Emmanouil Karalis vaulted to a popular victory in front of his home supporters with a 5.90m clearance at the Fly Athens Indoor, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on Saturday (7) evening.
Karalis vaulted sparingly throughout the evening, entering the competition with a first-time clearance at 5.70m. He passed at 5.80m before sealing victory over Chris Nilsen from the United States with a second-time clearance at 5.90m.
Having vaulted just three times all evening, Karalis had plenty in reserve as he raised the bar to 6.00m, a barrier that hasn’t been broached at this relatively early juncture of the indoor season. Karalis’ first two attempts were promising before bailing out on his third endeavour at 6.00m.
Karalis looked ever so slightly rueful he could not deliver the first six metre vault of the season in front of his home audience but he warmly acknowledged to the thousands of fans who turned up to watch him in action.
"When I was a little kid, I used to watch the competitions here and finally I had the chance to compete in the same venue. I'm happy to see so many people in the stands, especially the little kids. I had the opportunity today to try out my new poles, the test we did didn't work, but that's not something that worries us. Soon I'll have the opportunity to climb higher," said Karalis as reported by SEGAS.
Karalis won by one clear height from Nilsen who cleared a season’s best of 5.80m to take the runner-up spot in Athens with Czechia’s David Holy comprising the top three with a 5.70m clearance.
Among the sizeable crowd who were entertained at the Painana Olympic Indoor Hall on the outskirts of Athens were European Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov and the Greek Minister of Sport Yannis Vroutsis.
"I was honoured to receive a special recognition from the Greek Minister of Sport, Yannis Vroutsis. We enjoyed the great atmosphere at the Fly Athens Meeting tonight. Thanks and congratulations to Emmanouil Karalis for the excellent organisation and a fantastic evening for athletics!" said Karamarinov.
A massive lifetime for Kolodziejski in Hustopece
Poland’s Mateusz Kolodziejski took what was by far the biggest victory of his career so far at the Hustopecske skakani, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, on Saturday.
Seemingly buoyed by the prospect of the upcoming World Athletics Indoor Championships on home soil in Kujawy-Pomorze next month, Kolodziejski equalled his lifetime best of 2.25m before clearing outright lifetime bests at both 2.28m and 2.30m for a wholly unexpected victory.
The competition did come to a slightly premature and unfortunate end. Japan’s Naoto Hasegawa,who kept the competition alive by also clearing an outright lifetime of 2.30m on his third attempt, fell on the approach and clattered into the upright on his first attempt at 2.32m before retiring from the competition.
Reigning European indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk from Ukraine had to settle for third with a 2.28m clearance while last year’s winner and reigning world indoor champion Sanghyeok Woo, who was aiming for his third victory in Hustopece, was only fourth with 2.25m.
By contrast, the women’s high jump did go to form with Australia’s Eleanor Patterson winning with a 1.96m clearance ahead of Jamaica’s Lamara Distin who finished second on countback ahead of Germany’s Imke Onnen at 1.93m.
Morauskaite battles to 400m win in Kaunas
Home favourite Modesta Morauskaite won the 400m on home soil at the Cosma Indoor Cup, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Challenger meeting, in Kaunas by the smallest of margins in a competitive 'A' race on Saturday (7).
The Lithuanian record-holder took a popular victory in 53.71, narrowly holding off Morocco's Salma Lehlali who set an indoor lifetime best of 53.72. Poland's European U18 champion Anastazja Kus finished third in 53.82.
The men's 400m also produced fast times with Portugal's Omar Elkhatib winning in 46.42 ahead of Switzerland's Vincent Gendre in 46.45. Both athletes revised their indoor lifetime bests in the process with the latter taking more than half-a-second off his best ever time indoors.
The Netherlands' Taymir Burnet won the men's 60m in 6.65 ahead of 20-year-old Lithuanian record-holder Adas Dambrauskas who was given a dead heat for second with Morocco's Yassine Hssine in 6.68 but there was a Lithuanian win for Ema Rupsyte in the women's 60m in 7.40.
Other domestic highlights included 2019 European U23 triple jump champion Diana Zagainova winning her specialist event with a season's best of 13.76m and national record-holder Rugile Miklyciute winning the pole vault with a 4.20m clearance.