ATHLETICS

In Athletics, we had a total of 517 active athletes in the 2021 season, 404 of whom are licenced, including 83 who compete in national teams, and 113 of whom are in training.

The 32^nd Summer Olympic Games took place in Tokyo, Japan, between July 23^rd – August 8^th 2021.

Of the 108 athletes who represented Turkey in the Summer Olympics, 21 were athletes from our club.

In Athletics (14), Swimming (5) and Women’s Wrestling (2), the branches in which our athletes earned the right to participate, we were the club that sent the highest number of athletes from Turkey to the Olympics.

The list of athletes who represented Turkey in the Tokyo Olympics and the branches they competed in is as follows;

ATHLETICS; Abdülselam İmuk (20km Walk) – Ayşe Tekdal (20km RWalk) – Emel Dereli (Shot Put) – Emre Zafer Barnes (100m-4x100m) – Eşref Apak (Hammer Throw) – Evin Demir (20km Walk) – Jak Ali Harvey (100m-4x100m)- Kaan Kigen Özbilen (Marathon) – Meryem Bekmez (20km Walk) – Necati Er (Triple Jump) – Polat Kemboi Arıkan (Marathon) – Salih Korkmaz (20km Walk) – Yasemin Can (5000m, 10.000m – Yasmani Copello Escobar (400m Hurdles).

WRESTLING; Evin Demirhan (50kg) – Yasemin Adar (76kg)

SWIMMING; Beril Böcekler (400m Freestyle 4x200m Freestyle) – Defne Taçyıldız (200m Butterfly Stroke) – Merve Tuncel (400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle, – 1500m Freestyle, 4x200m Freestyle) – Viktoria Zeynep Güneş (200m Medley-4x200m Freestyle)- Yiğit Aslan (800m Freestyle)

Of Our Athletes;

* Yasemin Adar won the first Olympic medal for women in Turkish Wrestling history by winning the Bronze Medal at 76 kg.

* Necati Er ranked 6^th in the triple jump, the first Turkish athlete to compete in the final since Ruhi Sarıalp 73 years earlier.

*Yasmani Copello Escober won 6^th place in the 400m hurdles, breaking the Turkish record.

*Our athlete Eşref Apak, who participated in the Olympics for the fifth time this year, went down in history once again by reaching his second Olympic final after a gap of 17 years and ranking 9^th in the Olympic Games.

*Yasemin Can completed the 5,000 metres in 8^th place and became the first athlete to score points for Turkey by finishing in the top 8 three times in the Olympic Games.

* Meryem Bekmez ranked 22^nd in the 20km walk, the best-ever performance of a Turkish athlete in this competition.

* Merve Tuncel ranked 11^th in the general ranking in the 1500m Freestyle with 16:00.51 and 12^th in the 800m Freestyle with 8:25.65 .

*Defne Taçyıldız took 14^th place in the 200m Butterfly Stroke semi-finals with 2:11.27 . With this success, Defne became the first athlete in Turkish Swimming History to reach the semi-finals in the Olympic Games in the 200m Butterfly Stroke.

At the Junior World Athletics Championship held in Nairobi;

* Berke Akçam renewed his Turkish Youth Record in the 400m Hurdles with 49.38 and became the World Champion,

* Şevval Özdoğan ranked 7th in the world with 10:49.79 in the 3000m Steeplechase,

* Büşra Hatun Ekinci won 8th place in the world with 14.29 metres in the Shot Put,

* Ece Narttürk ranked 9th in the world with 57.56 metres in the Hammer Throw,

*Selma Davulcu ranked 12th in the world with 46.82 metres in the Javelin.

 

At the U23 European Athletics Championship held in Tallinn;

* Tuğba Danışmaz became the European Champion with 14.09 metres in the Triple Jump,

* Meryem Bekmez became the European Champion in the 20km Walk with 1:33:08 ,

* Alperen Karahan ranked 2nd in Europe in the Shot Put with 19:75 metres,

* Münevver Hancı won silver in the Javelin with a throw of 57.37 metres to come second in Europe,

* Akın Özyürek ranked 4th in Europe with 3:06.57 in the 4x400m,

* Ayşe Tekdal ranked 5th in Europe with 1:37:43 in the 20km Walk,

* Evin Demir ranked 6th in Europe with 1:39:10 in the 20km Walk,

*Abülselam İmuk ranked 6^th in Europe in the 20km Walk.

