# Philip Milanov

Philip Milanov (born 6 July 1991) is a Belgian discus thrower. He is a fourteen-time Belgian champion and the 2015 World University Games champion in men's discus throw. In 2015, he became the first ever Belgian athlete, male or female, to win a gold or silver medal at a World Athletics Championships by taking silver at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China.

## Biography

Milanov was born in Bruges, Belgium on 6 July 1991. His father and coach, Emil Milanov, was himself a discus thrower in his native Bulgaria before moving to Belgium in 1989. Philip Milanov won the Belgian junior championship in 2010 with a throw of 54.28 m (1.75 kg), ranking him fourth on the Belgian all-time junior list. In 2011 he represented Belgium at the European Team Championships First League, placing ninth with 54.88 m; at that summer's Belgian championships he was second to Maarten Persoon of the Netherlands but the top Belgian, winning his first national senior title. He repeated as Belgian champion in 2012.
Milanov broke 60 metres for the first time in 2013, setting a Belgian under-23 record of 61.81 m in Vilvoorde and placing fifth at the European U23 Championships in Tampere. He continued to improve in 2014, breaking Jo Van Daele's old Belgian record (64.24 m) by eight centimetres in Lille on 23 February and improving the record further to 66.02 m at the FBK Games in Hengelo on 8 June; he was Belgian champion for the fourth consecutive year (60.57 m) and made his debut in the IAAF Diamond League. Milanov was eliminated in the qualification round at the 2014 European Championships in Zürich; Track & Field News ranked him ninth in the world that year, his first top 10 ranking.
Milanov broke his own Belgian record again in Kessel-Lo on 25 April 2015, throwing 66.43 m and meeting the qualification standard for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing. In July 2015 he won gold with 64.15 m at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. He unexpectedly scored his first Diamond League victory two weeks later at the London Grand Prix; in rainy conditions, he threw 65.14 m to defeat a field that included Diamond Race leader Piotr Małachowski of Poland. In August 2015 he broke again his Belgian record and met the qualification standard for the 2016 Olympic Games. On 29 August 2015 at the World Championships in Beijing, where he took silver, Milanov, improved his national record to 66.90 m.
Milanov started 2016 well, taking second place in the Doha Diamond League meeting in May, bettering his national record with a throw of 67.26 m. In July, he won a silver medal at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with a throw of 65.71 m, beaten only by the world discus champion Piotr Malachowski. Milanov entered the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with high hopes, coming in to the Olympics as 3rd best performer of the season. But the Olympics ended in disappointment for him. He qualified as 12th and last athlete for the final and in the final recorded only 1 valid throw, finishing in a disappointing 9th place, with a best throw of 62.22 m., more than 5 m below his season best. Rio proved to be a turning point in his career. He would never again improve on his personal best and big international competitions would end in more disappointment. In 2017, he failed to qualify for the final of the men's discus throw competition at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London ending in 14th place in the qualification round with a throw of 63.16 m.
Milanov missed the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany due to injury. The 2019 World Athletics Championships, 2022 European Athletics Championships, 2022 World Athletics Championships, 2023 World Athletics Championships, 2024 European Athletics Championships, and 2024 Summer Olympics all saw Milanov eliminated in the qualification round.