Teen Sprinter Smashes Junior Records at Bulgarian Indoor Championships

Jerusalem, 25 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Sofia (BTA) – Bulgaria’s State Athletics Championship for juniors and girls under 18 years old indoors was marked by the national record in the 400 meters for juniors by Vasil Antonov (Radukanovi Vidin).

The 17-year-old Antonov launched himself at the start and from fourth place in the first lap, only time was his rival. The athlete from Vidin did not slow down in the second round and in the final, the photo finish recorded 47.83.

This result corrected two records and confirmed the Bulgarian’s qualification for the European Under-18 Championship.

Antonov’s achievement is a national record for juniors under 18 years old indoors (the old record was also his with 48.84 from 2025), a national record for juniors under 20 years old indoors (the old top record was 44 years ago by Bozhidar Konstantinov – 47.99 set in 1982), the best result for men in Bulgaria for 2026 (48.22 by Todor Todorov from January 10) and the best result in the world for the year for juniors under 18 years old indoors.

Antonov’s runner-up from another series was the Ukrainian-born athlete from Trakia Plovdiv Oleksandr Iskruk with 50.09, and the bronze medalist is Stiliyan Panev (Burgas 98) with 50.96 seconds.

Two hours after the record, Vasil Antonov ran first in Radukanovi’s 4x200m relay to win another gold medal. The quartet from the Danube city consisting of Antonov, Kaloyan Goranov, Kristiyan Todorov and the national champion in the 60 and 200m for boys under 16 Mario Petrov ran 1:35.05 minutes for the gold.

Boris Hadjitodorov (Pavel Pavlov, Vratsa) was a class above his rivals in the triple jump and landed at 14.32 meters in his second attempt, thus meeting the standard of 14.10 for the European Championship in Rieti, Italy in the summer, the Bulgarian Football Association reported.