Stine Kufaas
Encyclopedia
Stine Kufaas is a Norwegian
high jump
er. Her personal best jump is 1.93 metres, achieved in June 2010 at a national competition at Lillehammer
. She has 1.92 metres on the indoor track, achieved in February 2010 in Eskilstuna
. She is also the Norwegian record holder in the standing high jump
(1,53m).
, a settlement which had 1,856 inhabitants in 2009. She represented the club Trondheim Friidrett.
In 2003 she recorded 1.78 metres as a personal best. This was recorded in the qualification round at the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival
. In the final round she jumped 1.76 metres to record a fifth place. She also won her first national championship medal, a bronze. She struggled more in the 2004 season, recording 1.73 as a season's best. Near the end of the year it became clear that she had struggled with infectious mononucleosis
.
In 2005 a "lift project" was set up by the national association. It was spearheaded by former World Championships competitor Anne Gerd Eieland
, and in total, seven women were a part of the project. Coaches were Dan Simion
and Adrian Proteasa
while the architect of the project was Terje Totland
. Simion soon left, but Hanne Haugland
was added as a coach. Also, the project was shrunk to four jumpers, because injury struck some of the project members. The goal was to have two jumpers qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. Around this time, Kufaas still lived in Buvika, and trained in the nearby city Trondheim
(Strinda
) as well as in the local Bøndernes Hus. Traditionally a social house for the farmers' community, Bøndernes Hus was reinvented by Kufaas and her coach as a makeshift high jump arena, with modest economic support from Skaun
municipality and local businesses. The "lift project" was disestablished after the 2006 season, however.
to win the silver behind Anne Gerd Eieland. In early 2006 she improved further at the Norwegian Indoor Championships. She did not win, but beat Anne Gerd Eieland and achieved the same result as the winner Øyunn Grindem, with 1.83 metres. She beat Eieland again at the 2006 Norwegian Championships at Bislett stadion
, when she won her first national title with 1.83 metres. Her personal best had been improved to 1.85 metres in May. She added another centimetre to this in June 2007 in Stjørdalshalsen
. In the summer she took a national silver medal, behind Eieland, and competed at the European U23 Championships
. Here she finished sixth in the final, equalling her personal best with 1.86 metres.
debut in the last edition of the competition, winning the Second League with 1.85 metres, and at the Norwegian Championships that year at Trondheim stadion, she won the gold medal in the high jump with 1.87 metres. This was a new personal best as well as a stadium record. She also finished fourth in the 200 metres event, and won a gold medal with her club in the Swedish relay
. In the autumn of 2008 she moved to Oslo
and enrolled at the Norwegian Police University College
. She was reunited with Hanne Haugland as a coach, and joined the club IL i BUL
from New Year's.
. At the Norwegian Indoor Championships she started by setting her first ever Norwegian record
, in the standing high jump
. Her new record was 1.53 metres, an improvement from 1.52 which had stood since 1984. After passing 1.53, she declined to continue the competition. She won the high jump event the next day, and also the standing long jump
. Her 2.91 metres is only one centimetre behind the Norwegian record in that event; in fact she was only millimetres from achieving 2.92. In total, she has six national titles in the standing high jump (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and three in the standing long jump (2006, 2008, 2009). These are indoor only.
She competed at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. With 1.80 metres she failed to reach the final. In the early 2009 outdoor season, Kufaas made a definite breakthrough. She improved her personal best by four centimetres to 1.91 metres, winning for Norway at the 2009 European Team Championships
First League. Norway surprisingly won promotion to the Super League, and Kufaas had achieved the qualifying standard for the 2009 World Championships
. At the high jump competition there
she failed to reach the final. She stated that she did not like the track of the Olympiastadion, comparing it to a sponge.
. Two weeks later she won the 2010 Norwegian Indoor Championships in a new championship record (counted since 2004) of 1.87 metres. At the 2010 World Indoor Championships
she managed 1.89 metres, but it was not enough to reach the final. In the outdoor season she jumped a personal best at a national competition at Lillehammer and qualified for the European Championships in Barcelona
. Later she became again national champion in Stavanger
(1.89m).
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
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....
er. Her personal best jump is 1.93 metres, achieved in June 2010 at a national competition at Lillehammer
Lillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
. She has 1.92 metres on the indoor track, achieved in February 2010 in Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....
. She is also the Norwegian record holder in the standing high jump
Standing high jump
The standing high jump is an athletics event that was featured in the Olympics from 1900 to 1912.It is performed in the same way as high jump, with the difference being that the athlete stands still and jumps with both feet together....
(1,53m).
Early life and career
She grew up in BuvikaBuvika
Buvika is a village in the municipality of Skaun in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located at the end of the Gaulosen, an arm of the Trondheimsfjord, about from the mouth of the Gaula River. Buvika lies along the European route E39, about halfway between the villages of Børsa and Leinstrand...
, a settlement which had 1,856 inhabitants in 2009. She represented the club Trondheim Friidrett.
In 2003 she recorded 1.78 metres as a personal best. This was recorded in the qualification round at the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival
European Youth Olympic Festival
European Youth Olympic Festival, known by its initials EYOF, is a biennial multi-sport event for youth athletes from the 48 member countries of the association of European Olympic Committees. EYOF has a summer edition, held for the first time in Brussels in 1991, and a winter edition, which began...
