| Kyriakos Ioannou | |
| Country: | Cyprus |
| Birth Date: | 26 July 1984 |
| Birth Place: | Limassol, Cyprus |
| Height: | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) |
| Weight: | 66kg (146lb) |
| Event: | High jump |
| Pb: | 2.35 m 2.32 m (indoors) |
Kyriakos Ioannou (el|Κυριάκος Ιωάννου, born 26 July 1984) is a retired Cypriot high jumper. He has twice won medals at the World Athletics Championships (2007 and 2009) and was the bronze medallist at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He is the only medalist for Cyprus at the World Athletics Championships since its creation in 1983. He's also the Cypriot record holder in the high jump, both outdoors (2.35 m) and indoors (2.32 m). Ioannou is a two-time medallist at the Commonwealth Games (2006 and 2014) and took back-to-back gold medals at the Mediterranean Games in 2005 and 2009.
His personal best jump and Cypriot national record is 2.35 metres, achieved at the 2007 World Championships held in Osaka where he won the bronze medal. He became the first World Championships medalist from Cyprus.[1] Two years later, at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, he won the silver medal (2,32 m), only beaten by Yaroslav Rybakov.[2] He also took the bronze medal at the 2008 World Indoor Championships and finished fourth two years later at the same competition in Doha.[3]
His best jump in 2010, came at Lausanne Diamond League on July 8, when he took third place with a jump of 2.30.[4] Ioannou began his outdoor season at the first 2011 IAAF Diamond League meet in Doha and set a joint meeting record of 2.33m alongside American Jesse Williams, though Williams was declared the winner on countback.[5]
Due to an injury, he didn't start in the qualifying rounds at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu where he was one of the favourites for a medal.
In 2012, still injured, he arrived to qualifying to the Olympic final in London where he finished 12th with 2.20 m.[6] The following year, he didn't compete. Ioannou competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, winning the silver medal with a SB of 2.28 m. Derek Drouin of Canada took gold (2.31 m).[7]
In March 2015, Ioannou made the final of the European Indoor Athletics Championships but didn't arrive to make any jump due to an injury. In June, he obtained the Olympic standard by clearing 2.29 m.
In February 2016, for his first competition of the year, Ioannou equalled his own indoor national record from 2008 (and equalled by Dimitrios Chondrokoukis in 2015) by clearing 2.32 m in Hustopeče on his third attempt.