The approved final version of the Timetable and the Start Lists are now available

Timetable Day 1

Timetable Day 2

Start Lists

Watch the competition live on TVR Craiova

Youtube channel

Facebook channel

Live Results

We are excited to announce the 14th Mountain Running Championships in Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Romania. The competition will take place on the 14th of May, 2022.

We are very thankful for the Romanian Athletic Federation to be hosting this event. For more information about the event, the hosting Federation has written an invitation letter for all interested participants.

Please find the course profile and course map here.

Would you like to participate in the competition? Fill in this form. The deadline for all applications are Friday, the 6th of May.

See you there!

On the 10th of April 2022, Tirana hosted the 11th Balkan Half Marathon. Despite the heavy rain, our athletes gave their best to make it to the finishing line as quickly as possible.
...

From the 10 athletes for the women competition, Luiza Gega from Albania won the first place with 1:10:58, closely followed by Bahar Atalay (1:14:52) and Sabriye Guzelyurt (1:16:16) from Turkey.




9 athletes participated for the men competition and Dario Ivanovski reached first place with 1:04:54, becoming the first North Macedonian Champion in the history of Balkan Half Marathons. He was closely followed by Onur Aras (1:05:35) and Mahsum Deger (1:06:17) from Turkey.

Results


We are again very thankful for the excellent organization and execution of this competition and are looking forward to the next time.

The Athens Riviera - Glyfada hosted the 21st Balkan Race Walking Championships on the 3rd of April.
...

Turkey won the greatest number of medals - a total of 13; 5 of them gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze. Romania follows with 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals, which makes 7 in total. Greece followed with 4 medals: one gold, one silver, and two bronze.


We are very thankful for the great atmosphere and excellent organisation of our host - The Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics.
A video of the race can be watched HERE

On the 5th of March 2022, the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul hosted the 27th Balkan Indoor Championships.

Photo by Ibrahim YILDIRIM

The time table and planning is ready! Please find below information about the timetable, the starting list for our female athletes, the starting list for our male athletes, specific times for the meals and shuttles during the competition, and the live broadcast.

Results can be found in the Resuls section here:

We are ready for our biggest Balkan event this year- the Balkan Senior Championships! It is fully expected to witness great competition and hustle, as this is yet another chance for the athletes participating to achieve entry standards for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. This 74th edition of the Championships will take place on the 26th and 27th of June in Belgrade-Sederevo, Serbia and will also serve our hosts as a great opportunity to rehearse and gain more experience and practice for the upcoming World Athletics Indoor Championships in March, 2022. More than 450 athletes from 19 countries will put on display their readiness to prove that they are the best and we just know this will be one special sight to see. A contributing factor to this intriguing competition is the fact that it will take place on a special track, located inside the Smederevo Fortress, built in the 17th century.

Thanks to the hosting Serbian Athletics Federation, LIVE RESULTS will be available here:

And everyone will be able to enjoy a LIVE STREAM here:

The 51st Balkan U20 Championships took place in Istanbul, Turkey on the 12-13 of June.

We are truly grateful to the Turkish Athletic Federation for hosting this competition with impeccable organisation and excellent hospitality, as always. We also congratulate them on successfully applying strict measures, considering the heavily impacted by the pandemic circumstances, which ensured everybody's safety and health was a priority.

Results can be found in the Results section

Start lists and live results will be available Here

The 20th Balkan Race Walking Championships took place in Antalya, Turkey on the 27th of March with 6 countries taking part in the event.

We are truly grateful to the Turkish Athletic Federation for hosting this competition with impeccable organisation and excellent hospitality, as always. We also congratulate them on successfully applying strict measures, considering the heavily impacted by the pandemic circumstances, which ensured everybody's safety and health was a priority.

The hosting country Turkey is happy to record a historic achievement, dominating in all age categories.

The overall scoring of the competition goes as follows:

Turkey is first with 61 points, followed by Romania- 34 points, Bulgaria- 13 points, Greece- 9 points and Serbia- 3 points. The 6th participating country- Slovenia was, unfortunately, unable to score.

Results can be found in the Results section

Competition results are available in the Results section

The Balkan Indoor Championships will be streamed live on TAF TV YouTube channel

Timetable here

Start Lists here

Competition results are available in the Results section

Official Timetable here

Start Lists Men

Start Lists Women

Live stream can also be watched in Facebook here

Full results from the competition are available here

Results after each event will be available here

The preliminary Start lists for the competition are available here

Updated Timetable for Day 1 is here

Updated Timetable for Day 2 is here

The Technical meeting will take place on Friday, 18 September 2020, at 19:00 at the stadium.

Full Results Men here

Full Results Women here

Results Decathlon here

Results Heptathlon here

Medal Table here

Results Day 1 Men here

Results Day 1 Women here

Individual Results Men here

Individual Results Women here

Team Results Men here

Team Results Women here

Start Lists Men here

Start Lists Women here

The 9th Balkan Half Marathon took place in Zagreb today along with the International Zagreb21 Half Marathon. There were 32 registered athletes from 9 Balkan Countries and over 800 participants in the mass race.

The race director Robert Franjkovic together with the hosting federation of Croatia did a great job with the organisation, making sure to meet the recommendations of the health authorities. All the athletes were required to wear face masks at the start line and were allowed to take them off after the start. The weather was also great - warm but cloudy and fresh.

Maxim Raileanu of Moldova won the men's race in 1:05:58, followed by Yavuz Agrali and Murat Emektar of Turkey, 1:06:23 and 1:06:56 respectively. The team of Turkey was first, Moldova second and Romania third.

The fastest woman was Fatma Demir of Turkey. She finished in 1:13:48. Bojana Bjeljac of Croatia was second in 1:13:56 and Militsa Mircheva, Bulgaria was third in 1:13:59. The Ladies' team ranking is Croatia, Buglaria, Turkey.

