Petros Gkaidatzis completed a remarkable golden double on Thursday, winning the lightweight men’s single sculls title at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam less than a month after becoming European champion in the event.
The 25-year-old Greek champion, a Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in the lightweight men’s double sculls with Antonis Papakonstantinou, won the 2,000-meter final in 6:47.77 to claim Greece’s first gold medal at this year’s world championships.
Gkaidatzis had to overcome a fast start from Germany’s Fabio Kress, who led the field in the opening stages.
Uruguay’s Felipe Kluver Ferreira, the defending world champion, took silver in 6:51.50, while Mexico’s Alexis Lopez-Garcia won bronze in 6:52.06. Kress finished fourth in 6:52.62 after setting the early pace.
Gkaidatzis had already established himself as the European champion in Varese, Italy, on Aug. 2, when he won the same event in 6:50.92.
Earlier on Thursday, Gavriela Lioliou and Lila Mouratidou won silver in the lightweight women’s double sculls in 7:12.05, giving Greece its first medal of the championships. The Greek crew finished behind Mexico’s Aileen Mariah Ibarra Maduena and Melissa Marquez, who won gold in 7:10.02.
Lioliou and Mouratidou, the youngest crew in the six-boat final, stayed in medal contention throughout and made a late attempt to challenge for gold before settling for second. Their result adds a senior world medal to a strong season for the young Greek crew, which has also won international medals in other events.
