Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou was crowned European Champion in the men’s 50m backstroke event in Rome. In an extremely tight finish, Christou just edged out home favourite Thomas Ceccon by 0.04 seconds on the finish.

Christou broke his own Greek record time of 25.39 by 0.03 seconds, whereas Ceccon took 0.06 seconds off his own Italian record. Both of the previous national records broken by these two men were from this year’s World Championships.

German record holder Ole Braunschwieg was third in 24.68, slower than his best time of 24.58 but still fast enough to earn his first-ever major international medal.