The Croatian Government imposed a restriction on all social, cultural and sport events in Croatia until 31 March due to the Coronavirus spread.

The Balkan Half Marathon Championships in Zagreb is therefore cancelled.

Further information will be circulated in due course.

In view of the current situation with the coronavirus and the global measures taken to limit its spread, we would like to assure you that there will be no cancelation or postponement of the Balkan Race Walking Championships.

The LOC had a series of consultations with Ukrainian authorities and the city council of Ivano Frankivsk and they reached the conclusion that there's no reason for extraordinary measures. All necessary precautions are taken as to minimize the risk of infection, therefore the event will take place as planned, on the 14th of March.

The 25th Balkan Indoor Championships was held in Istanbul on 15th February 2020. We witnessed a very exciting competition with the participation of all 21 Member Federations plus two guest nations ooc. Many thanks to the Turkish Athletics Federation for the excellent organsation and hospitality, as always.

Romania and Ukraine took home 5 golden medals, followed by Turkey with 3 golden medals and Albania with 2. A total of 18 federations won medals at these championships.

A Presidents' Council also took place in Istanbul, where slight amendments of the calendar were discussed and agreed upon. The updated version of the Calendar can be found here under "Calendar"

Photos by Ibrahim YILDIRIM can be found find here:

AtletizmTAF

Start Lists Men here

Start Lists Women here

The 25th Balkan Indoor Championships will take place in Istanbul, Turkey on the 15th of February 2020. We are excited to announce that all 21 Balkan member federations will compete and we will witness a great battle in Atakoy Athletics Arena.

Provisional Timetable with Medal Cetemonies can be found here

As usual, the event will be broadcast live in the YouTube channel of Turkish Athletic Federation through the link below:

The Balkan Indoor U20 Championships took place on the 9th of February 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. The President of the Turkish Athletics Federation Mr. Fatih Cintimar lead the Official Opening Ceremony in Atakoy Athletics Arena.

There were over 230 participants from 18 Balkan Athletics member federations present, as well as representatives from Uzbekistan, who competed occ.

The athletes from Turkey finished the competition with the most medals: 21 medals (8 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze), followed by Ukraine (4 gold) and Romania (3 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze).

We are very thankful for the hospitality, warm atmosphere and excellent organisation to our hosts- the Turkish Athletics Federation and are looking forward to the Balkan Indoor Championships this Saturday again in Atakoy Athletics Arena!

The annual Balkan Gala and the awarding ceremony for our Balkan stars took place in Vrnjacka Banjia, Serbia on the 27th of November this year. Congratulations to our athletes and big thanks to the Serbian Athletic Federation for the impecable organization and the hospitality!

Balkan Athletics is proud to announce that Belgrade was selected to organise and host the World Indoor Athletics Championship in 2022.

Congratulations to the Serbian Athletic Federation for their hard work and good luck with the preparations!

The Balkan Marathon Championships, part of the Comtrade Serbia Marathon, took place on the 17th of November in Belgrade, Serbia with participants from 9 Balkan countries.

These are the winners in the respective categories:

Senior Women:
Gold: SIMOVIC Teodora, SRB in 02:42:30
Silver: NINEVA Marinela, BUL in 02:54:47
Bronze: POP ARSOVA Adrijana, MKD in 02:55:03

Senior Women- Teams:
1st SRB
2nd MKD

Senior MEN:
Gold: RAILEANU Maxim, MDA in 2:21:11
Silver: ALICI Yusuf, TUR in 2:26:11
Bronze: GORBUSCO Nikolai, MDA in 2:31:40

Senior MEN- Teams:
1st MDA
2nd SRB
3rd TUR

The 63rd edition of the Balkan Cross Country Championships was held on 9th of November 2019 in Berane, Montenegro. 15 Balkan countries took part in the event.

Alexandros Papamichail (GRE) won the 20 km Senior Men's race in 01:24:40. Second was Sahin Senoduncu (TUR) with the same result, followed by Giorgos Tzatzimakis (GRE) with 01:25:11.

Women U20:
4km: ERGUN Sila, TUR in 14:11
4km team placing: ROU , with TUR and BUL with just 1 point difference, taking second and third point respectively

Men U20:
6km: GUADIA Adisu, ISR in 19:13
6km team placing: ISR

Women U23:
6km: ATALAY Bahar, TUR in 21:02
6km team placing: UKR

Men U23:
8km: BIBIC Elzan in 23:57
8km team placing: UKR

Women:
8km: 1st LEHONKOVA Natalya, UKR in 27:34
2nd KHODAKIVSKA Mariya, UKR in 27:3
3rd Jevtic Olivera, SRB in 27:48
8km team placing: 1st UKR, 2nd ROU and 3rd KOS

MEN:
10km: 1st ABUHAY Yitayew, ISR in 30:25
2nd NIKOLOV Yolo, BUL in 30:26
3rd DIDOVODYUK Dmytro, UKR in 30.26
10km team placing: 1st BUL, 2nd UKR and 3rd TUR

Balkan Athletics' Women Leaders in Athletics Seminar 2019 took place 4th-7th of November in Samokov, Bulgaria with numerous participants from 19 countries.

The Seminar started with an official opening greeting from Balkan Athletics President Dobromir Karamarinov, and included 2 days lectures and sessions from 5 different presenters.

Some of the topics that were covered were "Changing Leadership One Woman at a Time" , "Authority Etiquette" , "Leaders and Managers" , role play, "social experiment hurdles" interactive session, etc.

Balkan Athletics was honored to host everyone, we are all excited to see what the ladies learned from the Seminar and how they will implement it in the future!

The Balkan Athletics Congress was held on the 27th of September 2019 in Doha, Qatar, just a few hours before the start of the World Athletics Championships.

