Blanka Vlašic
Encyclopedia
Blanka Vlašić (ˈblaːnka ˈʋlaʃitɕ) (born 8 November 1983) is a Croatia
n athlete who specialises in the high jump
. She is the current Croatian record holder in the event, and also the current indoorWorld Champion. The daughter of Croatian decathlon record holder Joško Vlašić
, she was a talented junior athlete and attended her first Olympic Games
in 2000 Sydney
at the age of sixteen. She won the World Junior Championships in Athletics in both 2000 and 2002. Vlašić broke her national record in 2004 and also won her first world senior medal at the World Indoor Championships that year. A hyperthyroid condition hindered her second Olympic appearance in Athens
and she spent the 2005 season recuperating from surgery.
She returned in 2006, taking the silver at the World Indoor Championships. The 2007 season signalled a strong run of form: she won at the 2007 World Championships
, became the indoor world champion in 2008 and her winning streak came to an end with a narrow loss at the Beijing Olympics
, where she took silver. She became World Champion
for a second time in 2009. She ranks second in the all-time high jump rankings, behind Stefka Kostadinova
. Her awards also including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year
2010 and European Athlete of the Year Trophy (2007,2010).
, Croatia
. From a young age, it was natural for her to be involved in sports: her mother Venera was a seasoned amateur in basketball
and cross country skiing while her father, Joško Vlašić, was an international athlete who broke the Croatian record
in the decathlon
. Her father brought her to the track while he practised and she dreamed of becoming a professional sprinter
. As she grew up she tried a number of sports but found that the high jump
was particularly well-suited to her tall and slender frame. Vlašić shunned the idea of competing in more profitable sports, such as basketball, saying that she preferred the thrill of individual sports. She reached the international standard for a high jumper at an early age, setting a personal best of 1.80 metres at fifteen years of age and quickly improving to 1.93 m at sixteen.
, finishing eighth, and represented her country for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
. Although the Olympics showed that she was not ready to compete at the senior level, she proved herself to be more than proficient at the junior level by winning the 2000 World Junior Championships
with a jump of 1.91 m. She was a regular competitor at senior athletics meetings and was steadily improving, qualifying for further top-level senior events. Vlašić finished sixth at the 2001 World Championships
in Edmonton
with a mark of 1.94 m, a result which led the IAAF's Ed Gordon to mark her out as a future star in the event. She rounded off the year by winning her first senior gold medal at an international tournament, taking first place at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
.
The results of Vlašić's final year as a junior showed further development as a high jumper. She set a new indoor best of 1.92 m at the 2002 European Indoor Championships and was the favourite to win the 2002 World Juniors
. She won the competition by a margin of nine centimetres, setting a new personal best of 1.96 m and attempting the symbolic two metres height. She failed to pass the bar but remained pleased with her achievements: "This was the first time I tried the 2-metre mark. That would have been a bonus. Today what matters is the gold. I am very happy I retained my world junior title". At the final major event of the season, the European Championships
, she could not repeat her previous form and finished in fifth place. Nevertheless, at the end of the year she was ranked in the top ten high jumpers in the world for the season.
was promising – she set a new personal best in Linz
with a jump of 1.98 m and finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships ten days later, her highest finish in a major world tournament. June and July yielded further progress, jumping 1.98 m again and improving to 1.99 m to win her first IAAF Golden League
event at the Gaz de France
. Days later, she jumped the two metres height for the first time on home soil at the IAAF Grand Prix Zagreb. Although Hestrie Cloete
won the competition overall, Vlašić's defeat of the psychological barrier and improved personal best was the highlight of the meeting and Cloete praised the young athlete's performance. Vlašić took gold at the 2003 European Athletics Under-23 Championships, and then she improved her best by another centimetre at the Zürich
Grand Prix which qualified her for the World Championships and the first IAAF World Athletics Final
. Despite such previous highs, her season ended on a low note as she failed to win a medal at either the World Championships
(finishing seventh with 1.95 m) or the Athletics Final in Paris
(ending up fourth with 1.96 m). Although she had failed to reach the podium at the major championships, only three athletes managed to jump higher than her personal and season's best of 2.01 m in 2003.
in March. She regularly reached the podium at meetings in the outdoor season and won the 2004 national championships. A Croatian record breaking jump of 2.03 m in Ljubljana
put her in good stead for the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, when she competed at the Olympic high jump final
she only managed eleventh place with a jump of 1.89 m. Following this, Vlašić did not compete for almost a year: she admitted that she was feeling lethargic and shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a hyperthyroid condition.
