First Day of Balkan senior athletics championships

23 July 2023

The Balkan Championship for senior men and women is held on July 22 and 23 in Kraljevo. Kraljevo is a city located on three rivers: Ibar, Zapadna Morava and Ribnica. The city coat of arms consists of seven crowns, which symbolize the coronation of seven kings. This city is the administrative, economic, sports and cultural center of Serbia proper.

The athletics stadium in Kraljevo was built in 1972, but was reconstructed in 2021, and has a capacity of 1,000 spectators. 20 national teams, more than 650 athletes, more than 100 coaches, more than 70 volunteers, technical personnel, and about 50 active athletic judges will participate in the two-day competition of the Balkan Championship for seniors.

The program includes 43 disciplines, and the qualifications on both days (both Saturday and Sunday) are from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. for races at 100 and 400 meters, decathlon and other disciplines.

The afternoon program lasts from 15:30 to 19:00. 30. On the first day, the competition started on an extremely warm and sunny day, but during the afternoon it was interrupted for a short time due to a storm, after which everything continued normally with a half hour delay.

The first final was the hammer throw, in which Christos Frantzeskakis from Greece won with a result 74.62 m.

The 3000 m steeplechase was won by the competitor from Albania, Luiza Gega with 9:21.53 time, who also won the 3000 m race with 9:21.48 time.

In the 400 m hurdles, the competitor from Greece, Dimitra Gnafaki won with 56.45 s , while Yasmani Copello from Turkey won in the senior category with 48.71 s.

Our athlete Nikola Kostić took third place with a time of 50.21s. In the senior women’s discus throw, Ozlem Becerek from Turkey won with a distance of 57.67 m.

Andrea Miklos from Romania won the 400 m for seniors with 51.75 s. while Oleksandr Pohorilko from Ukraine won in the senior category, with a result of 45.36 s.

Serbian athlete Boško Kijanović took second place in the 400 m with a new personal record of 45.50 s.

Olha Lyakhova of Ukraine won the 800m race with 2:01.82.

In the long jump for seniors, the Serbian athlete Strahinja Jovančević became the champion of the Balkans with a jump of 7.89 m, while the vice-champion of the Balkans was the Serbian athlete Lazar Anić with 7.78 m.

The champion of the Balkans in the 100 m for senior women was the Serbian athlete Ivana Ilić with the time 11.48 s, the vice-champion was Olivia Fotopoulou from Cyprus with 11.51 s time, while Milana Tirnanić took third place with 11.53 s.

In the pole vault, the competitor from Greece, Eleni – Klaoudia Polak, won with a height of 4.40 m.

Mesud Pezer from Bosnia and Herzegovina became the champion of the Balkans in shot put with a distance of 20.55 m. While Serbian athlete Asmir Kolašinac took second place with 20.07 m.

Raphael Pallitsch of Austria won the 1500m with 3:43.74.

The Turkish team won the 4 x 100 m relay for seniors, while the Serbian team won the senior women’s relay with a new national record – 44.65 s.

Adriana Vilagoš won the javelin throw with the result of 60.62 m.

Alperen Acet from Turkey became the champion of the Balkans in the high jump with a jump of 2.28m, while Serbian athlete Slavko Stević was third with 2.18m.

The Turkish national team has the highest number of medals won after the first day of the competition, 16, while the Serbian national team is in second place with 10 medals won, and Greece is in third place with 7 medals won.

You can find all the results at the following link – https://serbia.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2023/SRB/bch23/event/

All pictures on this link.