Newly elected IAAF Council Member Dobromir Karamarinov was re-elected as President of Balkan Athletics for the third time. Fatih Cintimar (TUR), Slobodan Brankovic (SER) and Florin Florea (ROU) also remain as Board memmbers.

Balkan Athletics also welcomed officially, following a vote, its 21st member- Austria.

Our Balkan family was honored to welcome to the Congress Lord Sebastian Coe, President of the IAAF, who congratulated ABAF for its development, expansion and contribution to athletics on international level.

You can watch the Pravets Balkan Athletics Championships on 3rd September 2019 starting from 17:30.

The link will be active from the 2nd of September 2019.

The results from the championship can be found here.

Start Lists can be found here:
MEN
WOMEN

Timetable with Call Room Schedule and Victory Cetemonies can be found here

Entry lists can be found here

Timetable can be found here

With only one month notice, Turkey took over and hosted the 17th Balkan U18 Championships on 14th of July 2019 in Istanbul. The organization was at the highest level, as usual in Turkey. The competition took place on the Ataturk Athletic Stadium where over 250 athletes from 16 countries participated.

For most of those athletes, this was their first international competition, many of them improved their personal bests and the atmosphere on the stadium was truly exciting.

Turkey won 11 gold, 12 silver, and 10 bronze medals, followed by Serbia with 5 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze, and Romania: 3 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze.

Photos of the event can be on the following pages:

AtletizmTAF

Balkan Athletics

Final Timetable (after Technical Meeting) can be found HERE

Start Lists (after Technical Meeting) can be found HERE

can be watched from 14:00 on 14 July 2019

The 18th edition of the Balkan Race Walk was held on 20th of April 2019 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. Eight Balkan countries took part in the event.

Alexandros Papamichail (GRE) won the 20 km Senior Men's race in 01:24:40. Second was Sahin Senoduncu (TUR) with the same result, followed by Giorgos Tzatzimakis (GRE) with 01:25:11.

Greece was also the winner of the Senior Women's race: Panagiota Tsinopoulou took the gold medal with result of 01:34:55, followed by Ivana Renic (CRO, 01:36:23) and Mihaela Puscasu (ROU, 01:41:39).

The 10k and 5k races were won by Turkish athletes. Selman Ilhan was the fastest in the U20 Men with 00:43:10, while Evin Demir was ahead of the U20 Women with 00:45:54. Mustafa Tekdal took the gold in the U18 Boys race and Songul Kocer was the fastest U18 Girl in the 5k with 00:24:50.

The results are valid for entry standards for the Doha World Championship 2019 and Tokyo Olympics 2020.

Full results can be found in the Results section.

More pictures can be found HERE

Dobromir Karamarinov was re-elected Vice President of European Athletics by the Congress held on 13 April 2019 in Czech capital city. Three more Balkan representatives were also elected to the Council: Slobodan Brankovic SRB, Panagiotis Dimakos GRE and Fatih Cintimar TUR.
Together they will work for the benefit of athletics in Europe.
Good luck!

The Balkan Half Marathon Championship was held on the 7th of April 2019 along with the 9th Nova Poshta Kyiv Half Marathon in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine was the Balkan Team Champion, followed by Turkey. The individual Balkan champions- Roman Romanenko and Daria Mykhailova were placed among the top 5 best athletes of the Nova Poshta Kyiv Half Marathon. Roman finished 5th in 1:04:35 and Daria finished 4th in 1:11:49.

More on the Half Marathon Here

Information and maps about the event are available Here

All 20 countries took part in the event with 240 athletes overall. For the first time, entry standards were introduced therefore the best athletes of the region were competing, which in turn lead to better performances.

Azerbaijan officially joined Balkan Athletics during a Presidents' Council, held the morning before the competition. President Chingiz Huseynzada was there to personally accept the affiliation. Azerbaijani athletes took part in the Championship, winning their first medal: silver in Triple Jump men.

Turkey is on the top of medals table with 4 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze ones, followed by Ukraine who also won 4 gold medals. This was the first Indoor Balkan Championship for them since their affiliation to Balkan Athletics and their performance was impressive. Bulgarian athletes are bringing home 3 gold medals. North Macedonia won their first Balkan medal since many years- silver in 3000m men.

Turkish federation and their President Fatih Cintimar were excellent hosts as always. The Championship was broadcast live on YouTube with commentary.

Final Timetable (after Technical Meeting) can be found HERE

Start Lists MEN

Start Lists WOMEN

can be watched from 14:00 on 16 Februry 2019

Final Timetable (after Technical Meeting) can be found HERE

Start Lists MEN

Start Lists WOMEN

can be watched from 15:00 on 10 Februry 2019

Timetable Balkan Indoor U20 Championships
Istanbul 10 February 2019

Timetable Balkan Indoor Senior Championships
Istanbul 16 February 2019

Entry Standards for the Balkan Indoor U20 Championships
Istanbul 10 February 2019

Entry Standards for the Balkan Indoor Senior Championships
Istanbul 16 February 2019

Greek capital Athens hosted the Balkan Athletics Gala 2018 on 6 December 2018. Turkish sprinter Ramil Guliyev and Greek triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou were crowned Balkan Athletes of the Year for their great achievements in 2018.

Guliyev won the European title in 200m in Berlin last August and helped Turkish 4x100 relay win the silver medals. He’s also vice champion in 200m from the IAAF Continental Cup in Ostrava.

Papachristou is European Champion in triple jump from Berlin 2018, and Balkan Champion in both long and triple jump from Stara Zagora 2018. She also won the bronze medal in triple jump at IAAF.

Two young perspective athletes were acknowledged Balkan Rising Stars of the Year: Aleksandra Nacheva BUL and Mykhailo Kokhan UKR. Both of them are only 17 but have already showed their talent.

