Staff Directory
- Title:
- Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
- Email:
- Phone:
- 217-333-7541
 19 Olympians |
| 3x Olympic Coach |
 2 NCAA Team Champions |
| 37 Individual NCAA Champions |
 138 First-Team All-Americans |
 1 Big Ten Team Championship (Women Indoor 2024) |
| 27 Individual Big Ten Champions |
More Numbers
- NCAA Individual Champions: 37 NCAA Meet Records: 1 Big Ten Meet Records: 4 First-Team All-Americans (ILL): 47
- Bowerman Trophy Winners: 1 Big Ten Champions: 27 Big Ten Records: 6 School Records (ILL): 67
- SEC Champions: 81 NCAA Records: 4 SEC Records: 12 School Records (UGA): 41
- World Championship Medalists: 7 European Championship Medalists: 3 African Champions: 1
- 3x USTFCCCA National Head Coach of the Year
- 2x USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year
- 2x USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Midwest Region Coach of the Year
- 1x USTFCCCA Women's Outdoor Midwest Region Coach of the Year
- 1x Big Ten Women's Indoor Coach of the Year
Bio
Two-time NCAA Championship coach Petros Kyprianou (pronounced KEEP-ree-on-oo) was hired on July 26, 2022 as the new director of the Fighting Illini track and field and cross country programs.
It's been repeated each year, but Kyprinou continued to take the Illinois track and field program to new heights in his fourth season (2025-26) as he led the women's team to their highest finish ever at the NCAA Indoor Championships claiming third place with 42 points. Not only is it the women's highest finish in their history indoor or outdoor, but the third-place showing ties the second-highest team finish ever for an Illinois women's sport. Five women earned six All-America honors to score those historic 42 points: Sophia Beckmon, JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, Jordan Koskondy, Phethisang Makhethe and Rose Yeboah. Kyprianou was named USTFCCCA Midwest Region Women’s Coach of the Year for the second time in his career on March 19.
Beckmon led the way as the national champion in the long jump leaping 6.84m (22-5 1/4) becoming Illinois' first-ever indoor field event national champion. She was the national leader from the time she opened her season, until her final jump on the runway at the national meet. Gero-Holt was the team's leading scorer as a freshman with 12 points as she earned All-America honors in two events. She was the national runner-up in the pentathlon and the next day took fourth in the high jump. She's the first freshman in program history to All-American in two separate individual events and the first Illini in general to do it since Celena Modie-Milner in 1989 (55m and 200m).
Yeboah claimed silver in the high jump to become the program's highest finisher in the event. She's now the second high jumper in school history to earn indoor high jump All-America honors in three-consecutive seasons since Stacy Ann Grant last did it in 1997-99. Makhethe was the national runner-up in the weight throw while Koskondy placed fifth to claim her All-America honors. On the men's side, Jip de Greef and Luuk Pelkmans claimed All-America honors in the heptathlon finishing third and fourth, respectively.
Prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships success the team saw great success again at the Big Ten Indoor Championships as the women finished in second for the second-straight season. Beckmon, Meagan Humphries, Makhethe Viktor Morozov, Kennedy Ocansey and Yeboah all earned Big Ten gold medals at the championships. Humphries performance was the most notable as she recorded personal-bests in all five events of the pentathlon and set a new Big Ten Indoor Championships meet record with 4,459 points.
The NCAA Outdoor Championships saw the women's team finish in eighth with 27 points as five women were All-Americans: Beckmon, Gero-Holt, Humphries, Koskondy and Yeboah. Yeboah led the way fighting to national runner-up status in the high jump for a second-consecutive outdoor season to end her illustrious career as an Illini. Gero-Holt was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year on June 17. On the men's side, Jacob Cookinham (shot put) and Pelkmans (decathlon) ended their season's as All-Americans as well.
During the Big Ten Outdoor Championships he led the women's team to second with 92 points, their highest finish since the 2013 team also finished in second. Gero-Holt topped the podium in the heptathlon with 5,994 points ending a 32-year-drought of an Illini topping the heptathlon podium when Carmel Corbett last won it in 1994. Two men walked away with gold medals in Pelkmans (decathlon) and Jonathan Kapitolnik (high jump). Pelkmans is the only freshman in school history to win B1G decathlon gold.
In his third season (2024-25) he led the women's team to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, their highest finish in 29 years and third-highest finish in program history. Six of his women earned All-America honors to score 29.5 points: Beckmon, Tacoria Humphrey, Mia Morello, Abria Smith, Melissa Wullschleger and Rose Yeboah. Smith (shot put) and Yeboah (high jump) were the highest finishers each being national runner-ups in their respective events. On the men's side, he coached both Kam Garrett (high jump) and Cody Johnston (pole vault) to All-American status outdoors. He was named USTFCCCA Women's Outdoor Midwest Region coach of the year on June 20 and Wullschleger was tabbed as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year on June 18.
