Balkan Athletics Championships

The Balkan Athletics Championships or Balkan Games (Greek: Βαλκανικοί Αγώνες) is a regional athletics competition held between nations from the Balkans as well as other associated states, and organized by the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations. The first games were held in Athens in 1929,^[1] and the most recent were being held in İzmir in 2024.^[2]

Balkan Athletics Championships
Greek: Βαλκανικοί Αγώνες

Poster of the first Balkan Games (1929)
First event	1929
Occur every	year (except 1941–1945, 1948-1952, 1987, 1991, 1993 and 1995)
Last event	2025
Next event	2026
Purpose	Athletics event for nations of the Balkans
Website	balkanathletics.org

Organization

The Games of 1929 were unofficial, and organized by the Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association (SEGAS). They became formalized after 1930 and have been held regularly since, with the exception of the 1940–1953 period due to the Second World War and post-war turmoil. In 1946 and 1947, unofficial Games were organized, under the name Balkan and Central European Games, which Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary (1947) also participated.^[3]

SEGAS were also central to the creation of the Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships in 1994 – a sister indoor event to the main outdoor competition.

Balkan Games

Balkan Games was held 1953 - 1980s (See: Balkan Athletics Championships). In recent years separate Balkan Championships will be held instead of Games.^[4][5][6]

Nations

•  Greece (from 1929)
•  Romania (from 1929)
•  Bulgaria (from 1929)
•  Turkey (from 1931)
•  Albania (from 1946)
•  Slovenia (from 1992)
•  Croatia (from 1992)
•  North Macedonia (from 1992)
•  Bosnia and Herzegovina (from 1992)
•  Moldova (from 1992)
•  Montenegro (from 2006)
•  Serbia (from 2006)
•  Armenia (from 2013)
•  Cyprus (from 2014)
•  Georgia (from 2014)
•  Israel (from 2015)
•  Kosovo (from 2016)
•  San Marino (from 2016)
•  Ukraine (from 2016)
•  Azerbaijan (from 2017)
•  Austria (from 2018)
•  Malta (from 2023)

Former nations

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1940)
• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1953–1990)
• Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2005)

Editions

Number	Year	Host City	Country	Events
Name:Balkan Games
[7]	1929	Athens	Greece
1	1930	Athens	Greece
2	1931	Athens	Greece
3	1932	Athens	Greece
4	1933	Athens	Greece
5	1934	Zagreb	Yugoslavia
6	1935	Istanbul	Turkey
7	1936	Athens	Greece
8	1937	Bucharest	Romania
9	1938	Belgrade	Yugoslavia
10	1939	Athens	Greece
11	1940	Istanbul	Turkey
1941-1952: Not Held
[7]	1946	Tirana	Albania
[7]	1947	Bucharest	Romania
Name:Balkan Athletics Championships
12	1953	Athens	Greece
13	1954	Belgrade	Yugoslavia
14	1955	Istanbul	Turkey
15	1956	Belgrade	Yugoslavia
16	1957	Athens	Greece
17	1958	Sofia	Bulgaria
18	1959	Bucharest	Romania
19	1960	Athens	Greece
20	1961	Belgrade	Yugoslavia
21	1962	Ankara	Turkey
22	1963	Sofia	Bulgaria
23	1964	Bucharest	Romania
24	1965	Piraeus	Greece
25	1966	Sarajevo	Yugoslavia
26	1967	Istanbul	Turkey
27	1968	Piraeus	Greece
28	1969	Sofia	Bulgaria
29	1970	Bucharest	Romania
30	1971	Zagreb	Yugoslavia
31	1972	İzmir	Turkey
32	1973	Piraeus	Greece
33	1974	Sofia	Bulgaria
34	1975	Bucharest	Romania
35	1976	Celje	Yugoslavia
36	1977	Ankara	Turkey
37	1978	Thessaloniki	Greece
38	1979	Piraeus	Greece
39	1980	Sofia	Bulgaria
40	1981	Sarajevo	Yugoslavia
41	1982	Bucharest	Romania
42	1983	İzmir	Turkey
43	1984	Athens	Greece
44	1985	Stara Zagora	Bulgaria
45	1986	Ljubljana	Yugoslavia
46	1988	Ankara	Turkey
47	1989	Serres	Greece
48	1990	Istanbul	Turkey
49	1992	Sofia	Bulgaria
50	1994	Trikala	Greece
51	1996	Niš	Yugoslavia
52	1997	Athens	Greece
53	1998	Belgrade	Yugoslavia
54	1999	Istanbul	Turkey
55	2000	Kavala	Greece
56	2001	Trikala	Greece
57	2002	Bucharest	Romania
58	2003	Thiva	Greece
59	2004	Istanbul	Turkey
60	2005	Novi Sad	Serbia and Montenegro
61	2006	Athens	Greece
62	2007	Plovdiv	Bulgaria
63	2008	Bar	Montenegro
64	2009	İzmir	Turkey
65	2010	Larissa	Greece
66	2011	Sliven	Bulgaria
67	2012	Eskişehir	Turkey
68	2013	Stara Zagora	Bulgaria
69	2014	Pitești	Romania
70	2015	Pitești	Romania
71	2016	Pitești	Romania
72	2017	Novi Pazar	Serbia
73	2018	Stara Zagora	Bulgaria	40
74	2019	Pravets	Bulgaria	40
75	2020	Cluj-Napoca	Romania	42
76	2021	Smederevo	Serbia	42
77	2022	Craiova	Romania	42
78	2023	Kraljevo	Serbia	42
79	2024	İzmir	Turkey	43
80	2025	Volos	Greece	43

