Marina Hatzikosta added yet another success to her outstanding 2026. The world’s top 17-year-old discus thrower won Cyprus’s first gold medal in the history of the Youth Olympic Games.
At the 4th Youth Olympic Games, hosted by Dakar, Senegal, Hatzikosta achieved her best throw on her fifth attempt, throwing 53.20 meters—enough to propel her to the top of the podium.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
The athlete, coached by Konstantinos Stavrou, entered the competition under the scorching sun at 35 degrees Celsius with a throw of 48.17 meters, which kept her in third place. Three invalid attempts followed, until she achieved an amazing 53.20 meters on her fifth throw, which earned her yet another gold medal this year, following the one she won at the European U18 Championships, while her bronze medal at the World U20 Championships is also a tremendous achievement, given that she is only 17 years old.
Marina Hatzikosta’s gold medal in the discus throw is Cyprus’s first-ever at the Youth Olympic Games, following two silver medals (all in track and field): one by Alexandros Poursanidis in 2010 in Singapore in the hammer throw (70.30 m) and Paraskevi Andreou in 2014 in Nanjing in the 100-meter dash (11.71).
We would like to remind you that at this year’s Youth Olympic Games in Doha, the Hellenic Olympic Committee has celebrated two more medals—both bronze—won by Andrew Marcus Lagoutis in swimming, in the 50-meter freestyle and the 50-meter butterfly.
Pantelis Misses the Final
Today’s schedule (11/8/26) for the first day of track and field also featured the second Cypriot competitor, Andreas Pantelis, in the 400-meter semifinals. The athlete coached by Kyriakos Antoniou finished 6th in the second semifinal heat with a time of 51.88. Since he placed 12th overall out of 16 athletes, he did not qualify for tomorrow’s final.