Nacheva won the gold in triple jump at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. She is the World U20 Champion from Tampere 2018 and European U18 vice champion from Gyor. She is also double Balkan U18 Champion in both triple and long jump and Balkan U20 Indoor champion in triple jump.

Kokhan is World U20 Champion in Hammer Throw from Tampere, Youth Olympic Champion from Buenos Aires and European U18 Champion from Gyor 2018.

The ceremony was attended by IAAF President Lord Sebastian Coe and European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen. They received plaques of appreciation from Balkan Athletics president Dobromir Karamarinov for their constant support. Karamarinov also acknowledged the good work of the Hellenic Athletics Association SEGAS and its president Kostas Panagopoulos in organising the event.

The delegates visited the historic Panathenaic Stadium (also known as Kalimarmaron) earlier in the day and officially inaugurated the Museum of Athletics History at Fokianos Gymnasium. Lord Coe had also a short audience with the President of Greece Mr. Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

Photos from Antonis Nikolopoulos / Eurokinissi can be found HERE under "Press Release"

The Balkan Championships STARA ZAGORA 2018 is officially over.

The results from competition are available in the "Results" section.

The results from the Day 1 are available in the "Results" section.

Start Lists Women here

Start Lists Men here

Presentation from the technical meeting here

Offical Timetable here

Updated Entry Lists Women here

Updated Entry Lists Men here

Four teams with two athletes in each event took part in the International match in Minsk: the home nation Belarus, a national team of Ukraine, and joined teams of the Balkans and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). The Balkans are third in the final team standing with equal score to the team of Ukraine – 138 points. The overall winner of the match is the hosting team of Belarus with 160 points. Baltics finished fourth with 92 points.

Two victories were taken by Balkan athletes. Andrian Mardare (Moldova) took victory for Balkans at javelin throw with 81.71. Bulgarian shot put champion and silver medallist from the European Indoor championship 2017 Radoslava Mavrodieva won with 18.41 to score second victory for Balkans.

One of the strongest European women sprinters Ivet Lalova-Colio (Bulgaria) was second at 100 m with equal time with first finisher Khrystyna Stuy (Ukraine) 11.30. The performance of Ivet Lalova-Colio was among the ten best results according to IAAF Scoring Table therefore she is entitled to prize money. Alexandru Novac (Romania) finished second in Javelin with 81.46. Cristian Staicu (Romania) took the silver in long jump with 7.62. Adva Cohen (Israel) made a personal best of 1:48.48 in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase where she finished second.

Cosmin Trofin (Romania) and Musa Hajdari (Kosovo) took the silver and bronze in the men’s 800m with 1:48.45 and 1:49.22 respectively. Balkan mixed relay 4x400m took the bronze medals.

Exactly one year before Minsk hosts the 2019 European Games, IAAF President Sebastian Coe was in the Belarusian capital for the opening of the Dynamo Stadium following its latest reconstruction, which was the main reason for this competition.
Dynamo Stadium has undergone several transformations over the years. After opening in 1934, it was reconstructed and expanded in 1939 before being destroyed in the Second World War. It was rebuilt between 1947 and 1954, then further renovated in the late 1970s in preparation to host football matches for the 1980 Olympic Games.
The stadium’s latest reconstruction, which began in 2012, has athletics at its core. It now has a nine-lane Mondo track, plus a four-lane warm-up track, making it suitable to host international athletics competitions. It will be used for athletics at the 2019 European Games.

Foto gallery from the International match is available at the webpage of Belarus Athletic Federation

Galery 1
Galery 2
Galery 3

Delayed TV broadcast of the match will be shown on TV "Belarus-5" on 22 June 2018 starting from 23:25 local time.

Start Lists are available HERE

Course map and profile is HERE

A record number of 9 countries took part in the 17th edition of the Balkan Race Walking Championships in Serbian city of Zrenjanin (which has hosted the Balkan Cross Country Championships in 2013 as well). There were 71 athletes in total, 36 women and 35 men.

Turkey was the unopposed champion having won medals in each individual event. They ended up with 11’365 points, 3 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals. Second in the team ranking was Romania with 8’130 points, followed by Bulgaria who didn’t win any medals but had a full team and made 6'676 points.
The team of Greece won 2 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals while Ukraine, in their first appearance on a Balkan event got 1 gold and 1 silver.
Slobodan Brankovic, CEO of Serbian Athletic Federation attended the Championships and awarded medals to the U18 girls. The operations ran smoothly under the supervision of Goran Cegar, Head Coordinator of the event.

Full results can be found in the Results section.

Start Lists HERE.

Results from the Balkan Indoor Championships Istanbul 2018 are available in the Results section.

Start Lists HERE.

FINAL TIMETABLE updated after Technical Meeting is available HERE.

The pictures were kindly provided by Dan Mares and you can check them out following the links below:

Sporty Romania (Dan's blog)
Best of
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Gallery 4
Gallery 5
Gallery 6
Gallery 7
Gallery 8

Timetable is available HERE.

available HERE.

available HERE.

All 17 member federations have confirmed their participation in the second edition of the Balkan Indoor U20 Championships in Sofia on 10 February 2018. The entirely renovated Asics Arena, formeerly known as "Festivalna" sports hall is ready to host the event.

The Timetable is available HERE.

Polish company Polanik has been producing athletics equipment for over 50 years. They have more than 1000 products, among which 150 are certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Balkan Athletics is happy to have them as a partner.

Polanik brand reaches to the largest markets around the world. It is valued by many famous athletes. They are present at the biggest and the most prestigious sports events all over the world. In their assortment you will find competition, training and school equipment designed for track and field events. An extremely wide range of products let you supply all required athletics equipment and accessories not only for the athletics arenas, but also for back-up training facility.

