Nikos Gkountoulas Coastal Rowing Coach

Nikos is the leading world Coastal Rowing coach and former flat-water rowing Olympian.  He works with his twin brother,

Apostolis to promote all types of rowing in Greece. His move from 2k rowing into Coastal and Beach Sprint Rowing is an opportunity he thinks other athletes could enjoy.  In this interview we run through the different types of equipment and race formats and why he hopes many rowing clubs will start to offer more recreational rowing and grow a community around all forms of rowing and racing.

Listen to RowingChat with Nikos on Soundcloud

Timestamps to the interview

01:00 Introduction and background in rowing

04:00 The recent history of rowing in Greece

08:00 FISA support for Greek rowing

11:00 Rowing with your twin brother – the fights and the friendship

13:00 Twins with identical erg scores

15:00 Moving to Ocean rowing – who was the New Zealander girls coastal 2x Nikos met at Istanbul Airport in 2011?

16:00 Coastal Rowing boats and oars

22:00 Steering an ocean rowing boat

24:00 Goal for Greek coastal rowing

26:00 World Championships provide boats for competitors

31:00 Beach Sprint Rowing – new format for racing started by Guin Batten

34:00 Asian Beach Games includes beach rowing races

41: Bronze medal in World Coastal Rowing Championships

45:00 Rowing camp in Vietnam

51:00 Thessaloniki Rowing Club adds ocean rowing training group

54:00 How can a rowing club add coastal rowing boats?

Connect with Nikos at Thessaloniki Rowing Club

• Coastal Rowing Club Thessaloniki Website
• Facebook page
• Instagram @coastalrowing

Watch RowingChat with Nikos Gkountoulas on YouTube