Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships

The Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships, also known as the Balkan Indoor Games (Greek: Βαλκανικοί Αγώνες Κλειστού Στίβου), is an annual international indoor track and field competition between athletes from the Balkan Peninsula. Following a test event in 1991,[1] it was officially launched in 1994.[2] Organised by the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations (ABAF), it is typically held in February.[3][4][5] The competition complemented the long-running annual outdoor track and field tournament: the Balkan Games.[6]

Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships
Βαλκανικοί Αγώνες Κλειστού Στίβου
First event1994
Occur everyYear
PurposeIndoor track and field event between Balkan nations
OrganiserAssociation of the Balkan Athletics Federations

It received strong support from the Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association – until 2002, the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Piraeus[7][8], Greece was the permanent host, as this was the only international standard indoor track and field arena in the region at that point. The Peania Indoors Arena, in the Metropolitan area of the Greek capital, took on hosting duties from 2003 to 2006, then began alternating with the Faliro, Piraeus stadium.[2] The event was cancelled in both 2010 and 2011 due to the insolvency of the Greek athletics body, linked to the Greek government-debt crisis.[9] The event was continued in 2012 with Turkey as the new host nation, which had built the Ataköy Athletics Arena for the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships. The Balkan competition served as a major test event for the global championships.[10][11]

The programme of events has been similar to that of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, except for the omission of the combined track and field events and (usually) the 4 × 400 metres relay. Women's pole vault was introduced in 1998, giving the sexes event parity, and the 200 metres for both sexes was dropped after 2005 in line with international standards. The 1994 championships featured racewalking competitions, but these were dropped for subsequent editions.[2] In addition to individual titles, a men's and a women's team title is awarded to the best performing nation in each section. Both medal tables and points tables are collated, with the points score contributing to the team title.[12][13] The points table was introduced in 2002.

A total of seventeen nations have entered the competition during its history, with Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro being former competitors; all successor states of Yugoslavia have since competed independently, bar Kosovo.[12] The initial competition was between six nations, which expanded to nine by the end of the 1990s. The number of competing nations was further expanded between 2011 and 2014, with five more countries being admitted by the ABAF. Azerbaijan has also competed as a guest nation; its performances were discounted for medal and points-scoring purposes.[14] Romania and Greece have historically been the most successful nations at the event, although Turkey has been the most dominant since 2012.

Editions
Edition Year Stadium City Country Dates No. of
events		 No. of
athletes		 Men's winner[nb1] Women's winner[nb1]
— 1991 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece January 22  Romania  Romania
1 1994 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 20 February 25  Romania  Romania
2 1995 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 25 February 23  Greece  Romania
3 1996 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 24 February 23  Greece  Romania
4 1997 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 22 February 23  Greece  Romania
5 1998 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 22 February 24  Romania  Romania
6 1999 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 13 February 24  Greece  Romania
7 2000 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 12 February 24  Bulgaria  Romania
8 2001 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 18 February 24  Greece  Greece
9 2002 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 23 February 24  Greece  Greece
10 2003 Peania Indoors Arena Paiania Greece 4 March 24  Romania  Greece
11 2004 Peania Indoors Arena Paiania Greece 28 February 24  Romania  Romania
12 2005 Peania Indoors Arena Paiania Greece 16 February 24  Greece  Romania
13 2006 Peania Indoors Arena Paiania Greece 22 February 22  Romania  Romania
14 2007 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 21 February 22  Romania  Romania
15 2008 Peania Indoors Arena Paiania Greece 9 February 22  Romania  Romania
16 2009 Peace and Friendship Stadium Piraeus Greece 21 February 22  Romania  Romania
— 2010 Cancelled
— 2011 Cancelled
17 2012 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 18 February 22  Greece  Turkey
18 2013 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 23 February 22  Turkey  Romania
19 2014 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 22 February 22  Turkey  Romania
20 2015 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 21 February 22  Turkey  Turkey
21 2016 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 27 February 22  Romania  Romania
22 2017 Kombank Arena Belgrade Serbia 25 February 22  Turkey  Greece
23 2018 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 17 February 24  Romania  Romania
24 2019 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 16 February 24  Turkey  Ukraine
25 2020 Ataköy Athletics Arena Istanbul Turkey 15 February 24  Ukraine  Romania
  • nb1 Team winners decided by medals up to 2001, with the points scoring format introduced in 2002.

Participation
Nation First appearance
 Greece1991
 Albania1991
 Bulgaria1991
 Romania1991
 Turkey1991
 North Macedonia1996
 Moldova1996
 Bosnia and Herzegovina1998
 Serbia2007
 Montenegro2007
 Croatia2011
 Armenia2013
 Cyprus2014
 Slovenia2014
 Georgia2014
 Yugoslavia†1991
 Serbia and Montenegro†1994–2002[nb2]
2003–2006
  • Note: † = former competing nation
  • nb2 As Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Championships records