Polanik implements are used for winning medals and breaking world records.

The 7th edition of the Balkan Athletics Gala took place in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria on 26 October 2017. The winners were selected based on the results achieved during the year and their contribution to Balkan Athletics.

Mesud Pezer of Bosna and Herzegovina and Romanian Bianca Razor are the Balkan Athletes of the Year. Rising Stars 2017 are middle & long distance runners Lilyana Georgieva, Bulgaria and Dorin Andrei Rusu, Romania.

Mesud Pezer won the Champions title in Shot Put at the Balkan Championships in Novi Pazar and was second at the Balkan Indoors in Belgrade. He also won the bronze for the Balkans at the DecaNation match. Pezer shows a very good progression in his development as an athlete: in 2013 he was the Balkan Rising Star while in 2017 he made seven lifetime bests and improved the national record to 21.40m. He also won the European Throwing Cup and reached the final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade. Pezer was awarded by Dobromir Karamarinov, Balkan Athletics President.

Bianca Razor has a full set of medals this year: she is the Balkan Champion in 400m and 4x400m relay and silver medalist in 200m from Novi Pazar. She is also Balkan Indoor Champion in 4x400m relay and has silver in 400m. She also brought 6 points to the Balkan team with her second place in 400m at the DecaNation. Razor made it to the finals in 400m at the World Championships in London and has a couple of medals from the Universiade in Taipei. Bianca received her award from Ahmad Al Kamali, IAAF Council Member, President of the GCC and the Athletics Federation of UAE.

Lilyana Georgieva, also known as “the wonder child” had quite a season: she started with two golds in 1500m and 4x400 relay at the first edition of the Balkan Indoor U20 Championships in Istanbul, then she won two titles at the Balkan U20 Outdoors: in 800m and 1500m plus a bronze in the 4 x 400m relay. Georgieva is also European U20 Vice Champion in 1500m from Grosseto and is the fastest white girl on the planet in 1500m with her 6th place from the World Championships in Nairobi. She made a several revisions of National records as well. Georgieva was awarded by Ivan Kolev, President of the Athletics Club “Beroe Stara” Zagora.

Dorin Andrei Rusu is the Balkan U20 Champion in 5,000m and Balkan Indoor U20 Champion in 1500m. He also won the gold in 10,000m and the bronze in 5,000m at the European U20 Championships in Grosseto. His trophy was presented by Martin Traykov, representative of M-Sport Bulgaria.

Dobromir Karamarinov made a presentation about Balkan Athletics activities throughout the year and recollected the winners of the previous Balkan awards. He also acknowledged the valuable contribution of Turksish and Serbian Fedrations who have greately supported the Balkan family. He gave special plaques of merits to the respective federations leaders Fatih Cintimar and Slobodan Brankovic.

The famous Dynamo Minsk stadium is currently going a massive renovation to in shape to host the athletics and ceremonies of the European Games 2019. It will be ready next June. Belarusian Athletic Federation decided to mark the official opening of the stadium by a very special event – a match between the teams of Belarus, Balkan Athletics and the athletics organisation of the Gulf Countries (GCC). A special Memorandum of Understanding on this subject was signed in Stara Zagora right before the start of the Balkan Athletics Gala 2017 by the Presidents Vadim Devyatovskiy, President of BLR, Dobromir Karamarinov, Balkan Athletics President and Ahmad Al Kamali, GCC President.

The match will be held on 21 June 2018. The precise conception of the competition is still to be elaborated. What is already clear is that there will be two athletes per team in each event and Russia will also be invited should there suspension be lifted by that time.

The regular annual Balkan Congress took place in Batumi, Georgia on 26 September 2017. Sixteen Member Federations were represented by their respective leaders. Special guest for the third time in a row was IAAF President Sebastian Coe who has always been present at Balkan Congresses since his election in 2015.

The Mayor of Batumi Giorgi Ermakov and the Chairman of the government of the autonomic republic of Adjara Zurab Pataradze were also in attendance. They welcomed the delegated and pointed out the fast development of Batumi where a new athletics stadium is due to be built in closest future.
Alex Akhvlediani, President of the hosting Georgian Federation and Seb Coe received plaques of gratitude from Dobromir Karamarinov who chaired the congress.

The calendar for 2018 was decided with one more competition introduced: the Balkan Relays Championships. Its first edition will be held in Erzurum, Turkey in the month July and will provide another opportunity to Balkan relay teams to reach entry standards for the European Championships in Berlin. The whole calendar can be found in the Calendar section.

Balkan Athletics was invited to take part for the third time in the prestigious DecaNation meeting in Angers, France on 9 September 2017. The DecaNation is a competition where athletics becomes a team sport. It was created and is managed by French Athletic Federation. Every year eight top teams in the world are invited to compete in 20 classic athletic disciplines.

Balkan team is composed of the winners in the respective events from the Balkan Senior Championships held in July in Novi Pazar, Serbia. Head of Delegation is Fatih Cintimar, Balkan Athletics Vice President and President of the Turkish Athletic Federation. Team Leaders are Robert Emmiyan, reigning European record holder in long jump (8.86m) and President of Armenian Athletic Federation and Ugur Kucuc, International relations of TUR. The team is dressed in Joma uniforms provided by EBS Group with the support of Gregor Bencina.

This year Balkans are competing against the teams of Ukraine, Poland, China, Japan, USA and of course France. The competition attracts thousands of spectators on the stadium and is followed by sports fans around the world.

It can be watched online here

Balkan Team composition

Timetable DecaNation 2017

Slobodan Brankovic, CEO of Serbian Athletic Federation, Amela Terzic, one of the top Balkan stars originating from Novi Pazar and the Mayor Nihat Bisevac on the press conference for the Balkan Senior Championships. We are all looking forward to a very successfull event as a final control before the World Athletics Championships in London.

