he turned at the 50-meter mark in 4th place with a time of 28.38, he was far from finished. Showcasing incredible physical power and mental resilience, he systematically overtook his rivals one by one.
Leaving no room for doubt in the final stretch, Doumas touched the wall first in 59.91 to claim gold in what was his final individual race of his junior career. Germany’s Luis Hoffmann finished second in 1:00.29, followed by last year’s champion, Max Morgan of Great Britain, who took third in 1:00.41.
Evangelos-Efraim Doumas dipped under the one-minute mark
The Greek champion was the only swimmer to dip under the one-minute mark, finishing just shy of his personal best of 59.77 (set on August 19, 2025), which stands as a triple Greek national record across the Men’s, U23, and Junior categories.
Doumas will return home with an impressive medal haul, having already secured a silver medal in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:11.37. Shortly after his victory, he is scheduled to compete with the Greek 4x100m medley relay team, which is also in contention for a medal.
With this latest triumph, Doumas becomes the only Greek athlete to win medals across three consecutive European Junior Championships, bringing his total career tally to five.
His run includes gold in 2024 (Lithuania, 100m breaststroke), silver in 2025 (Slovakia, 100m breaststroke with a then-national record of 1:00.18), and now gold (100m breaststroke) and silver (200m breaststroke) in 2026 in Germany. He also holds a silver medal from the 2025 4x100m medley relay. The phenomenal young swimmer will soon shift his focus to the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, taking place from August 10–16.
This gold marks Greece’s 67th total medal in the history of the competition (16 gold, 17 silver, 34 bronze) and its third in Munich, following Yorgos Kalandros’ silver medal in the 200m butterfly.
Related: Ultra-Distance Swimmer Secures Second Guinness World Record for Greece
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