Elina Tzengko

Elina Tzengko (Ελίνα Τζένγκο, Elina Xhengo; born 2 September 2002 ) is a Greek javelin thrower. She won the gold medal at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, becoming the youngest ever javelin and Greek European champion. Tzengko took a silver and a gold at the 2021 World and European Under-20 Championships respectively.

Early life
Elina Tzengko was born in Greece to Albanian immigrants and grew up in Nea Kallikrateia, Chalkidiki. She has two older sisters. She started athletics throwing small balls around the age of seven. When she was at primary school, she joined the sports club A.S. Kentavros Neas Kallikrateias (Αθλητικός Σύλλογος - Α.Σ. Κένταυρος Νέας Καλλικράτειας). She was big enough to handle the javelin at age 11.

Tzengko received Greek citizenship on 22 June 2018. In 2021, she started studying at School of Physical Education and Sports Science of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Career
In 2018, Tzengko competed in the European Athletics Under-18 Championships in Hungary, where she placed seventh. At the Summer Youth Olympics held in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October, she won the gold medal with throws of 63.34 m and 61.74 m, and was voted European Athletics top female athlete of the month.

The following year in May, she set the world U18 best of 65.90 m (javelin 500 g) at the Panhellenic School Championships in Ioannina.

On 1 August 2020, the 17-year-old threw world U20 record of 63.96 m at the Greek U20 Championships held also in Ioannina. However, World Athletics refused to recognize it as a record because doping control was not conducted immediately following the completion of the competition as required by anti-doping regulations.

In July 2021, she became the European U20 champion. The next month, with a throw of 59.60 m, Tzengko earned the silver medal at the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

On 20 August 2022, still only 19, Tzengko won the gold medal with a personal best of 65.81 metres at the European Championships held in Munich. She became the youngest athlete in her discipline – male or female – to win the title at the Europeans, the first teenager to win a European throwing title, and the youngest ever Greek European champion. In October, Tzengko also became the first Greek athlete in history to receive European Athletics Rising Star award as she was crowned 2022 Female Rising Star.

National titles

 * Greek Athletics Championships: 2020, 2021, 2022