Pavlina Evro | The Golden Girl of Nikaïa Meeting in Nice!

Pavlina Evro
Champion athlete and national record holder of 800m, 1500m and 3000m races.
Team: “Skenderbeu” – Korce.
She holds the tittles: “Great Master of Sports” and “Honorary Citizen of Korce”.
Winner of the silver medal in the European Championship for U20 youth in the 1500 M race in 1983.

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Pavlina Evro, it`s only 19 years old!
She has just hung the gold medal around her neck.

It was the first gold medal for Albania in athletics. Along with the title, she took with her the new Albanian record of 4’06″62!!! Evro will be remembered internationally for having ranked first place in the 1500 meter race at the International Athletic Meeting in Nice, France in 1984 .

WATCH THE RACE VIDEO

She was born in Korce on January 22, 1965. Luiza Gege’s predecessor was undoubtedly the best athlete in Albania, until the arrival of the latter, Gega phenomenon, which is not for nothing ranked among the best athletes in Europe.

Pavlina Evro, is the champion of Albania in these disciplines and holder for a very long time of the records in 1500M and 3000M! She was considered an “unbreakable record holder” in the 1500-meter run, being the athlete with the most spectacular results in national and international activities in the 80s and 90s. Evro was part of “Skenderbeu” and the Albanian National Team in many championships and famous athletics competitions in the period 1981 – 1994.

She was considered the most famous Albanian athlete, whose records lasted for a long time until in 2013 and 2014 when another Albanian athlete, Luiza Gega, broke them.

Evro is the discovery of coach Pirro Kasati, who brings her closer to the teams of the chain system of Skanderbeu.

In 1985, in the Oslo Blissett Meeting, in the 1500 M race, she reached a record time of 4’06.41, which was broken by Luiza Gega after 28 years, in May 2013 (4′;05”;19 in a rally in Tivar, Montenegro). Then in the same year it will be Luiza Gega again who will break her own record in this race with a time of 4:02:63 in Doha.

Meanwhile, in October 1986, in the national championship competitions held in Tirana, Pavlina Evro broke the national record in the 3000 m race with a time of 9′; 14”; 20.

Evro will be remembered for her appearance in the 1500 meters race at the International Athletics Meeting in Nice, France in 1984. On the wonderful track of the Charles-Ehrmann stadium in the city of Nice near the Blue Coast (Cote d’Azur), the champions have not run for 11 years. This once-heard athletics stadium no longer has the funds to host a major rally like it once belonged to the world’s elite. The glory lasted only 25 years (1976-2001), During this time period 5 world records were broken.

In the already distant year 1984, the 19-year-old Albanian, Pavlina Evro, will compete with other international athletes, the bests of that time around. Unexpectedly, she wins the 1500m race at this rally. Europe heard her name for the first time. Evro was placed at the start of the 1500 meters race and at the end in the last 120 meters she managed to overtake the two athletes in front of her and with a sprint she reached the finish line first, taking the gold medal. This was officially the first gold medal for Albania in the Athletics Meetings organized by the IAAF, one year before the “IAAF-Grand Prix” was formed.

Along with the title, she took home the new Albanian record of 4’06″62 as well as the title of “Honorary Citizen” of the city of Nice. Pavlina was the best athlete of the Nikaia Rally (the old name of Nisa) in 1984, although the results of this rally are hard to find online.

To understand the level of the Evro`s result of that year, it is enough to remember that in the last year of the rally held, in 2001,, the 1500 meters race was won by the Romanian athlete Violeta Beklea-Shekeli with a time of 4’06″55. So, only 7 hundredths less than our athlete and after 17 years!

Among other results where Pavlina Evro stood out, she was runner-up of Europe for young women in the European Championship of 1983, when she was 18 years old, with the time 4’13″77 in 1500 meters. She also won a bronze medal at the 1986 Oslo International Rally in the 1500 meters, where she set a record of 4’06″41 and lost second place with a photo finish. Same year, in 1986, she also won the bronze medal in the Mediterranean Games in Latakia in the 1500m race.

 

 

Pavlina Evro is a worthy successor of outstanding athletes like Marie Ranxi of the 40s.

 

From 1991, she emigrated to Thessaloniki and later to Athens. Even in Greece, our athlete has managed to be declared champion with “Iraklis” in Thessaloniki. She then worked as a coach and lecturer in the sports academy of this club and even excelled as a coach and lecturer in the academy of champions in Panelinio of Thessaloniki.

 

At the beginning of 2013, she returned to her hometown in Korce to develop her ideas and projects for sports, especially for athletics.

 

Pavlina Evro is graduated from Sports University of Tirana. (Physical Education)

From 2014 to 2019, she served as Consul General of Albania in Thessaloniki (GRE). She worked in Panellinios and Iraklis sports clubs in Greece.