Glasgow, United Kingdom. Cyprus won two athletics medals at the 23rd Commonwealth Games on Monday, as hammer thrower Iosif Kesidis claimed silver and hurdler Milan Trajkovic took bronze.
Hammer throw silver
Kesidis secured Cyprus’ first medal of the Games with a throw of 76.97 metres, finishing second behind Canada’s Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg, according to Cyprus Olympic Committee correspondent Ilias Pratsos.
The 20-year-old recovered from a foul on his opening attempt and improved steadily through the competition. He entered the medal positions with his second throw and moved into second place with his third, retaining that position until the end of the event.
The result marked Kesidis’ first Commonwealth Games medal.
Alexandros Poursanidis, the bronze medallist at the 2022 Games, also competed in the hammer final and finished seventh with a best throw of 66.79 metres. The 33-year-old said he was disappointed with his performance but proud of Kesidis’ achievement.
Hurdles bronze
Minutes later, Trajkovic added a second medal for Cyprus by finishing third in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final in a season’s best time of 13.32 seconds.
The 34-year-old was seven hundredths of a second outside his Cypriot record of 13.25 seconds. Jamaica’s Demario Prince won gold in 13.17 seconds, while England’s Samuel Bennett took silver in 13.30 seconds.
The bronze was Trajkovic’s first medal in his fourth Commonwealth Games appearance and Cyprus’ first medal in a track event at the competition.
Weightlifting result
In weightlifting, Dimitra Ioannou finished 10th in the women’s 58kg category with a combined total of 160kg. She lifted 70kg in the snatch and 90kg in the clean and jerk.
Nigeria’s Rafiatu Lawal won gold with a Games record total of 229kg.
The medals won by Kesidis and Trajkovic were the ninth and 10th secured by Cypriot athletics in Commonwealth Games history. Both athletes are due to receive their medals during Tuesday’s ceremonies.
