Olga Vasdeki (GRE) (© Getty Images)
Although most of the internationally known Greek athletes are not competing this indoor season, the 18th Greek Indoor Championships still threw up some memorable moments, higlighted by a 14.22m performance from 30 year-old Triple Jumper Olga Vasdeki on the second day (Sunday, 8 Feb).
Vasdeki, the outdoor 1998 European champion and 1999 World Championships bronze medallist, who was 12th at the Worlds in Paris last summer, jumped 14.22m to make the standard for this winter's World Indoor Championships (5 - 7 March, Budapest).
The women's programme during the two day national championships (7 – 8 Feb), which were held in the new indoor stadium in Peania, was generally stronger than the men's, with six of the seven new national records set being established by female athletes.
On Saturday, the championships opened with two national records in the women's 400m qualification round. A Cypriot athlete Androula Sialou was the fastest qualifier with a national record of 52.91, while Fani Chalkia followed with 53.02, a new indoor record for Greece.
In the early afternoon events, Flora Redoumi equalled her own 60m Hurdles Greek record (8.01), while a few minutes later, Chryssa Goudenoudi, who had broken the 400m record one week before with 53.16, only to see it taken by Chalkia in the heats, got it back again in the final with a 52.88 run.
The last event of the 1st day brought another national record by Konstantina Efentaki, who ran the 1500m in 4:11.55, and she also set a 2:03.60 national 800m record on Sunday.
The one men’s record was broken by a junior athlete, Konstantinos Filippidis, in the Pole Vault with 5.37m. Filippidis is 18-years-old and one of the warmest hopes for the future of the Greek athletics.
Bakogianni returns
Besides the national records, 36-year-old Niki Bakogianni, the Atlanta Olympic High Jump silver medallist, returned to action after 4 years out of the sport during which she has married and had two children. On Sunday, Bakogianni cleared 1.87m and now targets the standard for the Olympic Games in her next outings.
We also should mention the Long Jump of the European U23 champion Louis Tsatoumas at 7.91m in his first meeting for this season; the personal best set by Irene Dimitraki in the Triple Jump with 14.03m; also the win of Stavros Kouroupakis in the Pole Vault (5.42m).
Just six months before the Olympics, the Greek athletes are warming up. The Games will be for many of them the biggest moment of their career, in front of their home crowd.