A month prior at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships he led five individuals to become Big Ten Champions in Humphrey, Johnston, Viktor Morozov, Rafael Raap and Smith. Raap was the program's first-ever decathlon Big Ten Champion, Morozov is the program's first triple jump gold in 34 years and Johnston was the first pole vaulter on top of the podium in 31 years. Humphrey earned her second-consecutive outdoor title and Smith was the first shot put gold in 16 years. Smith earlier in the season threw the 14th-furthest shot put in NCAA Outdoor history with a mark of 18.92m (62-1).
The indoor season saw him guide the women's team to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. It's the second-highest finish in program history as only the 1996 squad who took sixth finished higher. Seven on his women became All-Americans and scored 25.5 team points: Beckmon, Humphrey, Jordan Koskondy, Phethisang Makhethe, Tori Thomas, Smith and Yeboah. On the men's side, Johnston and Tyler Sudduth (shot put) earned All-America honors.
At the Big Ten Indoor Championships Humphrey had a historical performance in her Big Ten long jump title. Not only did she top the podium, but she also topped the Big Ten, school and Big Ten Indoor Championships record books with her 6.94m (22-9 1/4). This mark is also the third-furthest long jump in NCAA Indoor history.
His sophomore campaign (2023-24) was highlighted by leading the women's team to their first Big Ten Indoor Championships title in 11 years (2013), their seventh total in program history and his first-ever conference title in his coaching career. He was named USTFCCCA Women's Indoor Midwest Region Coach of the Year on March 14. He coached Yeboah to National Champion status in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a meet and school record, 1.97m (6-5 1/2). In addition, this was an automatic qualifying mark to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris where she will represent Ghana. Yeboah is the women's program's first ever field event champion.
He led the Big Ten in All-Americans on the women's side for the 2024 season with nine total, five indoors and four outdoors. Beckmon tied the American U20 record in the long jump with a 6.86m (22-6 1/4) leap and it also tied the collegiate freshman record, under his guidance. He coached Aiden Ouimet to shatter the Big Ten Indoor Championships heptathlon record with 6,120 points, the 17th-highest score in NCAA history. He also earned Big Ten Outstanding Field Athlete of the Championships for this performance, the first-ever in men's program's history for the indoor season.
In his first season (2022-23) with the Fighting Illini he coached Olivia Howell to win her third-straight Big Ten Championship in the mile (Indoor) and 1500m (Outdoor). She topped the podium at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile with a facility record (4:34.00) and also earned her first-ever outdoor All-America honors in the 1500m with her eighth-place finish (4:11.54) under his direction.
From 2015-2021, Kyprianou served in the same capacity at the University of Georgia, where, in his six seasons as head coach, he led the Bulldogs to unprecedented success, including a pair of NCAA titles – the first in school history – three runner-up performances, and a total of 16 top-ten NCAA finishes.
Georgia took the national podium (top-four) 12 times during Kyprianou's tenure as head coach, highlighted by the UGA women's team claiming the NCAA indoor championship in 2018, followed shortly thereafter with the UGA men's team taking the 2018 NCAA outdoor title. In his final season in 2021, the Lady Bulldogs finished third outdoors and fifth indoors at the NCAA Championships while the UGA men placed third indoors and eighth outdoors.
Kyprianou was a three-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coach of the Year, winning the award in 2017 (women outdoor) and twice in 2018 (women indoor and men outdoor). He also was a two-time National Assistant Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA (2014 and 2015 women indoors) during a seven-year stint as a Georgia assistant coach from 2008-15.
Kyprianou coached athletes to a total of 28 NCAA titles during his 13-year Georgia tenure. Highlighting that impressive list of distinguished champions is 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year Keturah Orji, who won the 2018 Bowerman Award, presented to college track and field's top athlete.
Since electing to leave Georgia in 2021, Kyprianou has served as the director of sports performance at the Episcopal School in Jacksonville, Florida, while continuing to provide individual coaching to elite international athletes. Specializing in the jumps and combined events, Kyprianou has coached for four countries in international competition, including three different Olympics. Most recently, he was on the USA Track & Field staff for the just-completed 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where the United States captured the gold medal.
Prior to joining the staff at Georgia, Kyprianou was an assistant coach at both Boise State University and University of Nebraska, Omaha. A native of Cyprus, Kyprianou competed in the decathlon, pole vault, hurdles, and long jump in Greece, winning several national championships. He graduated from Aristotle University in Greece and later earned a master's degree from UNO.
Kyprianou made the move to Champaign with his wife, Masa and two kids Alexander and Stefan.
