Greek champion Dimitris Markos secured second place in the 800m freestyle with a time of 7:48.59, breaking the previous Panhellenic record (7:49.97) he set on February 13 at the World Championships in Doha. As expected, the winner was Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk, who finished at 7:46.20, claiming his third title in the event, while Hungarian Zalan Sárkány took third place at 7:49.29.
Markos stayed relatively behind during the first half of the race (moving between 6th and 7th place), which was led by Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tunceli. After the 400m mark, with Romanchuk taking the lead and securing the win, the 23-year-old swimmer from ANO Argyroupolis began to gain ground, quickly moving up to second place and holding on till the end, despite pressure initially from Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski and finally from Sárkány.
Markos’s silver medal is Greece’s first in this event (and in long-distance freestyle) and the country’s sixth medal in Belgrade. He is also the first Greek swimmer to reach the podium twice in this year’s competition, having been part of the 4x200m freestyle team that won the bronze medal at the start of the games.
Final results of the men’s 800m freestyle:
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine) – 7:46.20
- Dimitris Markos (Greece) – 7:48.59
- Zalan Sárkány (Hungary) – 7:49.29
- Krzysztof Chmielewski (Poland) – 7:49.44
- Henrik Christiansen (Norway) – 7:50.88
- Kuzey Tunceli (Turkey) – 7:54.12
- Muhammed Yusuf Ozden (Turkey) – 7:55.32
- Nathan Wiffen (Ireland) – 8:03.74
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