Three Greek athletes earn tickets to Prague
Greek track and field enjoyed an exceptionally good weekend of performances by local athletes at various indoor meetings, with three of them earning a ticket to the European Indoor Championships to take place next month in Prague.
Long-jump champion Louis Tsatoumas earned gold at a Moscow meeting on Sunday by reaching 8.05 meters. The silver medallist in last summer’s European outdoor championship easily passed the qualification threshold of 7.95 m. The jump of the 33-year-old athlete has been the third best this year in the world.
High-jumper Costas Baniotis also grabbed a ticket to Prague clearing 2.28 meters in Moscow, where he finished third.
Another Greek athlete going to Prague is Costas Douvalidis, who clocked 7.63 seconds in 60 meters hurdles at a meeting held in Piraeus on Saturday.
Female pole-vaulters are in good form too, as Nicole Kyriakopoulou cleared 4.68 m. in France on Saturday, a few hours after Katerina Stefanidi recorded a personal best of 4.61 m. in Arizona.
As for the men’s Greek holder, Costas Filippidis cleared 5.60 meters for the second time in a few days, this time in Dusseldorf on Thursday.