Surgery and recovery ruled out the vast majority of the 2005 athletics season and she only managed to make two competitive appearances. A best of 1.95 m guaranteed her victory at the national championships, but her jump of 1.88 m was not enough to progress into the finals
of the 2005 World Championships
.
Although her poor health had spoiled her medals chances at the two major championships of 2004 and 2005, Vlašić came back fully recovered and stronger in the 2006 season. She raised her indoor best to 2.05 m (a national record) at a meet in Banská Bystrica
in February, and took silver at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships
. Although she was beaten to the gold medal by Yelena Slesarenko
, she remained positive: "Of course I wanted to win. But when I remember that I was in hospital one year ago it is great." The 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg
proved to be a bittersweet experience: she cleared 2.01 m to finish in fourth place, behind Tia Hellebaut
, Venelina Veneva
and Kajsa Bergqvist
. This was the best-ever non-medal winning jump, and bronze medallist Bergqvist had also finished with 2.01 m but had managed it in fewer attempts. Vlašić capped the season off with an appearance at the 2006 World Athletics Final but withdrew from the competition after her third jump, finishing sixth.
Although she recorded an indoor season's best of 2.01 m in February, she failed to repeat her previous season's indoor form and finished fifth at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships (later upgraded to fourth after Venelina Veneva tested positive for banned substances).
During the 2007 season, Vlašić jumped over two metres in seventeen of her nineteen outdoor competitions, along with several close attempts at a would-be world record of 2.10 m.
Vlašić also won eighteen out of nineteen outdoor competitions, with her only loss coming early in the season at the first Golden League
meeting in Oslo
. As the women's high jump was a jackpot event this year, had Vlašić won here, she would have won (along with Russian Pole Vault
er Yelena Isinbayeva
and American sprinter
Sanya Richards
) a share of the Golden League jackpot ($1,000,000).
Vlašić's consistency over two metres, and consistency at the first attempt, this season, put her as a firm favourite to challenge for honours at August's World Championships
and she proved the expectations had been right. She became a world champion with a jump of 2.05 m.
In early October, Vlašić was named female European Athlete of the Year by the European Athletic Association
after the combined votes of a panel of experts, a group of journalists and the public. She is the first Croatian athlete and the first high jumper to win this award.
, held in Beijing, Vlašić won the silver medal, beaten by the Belgian Tia Hellebaut
(both cleared 2.05 m, but Vlašić needed one more attempt than Hellebaut). This ended her recent unbeaten streak of 34 competitions. Vlašić's season ended in despair, as she was again beaten on countback in the final leg of the ÅF Golden League series, which ended her chances of winning the $1,000,000 jackpot. Having won the previous 5 Golden League events, she finished Memorial Van Damme
meeting in 2nd place to Ariane Friedrich
.
August 2009 was a month of highlights for Vlašić as she won gold at the World Championships in Berlin, then set a new personal best at Zagreb
.
On 20 August, she won her second World Championship high jump crown, clearing 2.04 m on her second attempt to win gold.
Her personal best came 31 August at a meet at Zagreb, Croatia
, her home country. She cleared 2.05 m on her first attempt, thus setting a meet record, then attempted and cleared 2.08 m setting a new personal best and tying the second-best performance of all-time in the event. Her three attempts to set a new world record at 2.10 m failed.
Despite missing some meetings due to a virus in early 2010, further improvements came when she cleared 2.06 m indoors in Arnstadt
in February. The victory at the Hochsprung mit Musik
meeting brought her to third on the all-time indoor lists.
