site.btaFour Medals for Bulgaria on Day One of Balkan Athletics Championships

Bulgaria won four medals at the Balkan Athletics Championships in the Greek city of Volos on Saturday, the opening day of the tournament.

Tihomir Ivanov claimed the men’s high jump title with a winning mark of 2.19 metres. Having secured first place, the Bulgarian made two unsuccessful attempts at 2.25 m and one at 2.26 m.

Bozhidar Saraboyukov earned a silver medal in the men’s long jump. The European indoor champion achieved a best distance of 7.90 m. He was surpassed only by Miltiadis Tentoglou, the Greek two-time Olympic champion and multiple-time world and European titleholder, who added yet another Balkan title to his collection with a single successful jump of 8.07 m. Saraboyukov recorded his best jump on his third attempt (7.90 m), after opening with two jumps of 7.78m. His fourth attempt was 7.61m, while his final two were fouls. Andreas Trajkovski of North Macedonia took the bronze with 7.77 m.

In a superb performance, Ivo Balabanov brought Bulgaria another silver medal in the men’s 5000 metres, clocking 14:15.83 minutes. He was beaten only by Serbia’s Elzan Bibic, who won gold in 14:03.83 minutes.

Hristo Iliev won bronze in the men’s 100 metres, setting a personal best of 10.29 seconds. The title went to Slovenia’s Jernej Gumilar, who ran 10.23 seconds. With this performance, Iliev now ranks sixth on Bulgaria’s all-time list for the 100 m. Ahead of him are Petar Petrov (10.13 s), Valentin Atanasov (10.15 s), Denis Dimitrov (10.16 s), Henri Grigorov (10.23 s), and Desislav Gunev (10.27 s).