Key:   Defunct event

Men
Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Meet Place Ref
60 m 6.58 Georgios Theodoridis  Greece 13 February 1999 1999 Championships Athens, Greece
200 m 21.25 Ioan Vieru  Romania 28 February 2004 2004 Championships Paiania, Greece [15]
400 m 46.35 Iliya Dzhivondov  Bulgaria 12 February 2000 2000 Championships Athens, Greece
800 m 1:48.52 Yevhen Hutsol  Ukraine 16 February 2019 2019 Championships Istanbul, Turkey [16]
1500 m 3:37.49 İlham Tanui Özbilen  Turkey 23 February 2013 2013 Championships Istanbul, Turkey
3000 m 7:42.49 Polat Kemboi Arıkan  Turkey 18 February 2012 2012 Championships Istanbul, Turkey
60 m hurdles 7.57 Gheorghe Boroi  Romania 20 February 1994 1994 Championships Athens, Greece
High jump 2.32 m Cristian Popescu  Romania 20 February 1994 1994 Championships Athens, Greece
Pole vault 5.76 m Ivan Horvat  Croatia 25 February 2017 2017 Championships Belgrade, Serbia [17]
Long jump 8.10 m Bogdan Tudor  Romania 25 February 1995 1995 Championships Athens, Greece
Triple jump 17.51 m Marian Oprea  Romania 22 February 2006 2006 Championships Paiania, Greece
Shot put 20.77 m Stipe Žunić  Croatia 25 February 2017 2017 Championships Belgrade, Serbia [18]
Mesud Pezer  Bosnia and Herzegovina 17 February 2018 2018 Championships Istanbul, Turkey [19]
4 × 400 m relay 3:12.19 Jure Grkman
Gregor Grahovač
Žan Rudolf
Luka Janežič		  Slovenia 15 February 2020 2020 Championships Istanbul, Turkey [20]

Women
Event Record Athlete Nationality Date Meet Place Ref
60 m 7.13 Tezdzhan Naimova  Bulgaria 21 February 2007 2007 Championships Athens, Greece
200 m 23.70 Angela Morosanu  Romania 16 February 2005 2005 Championships Paiania, Greece [21]
400 m 51.06 Vania Stambolova  Bulgaria 22 February 2006 2006 Championships Paiania, Greece
800 m 1:59.82 Mihaela Neacșu  Romania 21 February 2007 2007 Championships Athens, Greece
1500 m 4:06.89 Luiza Gega  Albania 27 February 2016 2006 Championships Istanbul, Turkey
3000 m 8:55.22 Cristina Grosu  Romania 23 February 2002 2002 Championships Athens, Greece
60 m hurdles 8.02 Andrea Ivančević  Croatia 27 February 2016 2016 Championships Istanbul, Turkey
High jump 1.97 m Stefka Kostadinova  Bulgaria 20 February 1994 1994 Championships Athens, Greece
Pole vault 4.50 m Tanya Stefanova  Bulgaria 16 February 2005 2005 Championships Paiania, Greece
Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou  Greece 17 February 2018 2018 Championships Istanbul, Turkey [22]
Long jump 6.96 m Ivana Španović  Serbia 25 February 2017 2017 Championships Belgrade, Serbia [23]
Triple jump 14.84 m Hrysopiyi Devetzi  Greece 4 March 2003 2003 Championships Paiania, Greece
Shot put 19.30 m Anca Heltne  Romania 21 February 2009 2009 Championships Athens, Greece
4 × 400 m relay 3:33.76 Kateryna Klymiuk
Tetiana Melnyk
Anastasiia Bryzgina
Anna Ryzhykova		  Ukraine 16 February 2019 2019 Championships Istanbul, Turkey [24]

References
  1. Ματιές στα Σπορ (Survey of Sports), vol. 29 (January 1992), p. 43.
  2. Balkan Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  3. Mulkeen, Jon (2013-02-24). World leads by Lavillenie in Metz and Lendore, Duncan and Dendy in Fayetteville. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  4. Oprea eager for Moscow gold and World record - Balkan Indoor Champs report. IAAF (2006-02-23). Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  5. Mulkeen, Jon (2014-02-22). Beitia clears two metres, Fassinotti sets Italian record – indoor champs round-up. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  6. The Balkan Games in transition. IAAF (2001-02-19). Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  7. >http://www.balkan-athletics.eu/results.php
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-07-03. Retrieved 2019-07-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. No Athens Indoor meeting this year or Balkan Indoor Games. Track and Field News. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  10. Turkish medal hopes and venue tested - Istanbul 2012 . IAAF (2012-02-20). Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  11. Results. Association of Balkan Athletic Federations. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  12. Balkan Indoor Championships 2015 TEAM POINTS - MEN Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Association of Balkan Athletic Federations. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  13. Balkan Indoor Championships 2015 TEAM POINTS - WOMEN Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. Association of Balkan Athletic Federations. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  14. 20th Balkan Indoor Championships 2015 Istanbul, TUR/Men/Full Results Men.pdf Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine. ABAF. Retrieved on 2015-03-04.
  15. "200m Results" (PDF). balkan-athletics.eu. 28 February 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  16. "Balkan Indoor Championships 2019 Men's Results" (PDF). ABAF. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  17. "Pole Vault Results" (PDF). balkan-athletics.eu. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  18. "Shot Put Results" (PDF). balkan-athletics.eu. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  19. "Balkan Indoor Championships 2018 Results" (PDF). TAF. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  20. "2020 Balkan Indoor Championships Results" (PDF). Balkan Athletics. 15 February 2020. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  21. "200m Results" (PDF). balkan-athletics.eu. 16 February 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  22. "Balkan Indoor Championships 2018 Results" (PDF). TAF. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  23. "Long Jump Results" (PDF). balkan-athletics.eu. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  24. "Balkan Indoor Championships 2019 Men's Results" (PDF). ABAF. 16 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
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