Greece and Cyprus reigned supreme in the hammer throw event at the European Athletic U23 Championships in Bergen, with their athletes taking out all three podium positions.
The silver and bronze medals ended up in Greek hands, with Giorgos Papanastasiou finishing second with a throw of 72.98m and Yiannis Korakidis in third with a shot of 72.51m.
Cypriot Iosif Kesidis won the gold with a shot of 74.87m, which is also a new Cyprus U23 record.
Papanastasiou’s silver-winning throw came from his first attempt, while Korakidis was more of a late bloomer with his best attempt coming from his fourth throw.
Mantzouranis started with a shot that would have given him gold, but the hammer went out of bounds.
In the other two, he was defeated by the net, and the final ended ingloriously for him on his third attempt, in a year that has shattered his records.
Greece reached three medals at the European U23 Championships in Bergen, as it was preceded by the bronze medal from Polyniki Emmanouilidou in the 100m.
