Baniotis keeps getting higher
High-jumper Costas Baniotis produced the second-best ever performance in Greece at the start of the Greek indoor season by clearing 2.30 meters at the meeting held on January 29, at Peania in eastern Attica.
Baniotis was one of six Greek athletes who made the mark for the European Indoor Championship to be held next month in Paris, on a day that saw a number of good performances that bode well for the near future of Greek track and field.
A finalist at the outdoor Europeans held at Barcelona last August, Baniotis registered a new personal best, second only to the 2.35 meters of legendary Olympian Lambros Papacostas.
It was also the second-best performance in the world this year to date.
Louis Tsatoumas also got a ticket to France with three efforts past the mark in the long jump, measuring 8.10 m, 8.09 m. and 7.92 m. The 8.10-m. jump is also the second-best in the world so far this season.
Costas Philippidis was impressive in the pole vault, clearing 5.62 meters and even attempting to break his national record of 5.70 m. The limit for Paris was 5.55 m.
Other qualifiers for the European championships from the Peania meet were triple-jumper Dimitris Tsiamis with an effort at 16.68 meters, Eleni Filandra who clocked 2 minutes and 3.95 seconds in 800 meters, and Marilena Kafourou who reached 6.40 m. in the long jump.
