Maria Rafailidou procured Greece its first medal at the European U20 Athletics Championship in Tampere, Finland, with a gold-winning effort in the shot put of 16.16 metres.
The 18-year-old athlete started strong with a first throw of 15.58m which put her in the medal zone from the offset.
Her next effort went shorter at 15.28m before her third effort of 16.16m took her to the front of the rankings and officially secured the gold.
It marks a second major honour for the young talent, who also won the gold at the European U18 Athletics Championships, with her now atop the talent in the U20 age group.
It is also Greece’s first medal in women’s shot put at this level, with the previous best performance being Sofia Orfaniotou’s fourth place finish with 15.97m.
Elektra Chioutakakou also had a strong performance, taking fifth place with a best throw of 14.84m from her fourth attempt.
The Greek delegation made its presence known in the stands as the entire team was in the stadium to watch the efforts of the two Greek women.
