Pole vault record on same day as three doping cases
Greek track and field had a mixed weekend, as on the same day as Katerina Stefanidi matched the national record in pole vault as well as the leading result in Europe so far this season, three Greek athletes were confirmed to have used banned substances, including Greece’s shot put champion.
At the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday Stefanidi cleared 4.71 meters to match the national outdoor record that Nicole Kyriakopoulou had registered in August of 2011.
Stefanidi finished third in the event, in which she also matched Europe’s leading performance this year by Lisa Ryzih of Germany. This bodes well ahead of the European championship taking place on August 12-17 in Zurich.
However on the same day the Greek track and field federation (SEGAS) announced that shot put champion Michalis Stamatoyiannis as well as sprinters Theopistos Mavridis and Grigoria Keramida have failed a doping test and are suspended from action pending their hearing. They are likely to get a two-year ban.
The weekend also saw the staging of the 100th national track and field championship at the Olympic Stadium of Athens, with the most notable performances coming from pole vaulter Costas Filippidis (5.60 meters) and long-jumper Louis Tsatoumas (8.08 m).