The competition in Novi Pazar will serve as selection for the Balkan Team to take part in the DecaNation on 9 September in Angers, France.

You can see the Final Entry List HERE.

You can see the Official Time Table HERE.

You can see the Official Team Manual HERE.

You can see the Preliminary Timetable HERE.

The Final Timetable will be available after the collection of all the Final Entries

Results

Team Points & Medals table

photos by Bonchuk Andonov

Bulgarian Minister of Youth and Sport Krasen Kralev opened today the TOECS Level I Course in Samokov, Bulgaria. The Minister, who is a former athlete himself was pleased to welcome the 40 participants coming from 14 countries. “Athletic is the core of all sports and it is really good to see so many young people keen on improving their education and deliver the best of themselves in the field of sport” – he said.

The Mayor of Samokov Vladimir Georgiev was extremely happy to see athletics coming to his city again after the European Cross Country Championships 2014.

The course is organised by Balkan Athletics with the support of IAAF and European Athletics. It is offering better qualification opportunity to the athletics officials in the region, thus improving the general level of refereeing. Main Lecturers are Nadya But-Husaim from Belarus and Apostol Slavchev, Bulgaria. Ivan Slavchev and Emil Zdravkov are assisting with translation.

The Course will continue until Sunday, 25 June 2017 and will finish with oral and written examinations. Those among the participants who would successfully pass the exams will gain the Level I qualification and will be eligible for participation in the Level II Course organised by European Athletics in September.

Timetable

Dr. Madlena Boyadzhieva, Mayor of Teteven Municipality proudly awards the Senior Women Teams.

Full results can be found in the results section.

The 15th edition of the Balkan U18 Championships took place on the new auxiliary track right next ot the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. The hosting nation of Turkey scored an unprecedented success with 26 medals totally - 9 gold, 8 silver and 9 bronze. Second best nation was Romania with 16 medals (5 gold - 6 silver - 5 bronze), followed by Greece with 14 medals (4-7-3)

Full results can be found in the results section.

The Balkan U20 Championships will be held on 1-2 July 2017 in Pitesti, Romania and not in Craiova as initially planned due to delayed work on the new stadium in Craiova. Pitesti is a well known athletics venue for the Balkan family and the LOC will certainly deliver a world class event.

The newest member of the Balkan Family - Kosovo Athletic Federation is hosting the Balkan Half Marathon Chamionships on 14 May 2017 in the capital city. The Balkan event is part of the biger International Half Marathon Pristina, that is gathering athletes from all over the world.

Halil Suleimani, President of Kosovo Athletic Federation is glad that this year there will be a Balkan race incorporated in the event as it makes it more special, but it also adds responsibility.

"It's nice to see the enthousiasm and the progress of Kosovo. I have faith in their organiational skills and am sure we will see top level athetics on world class infrastructure here very soon" said Dobromir Kaamarinov, who attended the press conference in Pristina.

Among the star runners is Gladys Biwoto, Kenia, who won last year's race in Pristina and hopes to double this year again.

The Balkan U18 Championships will take place on
3 June 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkish Athletic Federation has made exceptional efforts and has succeeded, with the support of Istanbul Governorship and Istanbul Municipality, to undertake the organisation of this important event for your young athletes. It is a pure example of implementing the highest values we all share in our athletics family: friendship, cooperation and support in hard times. We are grateful for this and hereby officially thank President Fatih Chintimar for his generous policy and immediate actions.

The competition will be held on the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. The teams will be accommodated in Gonen Hotel, situated close to the International Airport and 14 km away from the stadium. Special security measures will be put in place at all venues to guarantee the safety of the participants. Dedicated police cars will escort all the teams’ transfers between the different venues.

The Balkan Senior Championships will take place on 15-16 July 2017 (instead of 22-23 July as initially planned). The venue remains unchanged - Novi Pazar, Sebia

The date and venue for the Balkan U18 Championships has also changed. It will be held on 2 June 2017 in Romania (instead of 3 June, Elbasan, AlB). The new hosting city will be announced soon.

Historical 22nd edition ofthe event took place in Belgrade, in the recently renovated Kombank Arena. It is the first time for Serbia to host a Balkan Indoor Championships, and for the first time a Balkan event serves as a test event for the European Indoor Championships to be held on 3-5 March 2017 in the same venue. More than 300 athletes from 16 Balkan countries tested the new track of the arena.

Photo by Marko Todorovic, Athletich Federation of Serbia

No doubt the biggest star of the competition was Ivana Spanovic (Balkan Athlete of the Year 2016). The gorgeous Serb improved the world leading result for the season before she was stopped at 6.96, which was a strong request for the European title in a few days.

The men had a quality competition in Pole Vault won by Ivan Horvat CRO and a national record of 5.76m. Horvat, who was World U20 Vice champion in 2012 defeated the reigning world indoor champion Konstantinos Filippidis GRE (5.71).

Long Jump was another strong event with the men. Izmir Smajlaj of Albania made three corrections of the national record 7.77, 7.80, 7.98, to win the Balkan title.

Romania got the most medals in Belgrade – 15 and is on the top of the medal table. They had only one title though and are 8th in the team ranking statistics. The most successful team was Greece with 4 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze medals, followed by Turkey (4-2-2).

All pictures are taken by Marko Todorovic, Athletich Federation of Serbia

Kombank Arena is ready for athletics.

Final timetable and overall start lists are available here

Start lists event by event and live results can be found on European Athletics website

Ali Aksu, Vice Presdent of Turkish Athletic Federation and Dobromir Karamarinov open the championships

201 athletes from 16 countries took part in the first edition of the Balkan Indoor U20 Championships in Istanbul on 12 February 2017. A number of athletes realised personal best results and two National U20 records were broken.

