Bozhidar Saraboyukov misses the European Athletics Team Championships due to injury

The European indoor long jump champion from Apeldoorn 2025, Bozhidar Saraboyukov, has been withdrawn from Bulgaria’s squad for the European Athletics Team Championships Second Division, which will be held in Maribor (Slovenia) on June 28-29 due to injury, the Bulgarian Athletics Federation (BAF) announced.

The 20-year-old Bozhidar Saraboyukov has not recovered after spraining his ankle during the warm-up before the Diamond League tournament in Rome on June 6. Bozhidar Saraboyukov has been replaced in the team by the bronze medalist in the triple jump at the European Junior Championships U18 in Jerusalem 2022, Vasil Rusenov, who achieved a personal best in the long jump with 7.27m on May 21 in Sofia and shares third place in the national ranking for the season.

The men’s team includes 17 competitors, and the women’s team includes 15, with European U20 silver medalist in 1,500m Lilyana Georgieva (800m and 1,500m) and Ivelina Milkova (shot put and discus throw) participating in two events for the women.

The Bulgarians’ opponents in the second division are the teams of the host Slovenia, Belgium, Turkey, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Denmark, Serbia, Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Ireland, Austria and Israel. The first three teams in the final standings win promotion to the first division, while the last three are relegated to the third division.

Among Bulgarian athletics starts are Kristen Radukanova in 100m, World U20 long jump champion Plamena Mitkova, European Indoor triple jump silver medalist Gabriela Petrova, and three-time Balkan, two=time European Team Championships 1st League, and World University Games champion in the high jump Tihomir Ivanov.