Maria Kyridou and Christina Bourbou qualified as the first of their semifinal series in the doubles final at the 32nd Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, setting a world record with 6: 48.

However, the world record of the Greek crew did not last long, as in the second semifinal series the New Zealand crew immediately broke it, finishing in a time of 6: 47.41.

“It simply came to our notice then. “The more we saw that we were approaching the boats that were leading, the more energy we released,” said Marida Kyridou and Christina Bourbou about their success.

The “mythical” race

Although they did not start well, Kyridou and Bourbou placed 4th, in which they crossed the 1,500 meters, to give it their all in the finish line and cross the finish line first, leaving the British Helen Glover and Polly Swan second ( 6: 49.39) and Canada’s Calif Filmer and Hillary Jansens third (6: 49.46).

The 4th Morrison / McIdyre from Australia (6: 49.82), the 5th Crawley / Dukarska from Ireland (7: 06.07) and the 6th Rasmussen / Eriksen from Denmark (7: 08.44) were left out of the final. Maria Kyridou and Christina Bourbou, in their first participation in the Olympic Games, broke the world record of New Zealanders Kerry Gowler and Grace Predergast, which they held since June 18, 2017 in Poznan, Poland. The Greek champions will compete in the doubles final in the early hours of Thursday (29/7) at 3:30 Greek time, aiming for the podium. This is the fourth final for Greek women’s rowing in the history of the Olympic Games.

The first was at the Beijing Olympics and the women’s lightweight skating crew with Chryssa Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou, who finished in 6th place. In the second final at the Olympics for Greek women’s rowing, Alexandra Tsiavou and Christina Giazitzidou won the first and only Olympic medal in women’s rowing in the 2012 lightweight double sculls in London. In Rio de Janeiro, Sofia Asoumanaki and Katerina Nikolaidou were left out of the podium for a while, after finishing 4th in the “Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas”, in the women’s double skiff.

The first participation in women’s rowing was recorded for Greece in 1988 in Seoul, with Tonia Schweier taking 7th place in the women’s skiff. Schweier finished 7th in the same event at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, while she was 15th in the women’s skiff in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics. In Sydney in 2000, Chryssa Biskitzi and Angeliki Gremou finished 11th in the women’s lightweight double sculls.

In the second semifinal series, behind the first Grace Predergast and Carrie Goler from New Zealand, with 6: 47.41, followed the Russians Vasilisa Stepanova / Elena Orianbiskaya (6: 50.24), while the third were the Spaniards / Ipina 6: 50.63). The first three crews will be at the same starting line on Thursday (29/7) with Kyridou / Bourbou. The 4th Romanian Alininkai / Buhous (6: 58.55), the 5th American Kalmoe / Eiser (7: 02.52) and the 6th Italian Todontonati / Rochek (7: 04.52) were left out of the final from the 2nd semifinal series.