Blanka won the silver medal in 2011 athletics championships from South Korea.
, a city where her father competed and won a gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games
around the time of her birth.
From the beginning of her career she has been coached by her father, Joško Vlašić
and a former high jumper Bojan Marinović.
Blanka is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport
, a Monaco
-based international organization.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n athlete who specialises in the high jump
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
. She is the current Croatian record holder in the event, and also the current indoorWorld Champion. The daughter of Croatian decathlon record holder Joško Vlašić
Joško Vlašić
Joško Vlašić is a Croatian athletics coach and a former decathlete who represented Yugoslavia. Vlašić's greatest competitive success was winning the decathlon gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games, but he is best known for coaching his daughter Blanka Vlašić, a world champion high...
, she was a talented junior athlete and attended her first Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in 2000 Sydney
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
at the age of sixteen. She won the World Junior Championships in Athletics in both 2000 and 2002. Vlašić broke her national record in 2004 and also won her first world senior medal at the World Indoor Championships that year. A hyperthyroid condition hindered her second Olympic appearance in Athens
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and she spent the 2005 season recuperating from surgery.
She returned in 2006, taking the silver at the World Indoor Championships. The 2007 season signalled a strong run of form: she won at the 2007 World Championships
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...
, became the indoor world champion in 2008 and her winning streak came to an end with a narrow loss at the Beijing Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, where she took silver. She became World Champion
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
for a second time in 2009. She ranks second in the all-time high jump rankings, behind Stefka Kostadinova
Stefka Kostadinova
Stefka Kostadinova is a Bulgarian retired athlete and the current women's world record holder in the high jump. She is the current president of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee.-Career:...
. Her awards also including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year
IAAF World Athlete of the Year
The IAAF Athlete of the Year award is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics organised by the International Athletic Foundation of the International Association of Athletics Federations , including track and field, cross country running, road...
2010 and European Athlete of the Year Trophy (2007,2010).
Early life
Blanka Vlašić was born on 8 November 1983 in SplitSplit (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. From a young age, it was natural for her to be involved in sports: her mother Venera was a seasoned amateur in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and cross country skiing while her father, Joško Vlašić, was an international athlete who broke the Croatian record
Croatian records in athletics
The following are the national records in athletics in Croatia maintained by the national athletics federation of Croatia, Croatian Athletics Federation ....
in the decathlon
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...
. Her father brought her to the track while he practised and she dreamed of becoming a professional sprinter
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
. As she grew up she tried a number of sports but found that the high jump
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
was particularly well-suited to her tall and slender frame. Vlašić shunned the idea of competing in more profitable sports, such as basketball, saying that she preferred the thrill of individual sports. She reached the international standard for a high jumper at an early age, setting a personal best of 1.80 metres at fifteen years of age and quickly improving to 1.93 m at sixteen.
Junior career
Accordingly, she had an early start in international competition: she competed at the inaugural World Youth Championships1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics
The 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics was the first edition of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland from July 16 to July 18, 1999.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:...
, finishing eighth, and represented her country for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
Athletics at the 2000 Summer Olympics
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, 46 events in athletics were contested, 24 for men and 22 for women. There were a total number of 2134 participating athletes from 193 countries.-Men's events:...
. Although the Olympics showed that she was not ready to compete at the senior level, she proved herself to be more than proficient at the junior level by winning the 2000 World Junior Championships
2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2000 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Santiago, Chile.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:...
with a jump of 1.91 m. She was a regular competitor at senior athletics meetings and was steadily improving, qualifying for further top-level senior events. Vlašić finished sixth at the 2001 World Championships
2001 World Championships in Athletics
The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America...
in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
with a mark of 1.94 m, a result which led the IAAF's Ed Gordon to mark her out as a future star in the event. She rounded off the year by winning her first senior gold medal at an international tournament, taking first place at the 2001 Mediterranean Games
2001 Mediterranean Games
The 14th edition of the Mediterranean Games were held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, from 2 to 15 September 2001. Twenty three nations competed in 23 different sporting events. France won the most gold medals in the competition while Italy had the greatest medal haul overall with 136 in...
