The Balkan Athletics Indoor Championships, also known as the ''Balkan Indoor Games'' ( el, Βαλκανικοί Αγώνες Κλειστού Στίβου), is an annual international regional

indoor track and field Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of ...

competition between athletes from the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

. Following a test event in 1991, it was officially launched in 1994.Balkan Indoor Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-03-04. Organised by the Association of the Balkan Athletics Federations (ABAF), it is typically held in February. The competition complemented the long-running annual outdoor track and field tournament: the

Balkan Games The Balkan Athletics Championships or Balkan Games () is a regional athletics competition held between nations from the Balkans and organized by Balkan Athletics. The first games were held in Athens in 1929, and the most recent were being held in ...

. It received strong support from the

Hellenic Amateur Athletic Association The Hellenic Athletics Federation (Greek: ; abbreviated SEGAS) is Greece's governing body for amateur sport. SEGAS was created in 1897 and has been the principal organiser of many international sporting competitions held in Greece. The associatio ...

– until 2002, the

Peace and Friendship Stadium The Peace and Friendship Stadium ( el, Στάδιο Ειρήνης και Φιλίας, Stadio Eirinis kai Philias), commonly known by its acronym SEF, is a multi-purpose indoor arena that is located in Piraeus, on the coastal zone of Attica, Gre ...

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, Greece was the permanent host, as this was the only international standard indoor track and field arena in the region at that point. The

Peania Indoors Arena Paiania (or ''Paeanea'' or ''Peania'' el, Παιανία, , before 1915: Λιόπεσι - ''Liopesi'', ; Arvanitika: Λοπε̱σ Romanization, romanized: Lopës) is a town and a municipality in East Attica, Greece. It is an eastern suburb of Ath ...

, in the Metropolitan area of the Greek capital, took on hosting duties from 2003 to 2006, then began alternating with the Faliro,

stadium. The event was cancelled in both 2010 and 2011 due to the insolvency of the Greek athletics body, linked to the

Greek government-debt crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis ( Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that ...

. The event was continued in 2012 with Turkey as the new host nation, which had built the

Ataköy Athletics Arena Ataköy Athletics Arena ( tr, Ataköy Atletizm Salonu), is an indoor sporting arena for track and field athletics events located in Ataköy, Istanbul, Turkey. Construction The venue was constructed special for the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Champi ...

for the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of four ...

. The Balkan competition served as a major test event for the global championships. The programme of events has been similar to that of the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, except for the omission of the

combined track and field events Combined track and field events are competitions in which athletes participate in a number of track and field events, earning points for their performance in each event, which adds to a total points score. Outdoors, the most common combined events ...

and (usually) the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

. Women's

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

was introduced in 1998, giving the sexes event parity, and the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

for both sexes was dropped after 2005 in line with international standards. The 1994 championships featured

racewalking Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Referee, Race judges careful ...

competitions, but these were dropped for subsequent editions. In addition to individual titles, a men's and a women's team title is awarded to the best performing nation in each section. Both medal tables and points tables are collated, with the points score contributing to the team title.Balkan Indoor Championships 2015 TEAM POINTS - MEN
. Association of Balkan Athletic Federations. Retrieved on 2015-03-04. The points table was introduced in 2002. A total of seventeen nations have entered the competition during its history, with

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

being former competitors; all successor states of Yugoslavia have since competed independently, bar Kosovo. The initial competition was between six nations, which expanded to nine by the end of the 1990s. The number of competing nations was further expanded between 2011 and 2014, with five more countries being admitted by the ABAF.

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

has also competed as a guest nation; its performances were discounted for medal and points-scoring purposes.20th Balkan Indoor Championships 2015 Istanbul, TUR/Men/Full Results Men.pdf
. ABAF. Retrieved on 2015-03-04. Romania and Greece have historically been the most successful nations at the event, although Turkey has been the most dominant since 2012.

Editions

* Team winners decided by medals up to 2001, with the points scoring format introduced in 2002.

Participation

* Note: † = former competing nation * As

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

Championships records

Key:

Men

Women

References

External links

Association of Balkan Athletic Federations website
{{Balkan Championships Athletics competitions in Europe

Indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

Recurring sporting events established in 1994 February sporting events Indoor track and field competitions