Greece’s strong presence at the Balkan Championships in Volos was boosted by numerous gold medals won by its female athletes, including Elina Tzengko, Melissa Anastasakis and Rafaerla Spanoudaki.

Tzengko confirmed her gold medal win in the javelin with a record-breaking display.

The athlete had initially set a record for best throw at the Championship with 61.55m before breaking it again with 62.83m, a performance that received a standing ovation from the Greek audience.

Georgia Katsarou finished fourth with 49.03m, coming close to her personal best of 49.93m.

The approximately 10,000 fans in the stands of Panthessaliko Stadium were given more reason to cheer as Melissa Anastasakis finished top in the 3000m with a time of 9:17.72, a new personal best. Isavella Kotsacheili finished fourth with 9:56.69.

Rafailia Spanoudaki-Chatziriga took out the gold in the 100m sprint with a time of 11.31, edging out her closest competitors in Austrian Magdalena Linder (11.42) and Slovenian Lucia Potnik (11.44).

In the shot put, Kostas Gennikis continued to surpass himself at the Balkan Championships, breaking his own record twice as he finished with a best throw of 19.30m to take fifth place.

Charalampos Lagos had the race of his life in the 1,500 meters, setting a new personal record with 3:43.40 as he earned a bronze medal.

Giorgos Matzaridis also set a new personal best with a time of 3:44.37 that saw him finish fifth. Turkey’s Salih Teksoz took the gold with a time of 3:41.97.

Antonis Merlos and Antrea Mita jumped lower than expected in the high jump. Both cleared 2.15 in height and failed at 2.19. Merlos was compensated with the silver medal, which he shared with Ukrainian Vladyslav Lavskyy, while Mita was fourth.

A similar performance was seen in the pole vault for Ariadni Adamopoulou and Evgenia Panagiotou. They passed 4.15m but fell short of 4.25m. However, they both shared the silver medal with Turkey’s Demet Parlak.

In the 3000m steeplechase, Athanasia Kokkorou came fifth with 10:29.95, while Adriana Bontioti withdrew. Lemonia Kioulou ran out of contention and covered the distance in 10:43.41.

In the 5000m race, Panagiotis Petroulakis finished fifth with 14:26.44 and Sergios Diakostefanis in sixth with 14:34.49.