Lefteris Petrounias made history in the European Championship in Rimini. The uncontested Greek champion was crowned European champion in hoops, winning the gold medal for the seventh time in his career.
Lefteris Petrounias has no rival in hoops and he proved it once again at the European Championship in Rimini. The Greek champion won the gold medal and became European champion for the seventh time!
This is a historic success, as Lefteris Petrounias surpassed the legendary Hungarian Christian Berki, becoming the only athlete in history to have seven titles in the same organ.
With a performance of 15.000, the Greek champion destroyed the competition and with a great program climbed to the highest step of the podium.
The silver medal went to Azeri Nikita Simonov with 14.900 points, edging into a tie with last year’s winner, Egyptian-born Turk Adem Asil, who also got 14.900 points but finished 3rd because he had a lower individual execution score.
It should be noted that Petrounias now has a total of nine medals in the event (7 gold and 2 bronze), showing that he is in excellent shape ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games.
Before this year’s seventh European title for Petrounia, they were preceded by the bronze medal in his debut at the event, in 2011 in Berlin, then six consecutive victories in 2015 in Montpellier, in 2016 in Bern, in 2017 in Cluj, in 2018 in Glasgow , in 2021 in Basel and in 2022 in Munich, as well as another bronze last year in Attalia.
At the same time, he reached a total of twelve gold medals in major events, including his triumphs in three World Championships (2015, 2017, 2018), the 2015 European Games and of course the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The ranking of the final:
Lefteris Petrounias (Greece) 15,000
Nikita Simonov (Azerbaijan) 14,900
Adem Asil (Turkey) 14,900
Vincent Heck (Austria) 14,800
Artur Avetisyan (Armenia) 14,800
Courtney Tulloch (UK) 14,700
Salvatore Maresca (Italy) 14,566
Ibrahim Colak (Turkey) 14,500
Tags: European champion seventh time hoops historic gold medal
