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Nikos Andrikopoulos Wins Silver Medal at the European Indoor Championships

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Nikos Andrikopoulos won a silver medal in triple jump at the European Indoor Championships. Credit: Erik van Leeuwen / GFDL / Wikimedia Commons

Greek athlete Nikos Andrikopoulos won a silver medal in the triple jump event at the European Indoor Championships held in Istanbul on Friday.

It was the first time that a Greek athlete had won a medal in this particular athletic event. Despite not being a favorite to step onto the podium, Andrikopoulos was able to overcome stiff competition and secure second place.

The strong performance by Andrikopoulos will come as some much-needed positive news after a period of mourning in Greece in the aftermath of the disastrous railway accident on Tuesday.

Nikos Andrikopoulos wins silver in the triple jump

Nikos Andrikopoulos managed to achieve a jump of 16.58 meters on his fifth attempt. It was among the Greek athlete’s personal best scores, and enough to secure second place and a silver medal in the competition.

Andrikopoulos was facing impressive competition. Portuguese athlete Pedro Pitsardo won the gold medal with a jump of 17.60 meters, which was thus far the best performance in 2023.

In third place was the German athlete Max Hess. He placed just behind Andrikopoulos with a jump of 16.57 meters, securing a bronze medal.

Fellow Greek athlete Dimitrios Tsiamis was also competing at the event held in Istanbul. At the age of 41, Tsiamis was the oldest athlete competing in the event. He finished in seventh place with a performance of 16.39 meters. His score could have been higher but some of his jumps were ruled invalid.

Tsiamis is currently ranked 33rd in the world and has previously won a bronze medal at the European Championships. He also previously placed first in the Balkans Championship and made it into the top eight in both the World Indoor Championships and the European Indoor Championships.

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After his win, during an interview with Greek broadcaster ERT, Andrikopoulos took a few moments to reflect on his win, but also the Tempi railway disaster that has plunged Greece into mourning.

“I can’t describe how I feel. I am very happy. We struggled with an extra weight these days, as will the other guys. What happened in our country touched us. I hope this medal will bring joy to Greece,” he said.

“I was in very good shape, I could feel it since yesterday. I thought so, I saw that the race is as far as I can jump. I fought it all the way and made it on the fifth jump,” Andrikopoulos continued.

“My family who has supported me all these years certainly has a share in the medal, it is an effort of many years. My coach, Dimitris Vasilikos, the people, many Greeks have come, the children of the mission, everyone has their share”.

“We found out when we woke up in the morning. The climate was very heavy. A very strange feeling. A very difficult situation for all Greeks and for us,” he added reflecting on the fatal train accident.

Career so far

Winning silver at the European Indoor Championships will be the crowing achievement of the 25-year-old Greek athlete’s career so far. However, Andrikopoulos also has other athletic accolades to his name.

The young athlete is also the two-time Balkan Championships winner and the one-time National Champion of Greece.

According to statistics on World Athletics, Andrikopoulos is currently ranked 48th in the world for the triple jump discipline. His highest position was 25th place in the world rankings.

Andrikopoulos made his best jump of 16.73 meters at the Balkan Championships in the Atletski station in Smederevo, Serbia.

Last year, he added two further jumps to his top ten best performances during the World Indoor Tour Madrid 2022, in Gallur, Madrid, and at the Balkan Championships held at the  Stadionul de Atletism “Nicolae Mărășescu”, in Craiova, Romania. In these two events, he completed jumps of 16.36 meters and 16.29 meters respectively.

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