Ranking

Source:^[8]

Year	Ranking by Medals
	1	2	3	Source
1930	Greece	Bulgaria	Yugoslavia	[9]
1931	Greece	Yugoslavia	Romania	[10]
1932-2021
2022	Greece	Romania	Turkey	[11]
2023	Turkey	Serbia	Ukraine	[12]

Results

Full Results:^[13]

Medals (1930-2023)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Romania	754	699	641	2,094
2	Bulgaria	563	538	488	1,589
3	Greece	544	539	515	1,598
4	Yugoslavia	386	365	361	1,112
5	Turkey	165	215	271	651
6	Serbia	78	62	71	211
7	Serbia and Montenegro	37	57	78	172
8	Ukraine	35	34	17	86
9	Croatia	24	36	40	100
10	Moldova	22	43	43	108
11	Slovenia	17	13	20	50
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina	15	25	37	77
13	Albania	15	19	30	64
14	Cyprus	11	13	16	40
15	Austria	7	8	2	17
16	Montenegro	6	4	14	24
17	Armenia	6	3	2	11
18	Israel	3	10	12	25
19	North Macedonia	3	3	13	19
20	Authorised Neutral Athletes	1	6	11	18
21	Azerbaijan	1	0	0	1
22	Kosovo	0	5	1	6
23	Georgia	0	3	3	6
Totals (23 entries)		2,693	2,700	2,686	8,079

Source:^[13]

Indoor

Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships^[14]

Race Walking

Balkan Cross Country Championships^[15]

Cross Country

Balkan Race Walking Championships^[16]

Masters

Balkan Masters Athletics Championships

Others

1. Balkan Mountain Running Championships
2. Balkan Half Marathon Championships
3. Balkan Marathon Championships
4. Balkan Athletics U20 Championships
5. Balkan U20 Indoor Athletics Championships
6. Balkan U18 Athletics Championships
7. Balkan Relay Championships

