Mirela Manjani of Greece wins the javelin throw final (© Getty Images)
The morning session of the second day of the Greek National Championships in the Olympic stadium opened with a national record set by Fani Chalkia in the women’s 400m Hurdles qualification round. Chalkia, who was in the 400m final of the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, ran a 56.03 to improve her own record set in 2003.
But this new record lasted for only few hours. In the afternoon, Chalkia ran a 54.88, the 7th best performance in the world so far, to smash the record once more. “It was expected this time, in the morning I made a lot of mistakes. I need to run more races around this time in order to achieve a position in the final of the Olympics” Chatzi said to the Greek television just after the race.
Manjani beaten
Angeliki Tsiolakoudi had the best throw of 62.83m in the javelin throw qualification round but in the afternoon Savva Lika sent her javelin even further to 62.89m, 5th best world mark for this season, to win the event, while Tsiolakoudi was second with 62.00m. Both defeated the reigning World Champion, Mirella Manjani, who placed third with 58.92m.
“Every year this season my throws are not long” said Manjani just after the final. “I returned to the normal training just 20 days ago, after the injury I had and the final stage of my training starts now. I’ll be ready for the Olympics, no one must worried about my performance today.”
Iakovakis – moderate win
The 400m Hurdles bronze medallist of the World Championships in Paris, Periklis Iakovakis, won the final with 49.67, a moderate performance for his potential, but completely understood given the level of the competition.
Georgia Tsilligiri, who broke the national women’s Pole Vault record last week with 4.41m, won with 4.15m, while Panayotis Stoubakos dominated the men’s 800m in 1:50.57 and Eleni Filandra the women’s race with 2:11.26
Worth also mentioning is the effort made by Labros Papakostas, twice silver medallist in the Indoor World Championships in 1995 and 1997, who is attempting a come back at this age of 35. Today he was fourth in the High Jump final with 2.10m, while Dimitris Sirakos cleared 2.21m to take the win.
Finally, after their opening races yesterday, Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou participated in the 4x100m relay, to support their team, Olympiakos, to win the national title in both races.
The results of the second day:
MEN
800m
1. Panayotis Stroubakos 1.50.57
2. Pavlos Farougias 1.50.94
3. Andreas Georgiou 1.51.71
5000m
1. Michalis Yelasakis 13.56.11
2. Vassilios Pouliopoulos 13.59.21
3. Anastassios Fragkos 14.02.06
400m hurdles
1. Periklis Iakovakis 49.67
2. Platon Gavelas 50.39
3. Sotirios Iakovakis 50.80
High Jump
1. Dimitrios Sirakos 2.21m
2. Stilianos Kesidis 2.18m
3. Ioannis Konstantinou (CYP) 2.18m
Javelin Throw
1. Georgios Iltsios 75.67m
2. Dimitrios Polimerou 74.78m
3. Eleftherios Karasmanakis 72.76m
WOMEN
800m.
1. Eleni Filandra 2.11.26
2. Angeliki Raftaki 2.11.27
3. Fotini Dagli 2.12.76
400m hurdles
1. Fani Chalkia 54.88 NR (also NR in the preliminaries with 56.03)
2. Christina Chatzi - Neag 57.83
3. Stiliani Dimoglou 60.56
Pole Vault
1. Georgia Tsiliggiri 4.15m
2. Thalia Iakovidou 4.00m
3. Nikoletta Kiriakopoulou 3.70m
Javelin Throw
1. Savva Lika 62.89m
2. Angeliki Tsiolakoudi 62.00m (62.63m in the qualification round)
3. Mirela Manjani 58.92
