The Cypriot team had great moments in Pravets, where the second and last day of the Balkan Track and Field Championship was held on September 3rd. Two gold medals - one accompanied by a record - and one silver, with a limit for the 2019 Doha World Championship, were the top successes for our country, the Cyprus Sports Writers' Association said in a statement.
The gold in the men was won by Elvis Kryukov, with a total of 7.143 points, a harvest that is a new record (the previous one of our tall champion was 7.015).
Kriukov took the lead at the end of the first day (five games), then saw Serb Greenovic pass him (6.004 vs. 6.070), but reserved his best for the end. The athlete of Giorgos Andreou was decisive and took the lead in the ninth race (javelin throwing) and kept it in the last race, the 1.500 meters. The Serb stayed at 7.104b. and the Romanian George (third) reached 6.555 points.
Kriukov's individual performances per event were as follows: 11.03 (100m), 13,49m. (shot put), 7,03m. (length), 1,90m. (height), 50.85 (400m.), 14.08 (110m. incl.), 40,65m. (discus throw), 3,90m. (short), 50,89m. (javelin throwing) and 5.05.59 (1.500m).
Natalia Evangelidou passed the second Cypriot gold medal of the day around her neck, which has recently shown that she finds much of her older form and rhythm. Our champion ran smartly in the 1.500 meters, with the appropriate tactics, made her demarcation at the end and cut the thread first in 4.17.29, leaving behind Pierdevara (Romania, she did 4.19.75) and Mischenko (Ukrainian, 4.20.00).
Η Eleni Artymata went to Pravec to hit the 200-meter mark for Doha (or even Tokyo) and eventually qualified for the World Cup.
He came in second with 22.97, after only the Bulgarian, Ivet Lalova achieved a better time (22.45). It should be noted that Eleni has not run (only two or three times and not in big races) 200 meters in the last two years, however, she has not forgotten her old art.
In the final, the second Cypriot athlete, Olivia Fotopoulou, also ran remarkably (ranked sixth). Although she is not a classic "two hundred", Olivia achieved a performance of 23.67, which is close to her personal record (23.57), but also to her best this year (23.62). In front of Fotopoulou, beyond Lalova, Artymata, were the Helladitisses, Spanoudaki (23.16), Vassiliou (23.62) and Voulgara Eftimova (23.45).
In the final of the length, competed the other of the Fotopoulou brothers twins, Filippa, who also took a remarkable place, on the fourth. However, obviously, he was looking for a better jump than the 6,14m. our young athlete, who has 6,25m this year. and individually 6,45m.
Grinstarevic (Serbia) 6,42m, Kolokytha (Greece) 6,41m and Iusco (Romania) 6,37m took the podium.
Meropi Panagiotou also took fourth place in the 5.000 meters, after flirting even with a place on the podium. The good position of our champion was not combined with the performance she wanted, as she fell on a slow (tactical) race. Merope finished in 17.16.92 (this year it has a performance of 16.40.37). The first, Simovic from Serbia, made 16.56.45, followed on the podium by Kilic (Turkey) with 16.46.39 and Krishnar (Slovenia) with 17.05.22.
In the men's category, we had the participation of Rafael Antoniou in the discus throw. He took seventh place with a performance of 53,18 meters. It was not the performance that Raphael wanted, since he has 57,30m this year. The fight did not "work out" for him and he is now turning his attention to the World Military Championship, concludes the announcement of EAK.