Solid showing at national meet
The national track and field championships, held last Friday to Sunday, highlighted the arrival of a new wave of athletes. The three-day meeting produced a considerable number of solid performances, including two national records. Costas Douvalidis broke a longstanding national record in the men’s 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.59 seconds. The previous best, 13.61 seconds, had been set by Stelios Bisbas 11 years ago. Irini Kokkinariou set a new national record in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with 9.53.07. The old record had stood for less than a year. Underscoring the depth of emerging talent, three athletes registered jumps over 14 meters in the women’s triple jump; all the contestants in the women’s 100-meter final ran under 12 seconds; seven shot-putters exceeded the 7-meter mark in the men’s event; three runners registered times below 50.10 seconds in the men’s 400-meter hurdles; a further three went under 14 seconds in the men’s 110-meter hurdles; four sprinters undercut the 14-seconds mark in the women’s 100-meter hurdles; four javelinists went over the 75-meter mark in the men’s event and four athletes went higher than 4.10 meters in the women’s pole vault. The solid showing comes just ahead of this weekend’s European Cup in Munich. Greece will compete in its top-tier category. Fani Halkia, the Olympic champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, has registered for three events, the 400-meter, 200-meter and 4×400 relay. Costas Nakopoulos, a promising new mid-distance runner, will compete in the men’s 800 and 1,500-meter events. Popi Astropekaki, who won in the women’s 1,500- and 5,000-meter events at the nationals, will run in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter events.
