Emmanouil Karalis and Elina Tzengko have been named Greek Athletes of the Year for 2025.
Karalis amassed his best season so far in the pole vault, winning his first senior title with a shared gold at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn before winning silver behind Armand Duplantis at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Karalis, who also won silver behind Duplantis at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, cleared 6.00m or higher in 12 competitions in 2025 and moved to fourth on the world all-time list with a 6.08m clearance at the Greek Championships.
This was the first time Karalis has won this accolade. He follows in the footsteps of Miltiadis Tentoglou who was named Greek Athlete of the Year every year between 2018 and 2024.
Karalis is planning a full indoor season in 2026 and he is due to open his campaign at the ORLEN Cup in Lodz on 25 January.
Second accolade for Tzengko
On the women’s side, Tzengko was named Greek Athlete of the Year for a second time. She finished fifth in the javelin at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and also took a notable victory for Greece at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid.
Tzengko also took three victories on the Diamond League circuit, including in the Diamond League final in Zurich.
Vladimiros Andreadis and Maria Rafailidou were named Greek U20 Athletes of the Year. Andreadis won silver in the 400m at the Balkan Championships while Rafailidou won the shot put title at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere.
In other categories, Dimitris Pavlidis and Polyniki Emmanouilidou were named Greek U23 Athletes of the Year and Sarantis Tzelepis and Alexandra Tsernova won the equivalent in the U18 category.