 

At the European U20 Athletics Championship held in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia;

* Berke Akçam became the Junior European Champion with 50.70 in the 400m Hurdles,

* Şevval Özdoğan achieved her personal best time with 10:07.84 minutes in the 3000m Hurdles and won the bronze medal,

* Mevlüt Aras ranked 6th in the 800m with 1:49.78,

* Umut Uysal broke the Turkish Youth Record with 10.38 in the 100m qualifiers and ranked 7th in Europe with 10.48 in the 100m finals,

*Büşra Hatun Ekinci ranked 7th in Europe with 14.65 metres in the Shot Put,

* Oğuzhan Usta ranked 12th in Europe with 65.89 metres in the Javelin.

 

Of our athletes who represented Turkey at the Balkan Youth Championship held in Sofia;

* Ayetullah Demir became the Balkan champion with 7.99 in the 60m Hurdles,

* Şevval Özdoğan ranked 2nd in the Balkans with 4:33.97 in the 1500m,

* Ezgi Kol ranked 2nd in the Balkans in 4x400m Relay,

* Yaren Yıldırım ranked 3rd in the Balkans with 8.48 in the 60m Hurdles,

*Elif Özelçi ranked 3rd in the Balkans with 3.50m in the Pole Vault,

*Atilla Göktuğ Taşdelen ranked third in the Balkans with 2.09m in the High Jump.

 

At the Balkan Indoor Championship held at the Ataköy Athletics Hall;

*Our athlete Tuğba Danışmaz became the Balkan Champion with 13.97 metres in the Triple Jump, setting new U23 and Turkish Senior records,

* Emel Dereli became the Balkan Champion in the Shot Put with 18.13 metres,

* Mikdat Sevler became the Balkan Champion with 7.77 in the 60m Hurdles,

*The 4x400m Relay team including Akın Özyürek became the Balkan Champions with 3:13.70,

* The 4x400m Relay team including Elif Polat won silver with 3:41.25,

* Buse Savaşkan won the bronze medal with 1.80m in the High Jump.

 

Our athlete Mikdat Sevler, who represented Turkey in the 60m Hurdles at the European Indoor Championship, advanced to the semi-finals and became the first Turkish athlete to compete in the semi-finals in this branch in the history of Turkish athletics. Mikdat completed the championship in 14th place with 7.74 seconds.

 

At the 20th Balkan Walking Championships held in Antalya, our athletes;

* Ayle Tekdal became the Balkan Champion with 1:30:12 and qualified for the  Tokyo Olympics.

* Abdülselam İmuk, who is in the Olympic rankings in the Senior Men category, came second in the Balkans.

* Elif Özbey, one of our athletes from the youth setup who competed in the Juniors category, completed the 5km Walk in 1st place with 24:01, while Ayşenur Buse Günaslan crossed the finish line in second place with 25:18 and won silver.

Our Olympics-quota athlete Meryem Bekmez, who competed in the open competition, reset her own U23 and Seniors Turkish Record with 1:28:48, as well as passing the Olympics threshold for the third time.

 

At the European Throwing Cup held in Split, Croatia, our athletes;

* Eşref Apak ranked 1st with 75.99 metres in the Hammer Throw.

* Emel Dereli ranked 3rd with 18.29 metres in the Shot Put.

* Alperen Karahan ranked 3rd with 19.48 metres in the U23 Shot Put.

 

Our Athlete Yasmani Copello Escobar completed the 400m Hurdles competition in first place with 49.21 in the Continental Tour Gold Series Golden Spike race, which is one of the most important single-day competitions in Europe and was held in the city of Ostrova in the Czech Republic, where he took the track as part of his Olympic preparations.

 

Our athlete Tuğba Danışmaz set a new U23 and Senior Turkish Record by jumping 14.04m in the Triple Jump at the International Jumping Championship held in Greece, as well as becoming the first Turkish female triple jumper to jump over 14 metres in Turkish athletics history.

 

In the Diamond League, where a new Doha competition record was set, our athlete Yasmani Copello Escobar improved his best time for this year with 49.11 in the 400m Hurdles and ranked 6th, while in the women’s 3000m, our athlete Yasemin Can also won 6th place with 8:39.47.

 

Our athlete Yasmani Copello Escobar won second place at the FBK Games with 48.88. Yasmani was running his fourth official race of 2021. The FBK Games competition was held in honour of the unforgettable Olympics champion Fanny Blankers-Koen in the city of Hengelo, the Netherlands. The athleste finished the competition in second place and improved his best time for the year.