Championships records

Men

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Championships	Place	Ref.
100 m	10.11 (+0.5 m/s)	Jak Ali Harvey	Turkey	1 August 2015	2015 Championships	Pitești, Romania
200 m	20.50 (−0.6 m/s)	Sergii Smelyk	Ukraine	3 September 2019	2019 Championships	Pravets, Bulgaria	[17]
400 m	45.36	Oleksandr Pohorilko	Ukraine	22 July 2023	2023 Championships	Kraljevo, Serbia	[18]
800 m	1:45.73	Luciano Sušanj	Yugoslavia	2 August 1974		Sofia, Bulgaria
1500 m	3:40.40	Petre Lupan	Romania	5 August 1972		İzmir, Turkey
5000 m	13:42.43	Michalis Kousis	Greece	1978		Thessaloniki, Greece
110 m hurdles	13.28 (+0.9 m/s)	Milan Trajkovic	Cyprus	23 July 2023	2023 Championships	Kraljevo, Serbia	[19]
400 m hurdles	48.71	Yasmani Copello	Turkey	22 July 2023	2023 Championships	Kraljevo, Serbia	[20]
3000 m steeplechase	8:22.77	Florin Ionescu	Romania	28 June 1997		Athens, Greece
High jump	2.31 m	Sorin Matei	Romania	16 July 1988		Ankara, Turkey
Pole vault	5.92 m	Emmanouil Karalis	Greece	27 July 2025	2025 Championships	Volos, Greece	[21]
Long jump	8.18 m NWI	Konstadínos Koukodímos	Greece	4 July 1992		Sofia, Bulgaria
Triple jump	17.24 m	Marian Oprea	Romania	13 July 2003 28 July 2013		Thebes, Greece Stara Zagora
Shot put	21.50 m	Armin Sinančević	Serbia	26 June 2021	2021 Championships	Smederevo, Serbia	[22]
Discus throw	65.44 m	Ion Zamfirache	Romania	15 August 1982		Bucharest, Romania
Javelin throw	83.60 m	Andrian Mardare	Moldova	20 September 2020	2020 Championships	Cluj-Napoca, Romania	[23]
Hammer throw	79.16 m	Aléxandros Papadimitríou	Greece	12 July 2003		Thebes, Greece
Decathlon	7995 pts	Saša Karan	Yugoslavia	1990		Istanbul, Turkey
4 × 100 m relay	39.09	Ertan Ozkan Kayhan Ozer Batuhan Altintaş Ramil Guliyev	Turkey	22 July 2023	2023 Championships	Kraljevo, Serbia	[24]
4 × 400 m relay	3:03.94		Yugoslavia	17 July 1988		Ankara, Turkey

Women

Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality	Date	Championships	Place	Ref.
100 m	10.96 (+0.8 m/s)	Ivet Lalova	Bulgaria	2 July 2011		Sliven
200 m	22.45 (+1.2 m/s)	Ivet Lalova-Collio	Bulgaria	3 September 2019	2019 Championships	Pravets, Bulgaria	[25]
400 m	50.98	Jelica Pavličić	Yugoslavia	3 August 1974		Sofia
800 m	1:56.42	Paula Ivan	Romania	16 July 1988		Ankara
1500 m	4:04.56	Corina Dumbrăvean	Romania	24 July 2005		Novi Sad
5000 m	15:16.47	Luiza Gega	Albania	20 June 2022	2022 Championships	Craiova, Romania	[26]
100 m hurdles	12.26	Yordanka Donkova	Bulgaria	7 September 1986		Ljubljana
400 m hurdles	54.23	Vania Stambolova	Bulgaria	2 July 2011		Sliven
3000 m steeplechase	9:17.89	Luiza Gega	Albania	19 June 2022	2022 Championships	Craiova, Romania	[27]
High jump	2.01 m	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria	6 September 1986		Ljubljana
Pole vault	4.45 m	Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou	Greece	19 July 2008		Argos Orestiko
Long jump	7.14 m (+1.2 m/s)	Mirela Dulgheru	Romania	5 July 1992		Sofia
Triple jump	14.60 m (+1.7 m/s)	Paraskevi Papachristou	Greece	20 July 2018	2018 Championships	Stara Zagora, Bulgaria	[28]
Shot put	21.11 m	Verzhinia Veselinova	Bulgaria	14 June 1980		Sofia
Discus throw	70.20 m	Daniela Costian	Romania	17 July 1988		Ankara
Hammer throw	73.97 m	Zalina Marghieva	Moldova	2 August 2015	2015 Championships	Pitești, Romania
Javelin throw	62.83 m	Elina Tzengko	Greece	26 July 2025	2025 Championships	Volos, Greece	[29]
Heptathlon	6304 pts	Emilia Dimitrova	Bulgaria	7 September 1986		Ljubljana
4 × 100 m relay	42.89		Bulgaria	1988		Ankara
4 × 400 m relay	3:27.39		Romania	1985		Stara Zagora

1940 athlete naming

The 1940 shot put champion was listed as Arat Ararat from Turkey. The birth name of this athlete was Sokratis Ioannidis, a Greek Orthodox born in Istanbul. Due to political friction between Turkey and Greece at that time, the Turks decided it would be more politically correct to change his name to Arat Ararat. This was the name he was known by in the athletic circles.

See also

• Balkan Cup
• Balkans Cup
• Balkan Basketball Championship
• BVA Cup
• Balkan Swimming Championship
• Balkan Badminton Championships
• Balkan Mathematical Olympiad