17-year-old national athlete Yunus Emre Civelek, who started athletics in 2020 under his father's guidance, quickly achieved great success. A student at Sakarya Sports High School, Civelek also made a name for himself internationally after his performances in the U14, U16, and U18 Turkish championships.
Civelek gained his first international experience at the Balkan U18 Athletics Championships in Slovenia, winning gold in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.32. He then went on to compete at the European Athletics U18 Championships held in Italy from July 16-19, where he broke the Turkish record with a time of 13.08 in the 110-meter hurdles final to take first place. With this achievement, Civelek also became the first Turkish athlete to win a gold medal in that category.
Training with his coach Nilüfer Özen Aslantepe, Yunus Emre Civelek said he has big goals. In a statement, Civelek said: 'With my coach Nilüfer, we prepared for this championship for a long time. We trained intensely six days a week. To qualify for the European Championships, you have to compete in Turkey. By competing, I improved my times, and after finishing first to qualify, I went to the European Championships and won there too.'
Expressing his pride in raising the Turkish flag and having the national anthem played, the young athlete said: 'I owe this success to my coach; thanks to her, I have come this far. Without her, I could never have done it because she was always there for me, we were always together, and we trained.'
Civelek said he was happy to have broken the Turkish record, adding: 'My name is now written there. Of course, those who come after me will break my record, but in the end, I will have made history.'
Speaking about his long-term goals, Yunus Emre Civelek said: 'After years of hard work, I became European and Balkan champion and broke the Turkish record. My goal is to break the world record and go to the Olympics.' The world record Civelek is targeting is 12.75 seconds, held by American Ja'Kobe Tharp.
Coach Nilüfer Özen Aslantepe said she was proud of her athlete: 'Yunus Emre has a special trait: he believes deeply and is very determined. Even if something seems impossible, he goes after it wholeheartedly. He went into the final saying, 'I will have our national anthem played and win the gold medal,' with total belief. And that's exactly what happened. He fought well and made our country and Sakarya proud.'
Aslantepe emphasized that they are climbing the ladder of success step by step, adding that she believes her athlete will represent Turkey in the best way by reaching the final at next year's European Athletics U20 Championships, and that they aim to compete in the 2032 Olympics in Australia.
