Ioannis Drymonakos (GRE) was a man unrecognisable from the swimmer who clocked 1:56.47 at Melbourne 2007 a year ago. The 23-year-old Greek set a best time of 1:56.29 here in the heats at the European Championships in Eindhoven. But the final produced a performance that belonged to a different pool, one which elecated him from 23rd all-time to second behind Michael Phelps (USA): 1:54.16.

The first Greek champion had a best time of 1:56.99 in 2006 and had been stuck in a narrow zone near that time until tonight in a fingernail-finish final. He chose well his moment to make the a breakthrough and kept at bay former world champion Pawel Korzeniowski (POL), second on 1:54.3, the bronze going to Nikolay Skvortsov (RUS) on 1:54.65.

Those efforts lifted the Pole to third best ever and the Russian to fifth best ever. The event is on the move in the wake of that 1:52.09 blast by Phelps in Melbourne last year.

Drymonakos said: 'I can't grasp it at present. I have never reckoned that I could win the European title, and even less that I would set a new European record ... I think I'm the first Greek swimmer ever to achieve that feat!' Indeed he is.