.
The results of Vlašić's final year as a junior showed further development as a high jumper. She set a new indoor best of 1.92 m at the 2002 European Indoor Championships and was the favourite to win the 2002 World Juniors
2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics
The 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2002 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Kingston, Jamaica from July 16 to July 21, 2002.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:...
. She won the competition by a margin of nine centimetres, setting a new personal best of 1.96 m and attempting the symbolic two metres height. She failed to pass the bar but remained pleased with her achievements: "This was the first time I tried the 2-metre mark. That would have been a bonus. Today what matters is the gold. I am very happy I retained my world junior title". At the final major event of the season, the European Championships
2002 European Championships in Athletics
The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...
, she could not repeat her previous form and finished in fifth place. Nevertheless, at the end of the year she was ranked in the top ten high jumpers in the world for the season.
Rising contender
The start to the 2003 athletics season2003 in athletics (track and field)
This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2003.The foremost competition of the year was the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, followed by the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships...
was promising – she set a new personal best in Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
with a jump of 1.98 m and finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships ten days later, her highest finish in a major world tournament. June and July yielded further progress, jumping 1.98 m again and improving to 1.99 m to win her first IAAF Golden League
IAAF Golden League
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations...
event at the Gaz de France
Gaz de France
Gaz de France was a French company which produced, transported and sold natural gas around the world, especially in France, its main market. The company was also particularly active in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European countries. Through its part-owned Belgian subsidiary SPE...
. Days later, she jumped the two metres height for the first time on home soil at the IAAF Grand Prix Zagreb. Although Hestrie Cloete
Hestrie Cloete
Hestrie Cloete-Storbeck is a former, highly successful South African high jumper. Her foremost achievements were winning two world championships and two silver medals at Olympic Games.-Career:...
won the competition overall, Vlašić's defeat of the psychological barrier and improved personal best was the highlight of the meeting and Cloete praised the young athlete's performance. Vlašić took gold at the 2003 European Athletics Under-23 Championships, and then she improved her best by another centimetre at the Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
Grand Prix which qualified her for the World Championships and the first IAAF World Athletics Final
IAAF World Athletics Final
The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the IAAF World Athletics Series and was the culmination of the...
. Despite such previous highs, her season ended on a low note as she failed to win a medal at either the World Championships
2003 World Championships in Athletics
The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:...
(finishing seventh with 1.95 m) or the Athletics Final in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(ending up fourth with 1.96 m). Although she had failed to reach the podium at the major championships, only three athletes managed to jump higher than her personal and season's best of 2.01 m in 2003.
National record and health problems
Vlasic started the season well with a bronze medal performance at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004...
in March. She regularly reached the podium at meetings in the outdoor season and won the 2004 national championships. A Croatian record breaking jump of 2.03 m in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
put her in good stead for the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, when she competed at the Olympic high jump final
Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's High Jump
The Women's High Jump at the 2004 Summer Olympics as part of the athletics program was held at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 26 and August 28.-Medalists:-Schedule:*All times are Eastern European Time -Abbreviations:-Records:...
she only managed eleventh place with a jump of 1.89 m. Following this, Vlašić did not compete for almost a year: she admitted that she was feeling lethargic and shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a hyperthyroid condition.
Surgery and recovery ruled out the vast majority of the 2005 athletics season and she only managed to make two competitive appearances. A best of 1.95 m guaranteed her victory at the national championships, but her jump of 1.88 m was not enough to progress into the finals
2005 World Championships in Athletics - Women's High Jump
The Women's High Jump event at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium on August 6 and August 8.-Medalists:-Records:-Heat 1:1. Anna Chicherova, Russia 1.93m q...
of the 2005 World Championships
2005 World Championships in Athletics
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...
.
