Emmanouil Karalis became the first Greek to win a gold medal in pole vault at the European Indoor Track & Field Championships, finishing joint first at Apeldoorn, in the Netherlands, in a rare case of two gold medals given for the same event.
Karalis, who recently broke another national record by clearing 6.02 meters, could do no better than 5.90m. in the final on Sunday.
However, this sufficed for the Greek pole-vaulter (who had already broken the national record six times within 2025) to win gold, as he had exactly the same attempts as home favorite Menno Vloon.
The organizers agreed to grant one gold medal each to Karalis and Vloon, who were both proclaimed winners.
Speaking afterward, Karalis said he was happy that after performing badly he still earned gold. He even claimed his “poor showing” was due to the evil eye…
