Greek champion Vangelis Doumas comfortably secured his place in the 100m breaststroke final at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Munich and set his sights on another major medal.
Doumas recorded the second-fastest time of the semi-finals with 1:00.88 and advanced to the July 12 final at 19:19.
The 18-year-old Olympiacos swimmer finished second in the second semi-final behind Germany’s Louis Hoffmann, who clocked 1:00.64.
Doumas now stands within reach of his second medal at this year’s championships after winning silver in the 200m breaststroke. He also aims for a third consecutive medal in the 100m event after claiming gold in 2024 and silver last year.
Another podium finish would give Doumas his fifth European Junior Championship medal overall, including his medal in the 4x100m medley relay last year.
Christos Diamantis also produced the best race of his career in the 50m butterfly, setting a Greek junior record and qualifying for the final with the fifth-fastest time.
The 18-year-old Olympiacos champion finished third in the first semi-final in 23.82, improving his own national junior record of 23.96, which he set at the Greek Open Championships at OAKA on May 16.
Apart from Czech swimmer Jan Foltýn, who clocked 23.37, and Britain’s Dean Fearn, who finished in 23.51, the remaining finalists posted closely matched times, leaving the medal race wide open.
Diamantis will compete in the final on July 12 at 20:02.
Nikos Papatheodorou also secured the first individual major championship final of his career.
The 17-year-old Olympiacos swimmer ranked sixth in the 100m backstroke semi-finals with 55.42 and will compete in the final on July 12 at 19:07.
Papatheodorou will aim to approach his personal best of 54.89, set last year, a time that could put him in medal contention. Russian swimmer Mikhail Shcherbakov led the field with 54.30, while no other finalist broke the 55-second barrier.
Konstantis Chourdakis completed his Munich campaign with seventh place in the 800m freestyle, recording 8:01.26.
The 17-year-old Olympiacos champion also competed in the 1,500m freestyle final, where he finished fourth and set a personal best.
Russia’s Grigory Vekovishchev, competing as an independent athlete, won the European 800m title in 7:52.31. Poland’s Mikolaj Lotyborski took silver in 7:53.36, while Russia’s Maksim Gusev claimed bronze in 7:54.37.
Nefeli Bilanakou finished 16th in the women’s 50m butterfly with 27.32. Her Greek girls’ record of 27.00, which she set in April, would have secured a place in the top eight, with the final qualifying time standing at 27.02.