 

At the Youth Balkan Championship held in Istanbul, our athletes;

* Şevval Özdoğan became the Balkan Champion in the 3000m Hurdles with a new personal best of 10:17:64,

* The 4x100m Male Relay Team including Yasin Sosa and Orçun Ünalan became the Balkan Champions with 42.08,

* Ayetullah Demir became the Balkan Champion in the 110m Hurdles with 14.13 ,

* Ece Narttürk became the Balkan Champion in the Hanner Throw with 54.04 metres,

* Mevlüt Aras became the Balkan Champion in the 800m with 1:52.20 ,

* Oğuzhan Usta became the Balkan Champion in the Javelin with 68.18 metres,

* Muhammet Raşit Kalafat ranked 2nd in the Javelin with a new personal best of 66.86 metres,

* Bahri Doğru ranked 2nd by running a new personal best of 3:53:02 minutes in the 1500m,

* Yaren Yıldırım ranked 2nd in the 100m Hurdles with 14.04 ,

*Hatice Yıldırım set a new personal best time of 4:25.10 minutes and ranked 2nd in the 1500m. She also came 3rd in the 3000m with 9:48:03,

* The 4x100m Female Relay Team including Semanur Deniz came 3rd with 47.34 ,

* Simay Özçiftçi won 3rd place in the 200m with 24.57 ,

* Büşra Hatun Ekinci ranked 3rd in the Shot Put with 14.24 metres,

* Beyzanur Bozlak ranked 3rd in the Hammer Throw with 51.56 metres,

* Hayriye Nur Arı ranked 3rd with a personal best score of 4609 in the Heptathlon.

 

At the 74th Balkan Athletics Championship held in the historic city of Smeredevo near Belgrade, Serbia;

* Emel Dereli became the Balkan Champion in the Shot Put and passed the Olympic Threshold for the second time with 18.51 metres,

* Eşref Apak became the Balkan Champion in the Hammer Throw with 73.60 metres,

* Jak Ali Harvey became the Balkan Champion in the 100m with 10.33, as well as becoming the Balkan Champion in the 4x100m with 39.44 and coming 2nd in the 200m with 20.66.

* Mehmet Çelik ranked 2nd in the Balkans in the 800m with 1:47.91 ,

* Tuğba Danışmaz ranked 3rd in the Balkans in the Triple Jump and set a new Turkish record of 14.07 metres,

* Buse Arıkazan ranked 3rd in the Balkans in the Pole Vault with a leap of 4.40m jump, improving her own Seniors Turkish Record.

 

Our Athlete Yasmani Copello Escobar ranked 2nd in the 400m Hurdles in the Stockholm stage of the Diamond League and achieved the third-best time of his career.

 

At the Balkan U18 Athletics Championship held in Serbia on August 14th 2021, where a total of 14 athletes represented Turkey, our athletes;

* Taha Özal and Orçun Ünalan competed as part of the Turkish 4x100m National Relay Team. The team became the Balkan Champions with 41.66 and broke the U18 Turkish Record,

* Diyar Ergüven ranked 2nd in the 200m Steeplechase with

6:00.37 ,

* Cem Özsu ranked 3rd in the 400m with 49.65 ,

* Bahri Doğru ranked 3rd in the 1500m with 3:59.52 ,

*Ebubekir Erdoğan ranked 3rd in the Triple Jump with 14.10 metres,

*Sıla Bayır ranked 3rd in the Steeplechase with 7:03.72 minutes,

Walking League:

* Our U18 Girls Team became champions with a total time of 1:39.53,

* Our Senior Female Team became champions with a total time of 48.34,

*Our Senior Male Team ranked 2^nd with a total time of 45.52,

 

U18 Throwing League: Our U18 Girls and U18 Boys Teams became DOUBLE CHAMPIONS, scoring 6061 and 6960 points respectively.

 

U16 Clubs Championship: Our U16 athletics teams, consecutive champions since 2012 in the U16 Boys and since 2013 in the U16 Girls categories, once again became DOUBLE CHAMPIONS this year.

 

U18 Clubs League: Our Girls and Boys teams completed the Spor Toto U18 Clubs League as DOUBLE CHAMPIONS.

 

U20 Clubs League: Our U20 Boys and Girls Athletics Teams completed the Turkcell U20 Inter-Club Athletics League as DOUBLE CHAMPIONS.

 

Super League: ENKA won the championship cups in the Turkcell Athletics Super League. With this final DOUBLE CHAMPIONS title, ENKA completed victories in all the track leagues in the 2021 season.

ENKA won the men’s championship with 294 points, earning the 11^th title in the club’s history. Fenerbahçe completed the league in second place with 287 points and Galatasaray finished third with 193 points.

Meanwhile, in the women’s championship, ENKA won its 18^th league title with a total of 303 points at the end of two stages. Fenerbahçe came second with 269.5 points and Beşiktaş ranked 3^rd with 216.5 points.