Athens Marathon: Kolios and Kassos winners at 5 km- Children in wheelchairs were moved

THE Nestor Kolios and the Maria Kassouwere the winners in the 5 km road race, which ended in the center of Athens and was held as part of the 39th Authentic Marathon.

The young runner covered the distance in 14 minutes and 47 seconds, while Kassou finished after 16 minutes and 36 seconds, a performance that is event record.

Kassou cut the thread in 16:36 and crushed the race record held by 16:40 by Rose Tselimo from Bahrain (12/11/2017) and Anastasia Marinakou (14/1/2021). With Marinakou, winner yesterday in the 10km OPAP, she is in the same group with coach Stavros Karre: “I am very happy with the fact that I am in a very good condition, despite the fact that we are still at the beginning of the season. I love running in this race because of the special atmosphere it has. The world gives us incredible power. The atmosphere during the route was awesome. I want to participate every year in the race. I am very happy for our group, Stavros Karre’s group, which is doing extremely well in this event».

Within a short period of time, the athlete from Mytilini, who will turn 19 on December 19, managed last year to win the gold medal in the Balkan Indoor Championships at 3,000 m with 9.32.59, to win the Panhellenic championship road in the K20 category and set a pan-Hellenic record in the 3,000m, during the pan-Hellenic indoor championship, with a time of 9:31.16.

She was followed with 16:54 by Bala Denisa (PGS) and Irini Tsoupaki (AGS Ioannina) with 17:01:I am excited about this match – said Bala. I’m having a great time. Today the weather was very good and we had the support of the people. With the help of SEGAS we prepared in Karpenisi and this was an important factor for our good presence. However, no matter how bad you feel this match is not to be missed, because of its atmosphere“.. And Tsoupaki: “It’s my first 5km race, yesterday I competed in the 10km and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it to the 5km. But I was so captivated by the crowd and the volunteers at the first race that I said I couldn’t miss it. It was really an extra motivation».

The 21-year-old Nestoras Kolios (AGS Ioannina) was the big winner among the men with a time of 14:47, which is his personal record. He also touched the race record held by Christos Papoulias with 14:45 from 14/11/2021: “It was very nice today – he emphasized. I had run again last year, but due to the corona virus there were not so many people. This year though, I got a really nice reception, especially finishing first which always wins…a bit more applause. I was very satisfied with the performance, it was a record for me but we were not in a position to go chasing performances but I followed a tactic, with which of course I helped my teammates».

Nikos Stamoulis (Saucony) finished second with 14:52, who admitted that “It was a very nice match. I have run again once more. I tried at the beginning for something better, but I am satisfied, especially for the season” and third was Sergios Diakostefanis (GS Amarousiou) with 14:55: “I was very grateful, every year in this race the atmosphere on the course is incredible. Especially for us who run in athletics, we don’t experience it often, because unfortunately it doesn’t have such an audience inside the stadiums. It was a unique opportunity for me today, although it wasn’t a target race I think it went very well and my timer says I’ve done 14 minutes or something, a record, so I think it went very well».

The image caused a stir of two children who finished the route in wheelchairs. The children, true winners of life, were applauded by the crowd and their fellow athletes, while they themselves showed that they were enjoying the race.

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