Although her poor health had spoiled her medals chances at the two major championships of 2004 and 2005, Vlašić came back fully recovered and stronger in the 2006 season. She raised her indoor best to 2.05 m (a national record) at a meet in Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica
Banská Bystrica is a key city in central Slovakia located on the Hron River in a long and wide valley encircled by the mountain chains of the Low Tatras, the Veľká Fatra, and the Kremnica Mountains. With 81,281 inhabitants, Banská Bystrica is the sixth most populous municipality in Slovakia...
in February, and took silver at the 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships
2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena....
. Although she was beaten to the gold medal by Yelena Slesarenko
Yelena Slesarenko
-2004:Largely unknown before 2004, she kickstarted the season by clearing 2.04 metres and winning the World Indoor Championships. When the outdoor season started she won the SPAR European Cup with the same result, improving her personal best from 1.97...
, she remained positive: "Of course I wanted to win. But when I remember that I was in hospital one year ago it is great." The 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
proved to be a bittersweet experience: she cleared 2.01 m to finish in fourth place, behind Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut is a Belgian track and field athlete who started out in the heptathlon, but afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors....
, Venelina Veneva
Venelina Veneva
Venelina Veneva-Mateeva is a Bulgarian high jumper. Talented at a young age, she jumped 1.93 metres indoor in 1990 to record a world best performance by a 15-year-old. She did not improve this result outdoor until 1995...
and Kajsa Bergqvist
Kajsa Bergqvist
Kajsa Margareta Bergqvist is a Swedish former high jumper. She won one bronze medal in the Olympic Games, one gold and two bronze medals in the World Championships in Athletics and one gold and one bronze in the European Championships. Her personal outdoor record of 2.06 m, set in Germany in 2003,...
. This was the best-ever non-medal winning jump, and bronze medallist Bergqvist had also finished with 2.01 m but had managed it in fewer attempts. Vlašić capped the season off with an appearance at the 2006 World Athletics Final but withdrew from the competition after her third jump, finishing sixth.
World and Olympic competition
During the 2007 season, Vlašić jumped over two metres in seventeen of her nineteen outdoor competitions, along with several close attempts at a would-be world record of 2.10 m.
Vlašić also won eighteen out of nineteen outdoor competitions, with her only loss coming early in the season at the first Golden League
2007 IAAF Golden League
The 2007 Golden League was the 10th edition of the IAAF's annual series of six athletics meets, held across Europe, with athletes having the chance to win the Golden League Jackpot of $1 million.The Jackpot events were:* Men** 100 m** 1500 m / Mile...
meeting in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
. As the women's high jump was a jackpot event this year, had Vlašić won here, she would have won (along with Russian Pole Vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
er Yelena Isinbayeva
Yelena Isinbayeva
Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva is a Russian pole vaulter. She is twice an Olympic gold medalist , five-times a World Champion, and the current world record holder in the event...
and American sprinter
Sprint (race)
Sprints are short running events in athletics and track and field. Races over short distances are among the oldest running competitions. The first 13 editions of the Ancient Olympic Games featured only one event—the stadion race, which was a race from one end of the stadium to the other...
Sanya Richards
Sanya Richards
Sanya Richards-Ross is a track and field athlete who competes internationally for the United States. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 4×400 meters relay at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, an individual bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics for the 400 m, and a gold medal in the 2009...
) a share of the Golden League jackpot ($1,000,000).
Vlašić's consistency over two metres, and consistency at the first attempt, this season, put her as a firm favourite to challenge for honours at August's World Championships
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...
and she proved the expectations had been right. She became a world champion with a jump of 2.05 m.
In early October, Vlašić was named female European Athlete of the Year by the European Athletic Association
European Athletic Association
The European Athletic Association is the European governing body for the sport of athletics.- History :In 1932, during a meeting of the International Amateur Athletic Federation in Los Angeles, a special committee was designated by the Council with the task of reviewing the conditions for the...
after the combined votes of a panel of experts, a group of journalists and the public. She is the first Croatian athlete and the first high jumper to win this award.