The men’s 4x400m relay of Turkey set a National Record of 3:16.94. They actually finished second after the team of Croatia (3:16.40). The other National record was done by Bulgarian Lilyana Georgieva in the girls’ 1500m where she raced unopposed in 4:20.01. Georgieva is only 16 years old and less than an hour after her great performance she also ran in the relay to help Bulgarian team win in 3:49.19.

The hosting Turkish Federation provided excellent conditions for the event including maximum security provisions so that the teams felt safe in Istanbul. The competition was held on higher international standard under the guidance of the Technical Delegate Can Korkmazoglu.

You can find more pictures from the event taken by the official photographer Ibrahim Yildirim here and here

Sixteen countries are taking part in the First edition of the Balkan Indoor U20 Championships in istanbul.

The final Timetable can be found here

Start List U20 Men

Start List U20 Women

Dobromir Karamarinov was invited by the President of Georgian Athletic Federation Alex Akhvlediani to the city of Kutaisi where he had very productive meetings with the local authorities. Kutaisi is the second largest city of Georgia situated 220 km west from Tbilisi. They are currently working on the construction of a new athletics stadium which should be ready by this summer.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Balkan Athletics, Georgian Athletic Federation and the city of Kutaisi to secure the future cooperation of the three entities. The city is keen on organising athletics events and is ready to host one of the Balkan Championships in 2018. There are regular low cost flights to Kutaisi from many European airports.

On December 17 the Athletics Federation of Republic of Moldova held its Annual Assembly and elections for the next Olympic cycle. The Assembly generally agreed that 2016 was the best and the richest in results since the country`s Independence in 1991.

Mr. Anatolie Balan was re-elected as President and Mr. Constantin Negura as General Secretary of the Federation, both unanimously. The Board members retained their seats.

The reforms in IAAF governance structure got a strong support from the Special Congress in Monaco where 95% of the member federations voted in favour of the proposed new constitution. Dobromir Karamarinov gave a comprehensible speech before the vote encouraging the audience to embrace change as we need to win trust again to secure a new chapter for athletics.

Balkan Athletics Vice Presidents Fatih Cintimar and Slobodan Brankovic were there as well forging the bright future of our sport.

Balkan Athletics gave its 6th Awards in partnership with the GCC* at a glamorous Gala Ceremony in Dubai. It was a great occasion to promote athletics and celebrate a very successful year where Balkan athletes had won 7 Olympic medals from Rio, 6 medals from the World Indoor Championships in Portland and 23 medals from the European Championships in Amsterdam.

Dobromir Karamarinov with the award winners & Balkan Athletics Vice Presidents Slobodan Brankovic (SRB) and Fatih Cintimar (TUR)

Ivana Spanovic (SRB) and Yasmani Copello Escobar (TUR)are the Balkan Athletes of the Year 2016. Both are European Champions from Amsterdam and bronze medallists from Rio.
Sara Kolak (CRO) and Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) were named Balkan Rising Stars of the Year for their remarkable results.

*GCC – Gulf Countries Council

The Ceremony was hosted by UAE Athletics Federation and took place in the magnificent Atlantis the Palm hotel. It was attended by His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Bin Hashir Al Maktoom, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, himself a sportsman – the Sheikh is the Olympic Champion in shooting from Athens 2004. The General Secretary of Dubai Sport Council His Excellency Saeid Harab was among the guests of honour along with board members of GCC and UAE Athletics.

Ivana Spanovic started the season with a silver medal in long jump at the World Indoor Championships in Portland where she set a national record of 7.07. She won the European gold in Amsterdam and completed the series with a bronze in Rio and a new national record of 7.08. At the end of the season she won the Diamond League and improved the national record once more to 7.10 in her home country. This is the third time for Spanovic to receive the award after having been Balkan Athlete of the Year for 2013 and 2015.

Balkan Athlete of the Year Yasmani Copello Escobar is the European Champion in 400m hurdles with a national record of 48:42. In Rio he improved it to 47:92 and won the Olympic bronze medal. He was also part of the wining 4x400m relay of Turkey at the Balkan Senior Championships.

Rising Star Emmanouil Karalis, who was only 16 years old when he did his performances made an amazing season. He set a World Youth Record of 5.53i in February in Pireas, a month later he improved it to 5.54i in Jablonec, then corrected it once more to 5.55 in May in Ostrava. Karalis is the First European U18 Champion from Tbilisi 2016.

picture by Getti Images

Young Sara Kolak (21) surprisingly won the Olympic title in Rio, defeating the favorites in javelin throw and setting a national record of 66.18. She had suggested of her huge potential a few months earlier when she won the bronze at the European Championships in Amsterdam. Unfortunately she was not able to attend the ceremony and receive her Balkan Rising Star award because she was ill.

Dobromir Karamarinov gave a plaque of gratitude to HH Sheikh Al Maktoom for his continuous support to athletics. On his turn he received a sign of appreciation from GCC Athletics President Ahmed Al Kamali.
Next Balkan Athletics Gala will take place on 16 November 2017 in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria and will be a common activity with GCC again.

The 60th edition of the Balkan Cross Country Championships was held on November 5 in Cuprija, Serbia. Turkish athletes dominated in all categories and took all the Team gold medals. Athletes from 13 Balkan countries took part in the championships

Turkish Junior lady Gulnaz Uskun started the golden series in a battle with Bulgarian Silviya Georgieva. Gulnaz covered the 4km distance in 13:49, while Georgieva finished shortly behind her in 13:53. Third and fourth place were again taken by Turkish girls - Yayla Kilic (14:13) and Pinar Demirtas (14:14). Turkey won the Team Ranking with 8 points ahead of Romania, 24 and Croatia, 36.
The Junior Men 6km race repeated same story as two athletes named Ramazan - Barbaros (18: 07) and Karagoz (18:15) came in first and third position. Between them was Romanian Andrei Dorin Rusu (18:08). Here the Israeli team was involved with naturalized Ethiopian athletes, but it brought them only third place in the team standings after Turkey and Romania.

