World awe from Emmanuoil Karalis: Second of all time with 6.17 – He looked the world record in the eyes!
On a historic night that will remain indelible in the history of Greek and world athletics, Emmanuoil Karalis “flew” to 6.17 at the packed stadium of Paiania. During the Stoiximan Panhellenic Championship, “Manolo” surpassed the legends Bubka and Lavillenie, while he reached the point of threatening the world record of Mondo Duplantis, proving that he now belongs to the stratosphere of pole vault.
Incredible things from the one and only Emmanuoil Karalis at the Stoiximan Panhellenic Championship, according to the official update from SEGAS. In a packed indoor stadium in Paiania, the charismatic athlete wrote history by clearing with characteristic ease 6.17 – yes 6.17!!! – a performance that brought him to the second place of all time above the greats Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie.
And he did not stop there… Karalis set the bar at 6.31 attempting to break the world record of Mondo Duplantis. The definition of confidence! The world record did not come back into Greek hands, as in 1970 from Christos Papanikolaou, but, never say never!
The evolution of the competition Emmanuoil Karalis (OSFP) was once again enjoyable and compensated the fans who filled the indoor stadium of Paiania to applaud him. After waiting two hours to start his efforts in a final of 15 people, he made two majestic jumps at 5.70 and 5.90 and then placed the bar at 6.07, with a dual ultimate goal. On one hand, the panhellenic record in indoor track (6.05), on the other hand, the best performance in the world (6.06).
Manolo passed impressively over the bar, touched it slightly with his chest on the way down, but it remained in its place and the crowd rose from their seats to cheer the great Greek Olympian. The continuation for the athlete of Marcin Szczepański and Harry Karalis was at 6.17, in an attempt to move second on the list of the best pole vaulters of all time. And he made it, clearing the bar cleanly, very cleanly with his second attempt. The stadium shook from the celebrations, his father grabbed him and lifted him high in the air, but the competition did not end there, as he asked for the bar to be set at 6.31. In his first attempt, he bent the pole and got the first taste of the… stratosphere. In the second, he did not plant the pole and decided to end the pursuit of the “holy grail” there.
Emmanuoil Karalis wrote history with his jump at 6.17. Manolo did not make it this time (at the world record), but he sent the message to Duplantis: “Watch out! I’m coming!”.
The medal ceremony of the pole vault was performed by the president of SEGAS, Sofia Sakorafa, and the president of the European Olympic Committees, Spyros Capralos. It is worth noting the exceptional competition with a jump at 5.48 for Antonis Santas of AEK and Giorgos Papanastasiou of PAOK, with the latter recording an absolute personal record.
Source and photo: SEGAS