From Beijing Olympics to Berlin World Championships
At the 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, held in Beijing, Vlašić won the silver medal, beaten by the Belgian Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut is a Belgian track and field athlete who started out in the heptathlon, but afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors....
(both cleared 2.05 m, but Vlašić needed one more attempt than Hellebaut). This ended her recent unbeaten streak of 34 competitions. Vlašić's season ended in despair, as she was again beaten on countback in the final leg of the ÅF Golden League series, which ended her chances of winning the $1,000,000 jackpot. Having won the previous 5 Golden League events, she finished Memorial Van Damme
Memorial Van Damme
Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September...
meeting in 2nd place to Ariane Friedrich
Ariane Friedrich
Ariane Friedrich, born Tempel is a German high jumper. She won the bronze medal at the 2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics...
.
August 2009 was a month of highlights for Vlašić as she won gold at the World Championships in Berlin, then set a new personal best at Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
.
On 20 August, she won her second World Championship high jump crown, clearing 2.04 m on her second attempt to win gold.
Her personal best came 31 August at a meet at Zagreb, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, her home country. She cleared 2.05 m on her first attempt, thus setting a meet record, then attempted and cleared 2.08 m setting a new personal best and tying the second-best performance of all-time in the event. Her three attempts to set a new world record at 2.10 m failed.
Despite missing some meetings due to a virus in early 2010, further improvements came when she cleared 2.06 m indoors in Arnstadt
Arnstadt
Arnstadt is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, situated on the Gera River. It is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia and is nicknamed Das Tor zum Thüringer Wald, The Gate to the Thuringian Forest....
in February. The victory at the Hochsprung mit Musik
Hochsprung mit Musik
The Hochsprung mit Musik is an annual indoor high jump meeting which takes place in February in Arnstadt, Germany. First held in 1977, the meeting began as a competition between mainly East German athletes...
meeting brought her to third on the all-time indoor lists.
Blanka won the silver medal in 2011 athletics championships from South Korea.
Personal bests
| Event | Best (m) | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| High jump High jump The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years.... (outdoor) |
2.08 | Zagreb Zagreb Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city... , Croatia |
31 August 2009 |
| High jump High jump The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years.... (indoor) |
2.06 | Arnstadt Arnstadt Arnstadt is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, situated on the Gera River. It is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia and is nicknamed Das Tor zum Thüringer Wald, The Gate to the Thuringian Forest.... , Germany |
6 February 2010 |
- All information taken from IAAF profile.
Major competition record
| Year | Tournament | Venue | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | World Junior Championships 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2000 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Santiago, Chile.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:... |
Santiago, Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... |
1st | 1.91 m |
| 2001 | World Championships 2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America... |
Edmonton Edmonton Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census... , Canada |
6th | |
| Mediterranean Games 2001 Mediterranean Games The 14th edition of the Mediterranean Games were held in Tunis, the capital city of Tunisia, from 2 to 15 September 2001. Twenty three nations competed in 23 different sporting events. France won the most gold medals in the competition while Italy had the greatest medal haul overall with 136 in... |
Tunis Tunis Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants.... , Tunisia Tunisia Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area... |
1st | 1.90 m | |
| 2002 | World Junior Championships 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2002 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Kingston, Jamaica from July 16 to July 21, 2002.-Men:-Women:-Medals table:... |
Kingston, Jamaica Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island... |
1st | |
| European Championships 2002 European Championships in Athletics The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |... |
Munich Munich Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat... , Germany |
5th | ||
| 2003 | World Indoor Championships 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, UK from 14 March to 16 March 2003. It was the first time the Championships had been held in the UK... |
Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , England |
4th | |
| World Championships 2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:... |
Paris, France | 7th | 1.95 m 2003 World Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump These are the official results of the Women's High Jump event at the 2003 World Championships in Paris, France. There were a total number of 25 participating athletes, with the final held on Sunday 31 August 2003.-Medalists:-Schedule:... |
|
| World Athletics Final 2003 IAAF World Athletics Final The 1st IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 13 September and 14 September 2003.The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary a week previous as the Monaco stadium was not large enough to hold the event.One of the... |
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco.... , Monaco Monaco Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the... |
4th | ||
| 2004 | World Indoor Championships 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004... |
Budapest Budapest Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter... , Hungary |
3rd | 1.97 m |
| Olympic Games Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put... |
Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state... , Greece |
11th | ||
| 2006 | World Indoor Championships 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena.... |
Moscow, Russia | 2nd | 2.00 m |
| European Championships | Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden |
4th | 2.01 m | |
| World Athletics Final 2006 IAAF World Athletics Final The 4th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, Germany on September 9 and September 10, 2006.-Results:-External links:*... |
Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , Germany |
6th | ||
| 2007 | European Indoor Championships | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , UK |
5th | |
| World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007... |
Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan |
1st | 2.05 m | |
| World Athletics Final 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final The 5th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, Germany on September 22 and September 23, 2007.-Men:- Women :-External links:*... |
Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , Germany |
1st | 2.00 m | |
| 2008 | World Indoor Championships 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7-9, 2008.-Bid:Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Russia.-Men:... |
Valencia, Spain | 1st | 2.03 m (xo) |
| Olympic Games 2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events... |
Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , PR China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... |
2nd | 2.05 m | |
| World Athletics Final 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final The 6th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, Germany on September 13 and September 14, 2008.A number of road races also took place on the second day of competition. There were seven different starting points around the Stuttgart area and the distances varied... |
Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
1st | 2.01 m | |
| 2009 | World Championships 2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate.... |
Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
1st | 2.04 m 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump The women's high jump event at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany was held between 18 August and 20 August 2009.Reigning champion Blanka Vlašić had spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons largely unbeaten, but high profile losses in the Olympic high jump final and the 2008 IAAF Golden League... (xo) |
| World Athletics Final 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final The 7th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece on September 12 and September 13, 2009. The competition represented the culmination of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, a selection of athletics meetings which began on September 20, 2008 at the... |
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace... , Greece Greece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
1st | 2.04 m 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final results These are the results of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece on 12 and 13 September.The year's top seven athletes, based on their points ranking of the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour, qualified to compete in each event, with an extra four athletes selected... |
|
| 2010 | World Indoor Championships 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the ASPIRE Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010.-Bidding and organisation:... |
Doha Doha Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar... , Qatar Qatar Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its... |
1st | 2.00 m (o) |
| European Championships | Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , Spain |
1st | 2.03 m 2010 European Athletics Championships – Women's high jump The women's high jump at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 30 July and 1 August.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Qualification:-Final:-References:* *... (xo) |
|
| 2011 | World Championships 2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011.... |
Daegu Daegu Daegu , also known as Taegu, and officially the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea, the fourth largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third largest metropolitan area in the country with over 2.5 million residents. The city is the capital and principal city of the... , South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south... |
2nd | 2.03 m 2011 World Championships in Athletics – Women's high jump The Women's high jump event at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Daegu Stadium on September 1 and 3.Russia's Anna Chicherova entered the competition as the favourite with a world leading jump of 2.07 m... (xo) |
Personal life
Vlašić was named after CasablancaCasablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, a city where her father competed and won a gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games
1983 Mediterranean Games
The 9th edition of the Mediterranean Games was held in Casablanca, Morocco from the 3rd to the 17th of September 1983. Sixteen nations competed in 20 different sporting events.- Medal table :- External link and reference :* -See also:**...
around the time of her birth.
From the beginning of her career she has been coached by her father, Joško Vlašić
Joško Vlašić
Joško Vlašić is a Croatian athletics coach and a former decathlete who represented Yugoslavia. Vlašić's greatest competitive success was winning the decathlon gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games, but he is best known for coaching his daughter Blanka Vlašić, a world champion high...
and a former high jumper Bojan Marinović.
Blanka is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport
Peace and Sport
Peace and Sport, "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport” is a neutral and apolitical international initiative based in the Principality of Monaco and placed under the High Patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco....
, a Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
-based international organization.