The U23 races were totally won by Turkish runners. Fatma Demir (20:35), Emine Tuna (20:48) and Erdal Tubay (20:50) gave no chance to other participating countries in the Women’s U23 race. In the Men’s U23 race again three Turkish athletes were best over the 8km distance: Suat Karabulak 24:43, Enis Korkmaz 24:51 and Saffet Etkatmis 24:53. The team here of course was won by Turkey followed by Israel and Romania.

The best Romanian 3000m Steeplechase runner Ancuta Bobocel managed to break the Turkish supremacy in the senior women category, where she won the champion’s title in 27:05. Eytemis Sevilay (Turkey) 27:11 and Roxana Elisabeta Birca (Romania) 27:14 followed. Turkey and Romania gained the same number of points in the team standings - 11, but again Turkish women had superiority. Third was Bulgarian team. Turkish athletes on the top positions: Ramazan Ozdemir, 30:11, Omer Tuncer, 30:20 and Alper Demir, 30:23. In the team ranking Romanian and Bulgarian follow.

In a summary, the individual medals in the six categories were split among Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria while teams from Turkey, Romania, Israel, Bulgaria and Croatia mounted the podium for the Team Ranking.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Herculan, producer of high quality sports flooring is the new partner of Balkan Athletics. The company is based in the Netherlands and is part of Eputan Group. It has regional representations in several countries around Europe, North & Central America.

Herculan develops, produces and installs high-end epoxy and polyurethane based synthetic floors. All floor finishes are seamless, durable, hygienic, easy to clean and environmentally friendly. Worldwide Herculan floors are installed in more than 80 countries and have come now to promote the brand in Balkan countries.

The 5th edition of the Balkan Half Marathon Championships took place in Montenegrin capital Podgorica. The race was part of the big Podgorica International Marathon which was ranked among the most prestigious races in the world. Dobromir Karamarinov gave the official opening of the Championships in which 10 Balkan countries took part.

Turkey took the first and third place of the men’s race with Bekir Karayel 1:07:46 and Arslan Ercan, 1:09:34. Karayel is only 21 years old, though has a huge potential. Moldovan Maxim Raileanu won the silver medal with 1:09:34. They were awarded by the President of the Athletic Federation of Montenegro Milorad Vuletic.

Never aging Olivera Jevtic (SRB) won the women’s race in 1:12:25. It looks like the race in Podgorica fits her very well as she won the Balkan Marathon last year on the same course. The representative of the hosting country Sladjana Perunovic took the silver medal in Podgorica with a result of 1:16:49. Less than a month ago Sladjana Perunovic won also the Balkan Marathon in Sofia. Turkish Busra Nur Koku took the bronze with 1:18:05.

Dobromir Karamarinov was among the special guests of the special Gala ceremony in Zagreb, together with athletics legend Sergey Bubka and European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen. Croatian athletics had a very successful year with three Olympic medals won by three beautiful ladies: Sandra Perkovic with gold in discuss throw, Sara Kolak with gold in javelin throw and Blanka Vlasic with bronze in high jump.

Ivan Vestic, President of Croatian Athletic Federation receives a special award from Balkan Athletics for the outstanding results.

German Triple jumper Max Hess received his European Rising Star of the Year award from Dobromir Karamarinov on a spectacular evening in Madeira. Hess is the silver medalist from the World Indoor Championships in Portland and European Champion from Amsterdam.

Nafissatou Thiam (BEL) is the female Rising Star after she took the gold in the Olympic games in Rio in Heptathlon.

Spanish high jumper Ruth Beitia is the female European Athlete of the Year. Beitia became the oldest Olympic champion in a jumping event with her victory in Rio.

Mo Farah was announced European Athlete of the Year but for the third time he refused to attend the ceremony.

The start of the Balkan Marathon which was held in line with the 33rd edition of Sofia International Marathon on 9 October 2016 was given by European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen and Balkan Athletics Dobromir Karamarinov. Bulgarian Minister of Youth and Sports Krasen Kralev also attended the event together with the mayor of Sofia Mrs Yordanka Fandakova and the president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee Stefka Kostadinova.

Balkan Marathon Champions for 2016 are Shaban Mustafa (BUL) and Sladjana Perunovich (MNE).

Bulgarian Saban Mustafa held a tactical race and overtook Turk Hasan Turgut and Serbian Milos Milovanovic with 2:29:59. Turgut brought Turkey silver with 2:32:54, while Milovanovic took the bronze in 2:33:41.

In the women's race Balkan Champion Perunovich (MNE) bested Croatian Nikolina Sustic with 2:49:20 against 2:50:24. The third place was for Radosveta Simeonova (BUL), which started with ambitions for the title, but in the second half of the distance reduced her speed and by a huge effort managed to keep the bronze position finishing with a personal best of 2:56:29.

The event was broadcasted live by Bulgarian National Television.

On its Regular Congress held in Tel Aviv, Israel on 19 September 2016, Balkan Athletics decided its calendar of events for the year 2017. A new event was introduced – the Balkan Junior Indoor Chamionships. Its first edition will take place on 11 February 2017 in Istanbul. The full 2017 Calendar can be found here.

IAAF President and Senior Vice President Sebastian Coe and Sergey Bubka attended the Congress and were very pleased by the level of organisation and the high operational work of the association.

RESULTS

Junior Men

Junior Women

CORRECTED RESULTS are available here

Team Manual

Timetable

Stadium Map

Krusevac Map

Hotel Allocation