Another fairly good presence had the Cypriot athletes in the Balkan Athletics Championship. On the weekend, June 18 and 19, 2022, at the 75th Balkan Men / Women Championship, held in Craiova, Romania, they won one (1) silver and four (4) bronze medals, raising the total harvest -in 8- 32 medals, 9 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze. After the bronze medal of Androniki Lada on Saturday in discus, on Sunday Olivia Fotopoulou won a silver medal in the 200m. and Filippa Fotopoulou (length), Apostolos Parellis (discus throw) and Thalia Charalambous (5.000m) from a bronze medal.
We would say that this year's Balkan Games were "stigmatized" by the food poisoning of several athletes from many missions, from which, unfortunately, our children did not escape, who struggled with significant problems and did not perform according to their capabilities. That is why some results were not as expected, but it is an honor for them that they gave all their strength, despite the intense annoyances they had. All the children of the mission did their best, fought with passion for distinction and managed to perform decently in another event and win important medals, in competition with 21 other countries that make up the Balkan Athletics Federation. Our only athlete in the mission, who did not participate, was Natalia Christofi in the 100m. with obstacles, but because he had severe abdominal discomfort and did not want to take risks. Upon his return to Cyprus, he will conduct an examination to determine the exact cause of the problem.
The evolution of Sunday and the medals…
The second day, on Sunday, June 19, 2022, began in the morning with the women's hammering, in which Chrystalla Kyriakou took 8th place with 61,31m. In the afternoon, Daphne Georgiou won the second row of the 100m. with obstacles, with 13.78, conquering the 6th place in total. In the men's short, Nikandros Stylianou was 6th with 5,10m. and Christos Tamanis 7th with 5,00m, stopping both at 5,20m. In the women's length, Filippa Fotopoulou won another bronze medal in the Balkans, with 6,54m, with a favorable wind of 2,3m / d. Her twin sister, Olivia Fotopoulou, made an amazing 200m, in which she finished second with 23.62 with an excessive headwind of 2,7 m / s. Olivia, from her overexertion, due to food poisoning, was exhausted at the finish and needed time and help to recover. The wind was also very opposed to the men's 200m (-2,3 m / d), with Stavros Augustinou also making an extra effort from exhaustion and finishing second in the second row with 21.26, which is an individual performance (excellent for the conditions under which it occurred), occupying a total of 6th place.
Styliana Ioannidou made her best appearance in the open track this year, as she jumped at 1,80m. took 7th place. Despina Charalambous, passing the 1,75m. remained in 11th place. Natalia Evangelidou could not find a rhythm in the 1.500m. and follow the leading ones, thus finishing in 9th place with 4: 29.38. Thalia Charalambous made a very good effort in the 5.000m. From the moment the first two ran at their own pace, he made sure to remain the leader in the second group and win the bronze medal, with 16: 27.44.
Another medal in the Balkan Championship was won by Apostolos Parellis, who was stable in his shots over 60 meters. With the best shot at 61,58m. took the bronze medal, after a tiring week, in which he traveled to Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania. Christoforos Genethlis, significantly affected by the poisoning, took 7th place with 57,90m. Stavros Spyrou, who entered races late due to an injury problem, is showing his good self. In his second race of the year he managed to achieve the second best performance of his career, running very well in the 800m, finishing in 3rd place in the first row with 1: 48.70, occupying the 4th place overall, after passing the first of the second series, Christos Kotitsas from Greece (1: 48.36). Christos Dimitriou also ran in the second row, finishing in 5th place with 1: 51.83, occupying 11th place. Finally, in the triple, Grigoris Nikolaou could not find a valid jump, as a result of which he did not have a ranking.
In 13th place in the Medals
Cyprus took 13th place in the medal table, with 1 silver and 4 bronze medals, with Greece winning the Balkan Championship for the second time in a row, with 9 gold, 6 silver and 9 bronze medals. In the Balkan Championship, there is also a team ranking, based on the ranking of the first 8 athletes in each event. Thus, the placements of our athletes brought them to collect 62 points and occupy the very honorable 10th place, with Greece being again at the top with 224,5 points. It is very important to mention that a total of 17 of our athletes were in the top eight of the event.
* The Cypriot delegation is expected to return to Cyprus in the early hours of Tuesday (21/6/22), since the departure from Bucharest is scheduled for Monday night, with a stopover in Athens.
* Below we briefly present the presence of the Cypriot delegation in the 75th Balkan Championship in Craiova.
FIRST DAY 18/6/22
Androniki Lada (discus throw) 53,75m. 3rd
Vassilis Konstantinou (height) 2,18m. 4th
Alexandros Poursanidis (hammering) 70,70m. 6th
Stavros Augustinou (100m) 10.68 (-0,4) 7th
(Qualifiers 10.75 (-1,7 m / d), 2nd 3rd row, 7th)
Tasos Vassiliou (400m hurdles) 53.80 8th
Kyriakos Pampaka (height) 2,00m. 9th
Andreou Paraskevi (100m.) 12.08 (-1,3) 10th
Kalypso Stavrou (400m hurdles) 59.90 11th
SECOND DAY 19/6/22
Olivia Fotopoulou (200m.) 23.62 (-2,7) 2nd
Filippa Fotopoulou (length) 6,54m. (+2,3) 3rd
Apostolos Parellis (discus throw) 61,58m. 3rd
Thalia Charalambous (5.000m) 16: 27.44 3rd
Stavros Spyrou (800m.) 1: 48.70 4th
Nikandros Stylianou (short distance) 5,10m. 6th
Dafni Georgiou (100m hurdles) 13.78 (-1,6) 6th
Stavros Augustinou (200m) 21.26 (-2,3) 6th
Christos Tamanis (short) 5,00m. 7th
Styliana Ioannidou (height) 1,80m. 7th
Christoforos Genethli (discus throw) 57,90m. 7th
Chrystalla Kyriakou (hammer throw) 61,31m. 8th
Natalia Evangelidou (1.500m) 4: 29.38 9th
Despina Charalambous (height) 1,75m. 11th
Christos Dimitriou (800m.) 1: 51.83 11th
Grigoris Nikolaou (triple) 3 invalid
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