Greece’s Ntrismpioti Wins Second Gold at European Championships

Greek track athlete Antigoni Ntrismpioti won her second gold medal in race walking at the European Championships in Munich on Saturday.

Ntrismpioti (pronounced “Drisbioti”), 38, had already won a gold in the women’s 35km race walk on Tuesday and clinched her double victory with the 20km race walk in Munich with 1:29:03 timing.

She was followed by 25-year-olds Katarzyna Zdzieblo of Poland (1:29:20, silver medal) and Saskia Feiger of Germany (1:29:25, bronze). Ntrismpioti’s time is a personal record, and she is the first Greek female athlete to achieve a double at European Championships.

In Saturday’s race, the Greek athlete from Karditsa, located in central Greece, was behind the leading group and tenth at the 10km-mark, before accelerating around the 17th km and moving ahead of the pack.

It is the first time the 35-kilometer competition was included in European Championships, which are running from Thursday, August 11th to Sunday, August 21st.

Greek athletes competing at the nine Olympic sports—athletics (including track), beach volleyball, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, rowing, sport climbing, table tennis, and triathlon—have so far collected a total of four gold and four silver medals.

Antigoni Ntrismpioti’s race for medal

In July, Ntrismpioti won fourth place at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, USA, finishing the 35 kilometer race in 2 hours and 41 minutes and setting a new national record in Greek race walking.

The Karditsa native has a long history at the World and European Championships, where she first competed in 2013 and 2014. She then returned to the World Championships in 2017 and 2019 and to the European Championships in 2018.

Her first medal was the bronze she won at the 2013 Mediterranean Games in Mersin.

Since then, she has also represented Greece at the 2021 Olympic Games, where she finished in 8th place, and at the 2016 Olympics, where she finished in 15th place.