The Warm Up Track 2025: Emmanouil Karalis – Faster, Higher, Stronger

<p>Emmanouil Karalis was born to a Greek father and a Ugandan mother, and experienced racism growing up in Athens. He was told ‘black people don’t pole vault’ and seriously considered quitting the sport in which he was already proving to be world class. He explains what it was like being a young person of mixed heritage in Greece during a time when the far right ‘Golden Dawn’ party was enjoying it’s greatest period of influence.</p><p>It wasn’t ‘sunshine and rainbows’ he tells us during a ‘horrible’ time for non-white Greeks. When he reached the age of 18, he decided it was time to speak out about the racism and about his mental health. He says opening that door and taking that first step has helped those athletes who have come after him.</p><p>Emmanouil - known more familiarly as Manolo – has been winning global and continental medals since the age of 15. He’s had success all the way up through the age-groups and first competed against Mondo Duplantis when both were still just boys. ...