Who Is Miltiadis Tentoglou?

Sports Career of Miltiadis Tentoglou | Miltiadis Tentoglou Biography

Miltiadis (Miltos) Tentoglou (in Greek: Μιλτιάδης Τεντόγλου) is a Greek long jumper who is largely considered the most successful athlete in the event over the past ten years. He has won the Olympic Gold medal twice and is also the 2023 World Champion.

In 2014, at the age of 16, he won the Greek U18 Championships with a jump of 7.13 meters, having trained specifically for track and field for only about a year.

He quickly improved, setting a personal best of 7.69 meters the next year and qualifying for the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia. He finished fifth with a jump of 7.66 meters.

Despite only being 18 for the 2016 season, he broke the 8-meter mark for the first time in May with a jump of 8.19 meters. This would be the 24th-longest jump in the world in 2016 by a person of any age.

In July, he went on to win the U20 Balkan Championships in Turkey and then finished second at the World U20 Championships in Poland, with a jump of 7.91 meters.

He was the second youngest long jumper at the 2016 Olympics, behind the Cuban Maykel Massó. He jumped 7.64 meters but didn’t advance beyond the qualifying round. It would be the last time he would finish anywhere other than first at the Olympics, as of the time of writing in 2025.

Tentoglou went over the 8-meter mark four times in 2017, with a best of 8.30 meters to win the Greek Championships despite still being a junior. He then won the World U20 Championships with a jump of 8.07 meters, edging out Poland’s Jakub Andrzejczak by 5 centimeters.

Tentoglou also qualified for the World Athletics Championships in London, England, but wouldn’t make it through qualifying.

Tentoglou’s Rise to Stardom

Tentoglou started his rise to star status in 2018, going from a promising up-and-comer to one of the best jumpers in the world. He won the European Championships in 2018 with a jump of 8.25 meters. The next year, he won the European U23 Championships and consistently jumped over the 8-meter mark. He finished 10^th at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.

Most of Tentoglou’s 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he jumped over 8 meters in five out of his six competitions.

With the Olympics postponed a year, Tentoglou would have an extra year to prepare. He jumped over 8 meters at every competition he competed in through 2021 (except for the qualifying round at the Greek Championships). He then jumped a personal best in the final of the Greek Championships with 8.48 meters.

Miltos Tentoglou Olympics

In 2021, Tentoglou won his first Diamond League Meeting in Monaco about a month before the Olympics with a jump of 8.24 meters. He carried this momentum into August, jumping 8.22 meters in the qualifying section of the men’s long jump at the Olympics in Tokyo.

Going into the sixth round in the final, Tentoglou was in third place with a best jump of 8.15 meters. He got knocked down to fourth when Spain’s Eusebio Cáceres jumped 8.18 meters on his last attempt.

The pressure wouldn’t get to Tentoglou, however. In round six, he leaped to 8.41 meters to tie Juan Miguel Echevarría for first. Tentoglou was poised to finish first if Echevarría didn’t improve on his final jump, due to having the better second-best jump of the day.

Tentoglou had to wait to celebrate as Echevarría took to the runway as the last jumper of the competition. However, Echevarría would pull up before reaching the board and collapse in defeat when he realized that Olympic gold had slipped from his grasp.

After His First Olympic Gold

Winning the Olympic Gold Medal would be the highlight of most people’s careers, but Tentoglou still had plenty of big jumps left. The next season, he won the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Serbia with a personal best of 8.55 meters. He then went on to win Diamond League meetings in Rabat, Oslo, and Stockholm before settling for second at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Jianan Wang was the winner, jumping 8.36 meters and edging out Tentoglou by four centimeters.

Tentoglou would find redemption the next season at the World Championships in Budapest, winning the competition with a jump of 8.52 meters. He finished ahead of the Jamaican Wayne Pinnock, who had an excellent jump of 8.50 meters. Two more Jamaicans, Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod, finished third and fourth, respectively.

At the European Championships in 2024, Tentoglou outdid himself in the final, jumping a lifetime best of 8.65 meters into a slightly negative wind to beat the Italian Mattia Furlani on home soil.

Tentoglou went on to win his second Olympics in Paris without the drama of Tokyo. His second-round jump of 8.48 meters would be enough to hang on to victory over Wayne Pinnock’s best of 8.36 meters and Mattia Furlani’s best of 8.34 meters.  

His 2025 season was capped with a victory at the European Team Challenge in Madrid with a jump of 8.46 meters. However, a calf injury prevented him from achieving top form at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Despite jumping 8.17 meters in qualifying, his best in the final of 7.83 meters placed him 11th.

Miltiadis Tentoglou Personal Life and Other Facts | Who is Miltos Tentoglou?

Tentoglou was born in Thessaloniki and raised in the town of Grevena. His grandfather on his father’s side was a Greek refugee who migrated from modern-day Turkey.

Tentoglou practiced parkour during his teenage years and started with athletics at the age of 15 after being encouraged by the coach Vangelis Papanikos, who spotted in performing parkour in Grevena Stadium.

In 2018, he started working with his current coach, Georgi Pomashki. His personal best of 8.65 meters ranks him 14^th all-time.

FAQs

Where is Miltos Tentoglou From?

Tentoglous is from Thessaloniki, Greece, and grew up in the town of Grevena.

What is Miltiadis Tentoglou’s Best Jump?

Tentoglous has jumped 8.65 meters in the long jump. Although he rarely contests the triple jump, he has jumped 15.61 meters over 16 meters with a wind speed above the allowable limit.