. In the final round she jumped 1.76 metres to record a fifth place. She also won her first national championship medal, a bronze. She struggled more in the 2004 season, recording 1.73 as a season's best. Near the end of the year it became clear that she had struggled with infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis is an infectious, widespread viral...
.
In 2005 a "lift project" was set up by the national association. It was spearheaded by former World Championships competitor Anne Gerd Eieland
Anne Gerd Eieland
Anne Gerd Eieland from Iveland, Aust-Agder is Norway's second best female high jumper of all time, behind Hanne Haugland. Eieland was undefeated in Norwegian competition from 2001 to 2005....
, and in total, seven women were a part of the project. Coaches were Dan Simion
Dan Simion
Dan Simion is a retired Romanian triple jumper.He competed at the 1983 World Championships without reaching the final round.His personal best jump was 17.09 metres, achieved in May 1983 in Sofia...
and Adrian Proteasa
Adrian Proteasa
Adrian Proteasa is a retired Romanian high jumper.Proteasa won the bronze medal at the 1980 European Indoor Championships and finished seventh at the 1980 Olympic Games...
while the architect of the project was Terje Totland
Terje Totland
Terje Totland is a former Norwegian high jumper. He represented Eikanger IL.At the 1976 Summer Olympics he finished ninth in the high jump final with a jump of 2.18 metres. In addition he finished tenth at the 1978 European Indoor Championships, fourteenth at the 1978 European Championships and...
. Simion soon left, but Hanne Haugland
Hanne Haugland
Hanne Haugland is a former Norwegian high jumper. She represented the clubs Haugesund IL, IL i BUL, SK Vidar and IF Minerva during her senior career....
was added as a coach. Also, the project was shrunk to four jumpers, because injury struck some of the project members. The goal was to have two jumpers qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. Around this time, Kufaas still lived in Buvika, and trained in the nearby city Trondheim
Trondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
(Strinda
Strinda
Strinda is a former municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The area encompassed the eastern part of the present-day municipality of Trondheim south and east of the main city center all the way southeast to the lake Jonsvatnet.-History:...
) as well as in the local Bøndernes Hus. Traditionally a social house for the farmers' community, Bøndernes Hus was reinvented by Kufaas and her coach as a makeshift high jump arena, with modest economic support from Skaun
Skaun
Skaun is a municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Børsa. Other villages include Buvik, Eggkleiva, Melby, Skaun, and Viggja....
municipality and local businesses. The "lift project" was disestablished after the 2006 season, however.
Later career
Her result progression was positive. She achieved a new personal best in August 2005, when jumping 1.81 at the Norwegian Championships at Fana stadionFana stadion
Fana stadion is a multi-use stadium in the borough of Fana in Bergen, Norway.Used for football matches, it is the home ground of Second Division team Fana IL....
to win the silver behind Anne Gerd Eieland. In early 2006 she improved further at the Norwegian Indoor Championships. She did not win, but beat Anne Gerd Eieland and achieved the same result as the winner Øyunn Grindem, with 1.83 metres. She beat Eieland again at the 2006 Norwegian Championships at Bislett stadion
Bislett stadion
Bislett Stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here...
, when she won her first national title with 1.83 metres. Her personal best had been improved to 1.85 metres in May. She added another centimetre to this in June 2007 in Stjørdalshalsen
Stjørdalshalsen
Stjørdalshalsen is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Stjørdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located between the rivers Stjørdalselva and Gråelva, and their mouth into the Trondheimsfjord.The town has a population of 10,779. The population density of the town is...
. In the summer she took a national silver medal, behind Eieland, and competed at the European U23 Championships
2007 European Athletics U23 Championships
The 6th European Athletics U23 Championships was held between 12 and 15 July 2007 in the Gyulai István Athletic Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary.- Men :- Women :-Medal table:-References:General*-External links:**...
. Here she finished sixth in the final, equalling her personal best with 1.86 metres.
2008
In early 2008 she repeated her intention to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. She made her European CupEuropean Cup (athletics)
The European Cup is a now defunct athletics competition, replaced by the European Team Championships from 2009 onwards. The Europa Cup saw most of the major nations of Europe compete. Originally known as the Bruno Zauli Cup, it first took place in Stuttgart and Kassel , Germany in 1965...
debut in the last edition of the competition, winning the Second League with 1.85 metres, and at the Norwegian Championships that year at Trondheim stadion, she won the gold medal in the high jump with 1.87 metres. This was a new personal best as well as a stadium record. She also finished fourth in the 200 metres event, and won a gold medal with her club in the Swedish relay
Swedish relay
Swedish relay is an athletics track event in which teams comprise four runners. The first runner runs 100 meters, the second one 200 m, the third one 300 m and the fourth runner 400 m, so the total length of the race is one kilometer....
. In the autumn of 2008 she moved to 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...
and enrolled at the Norwegian Police University College
Norwegian Police University College
The Norwegian Police University College is a public university college located in Oslo, Kongsvinger, Stavern and Bodø, Norway. It offers education for the police force of Norway, including a three-year basic education and a possible expansion with a Master's degree. 720 students are accepted at...
. She was reunited with Hanne Haugland as a coach, and joined the club IL i BUL
IL i BUL
Idrottslaget i Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo is a sports club in Oslo, Norway, founded on 8 January 1913. It is one of several branches of Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo, a local chapter of Noregs Mållag and Noregs Ungdomslag....
from New Year's.
2009
In the 2009 indoor season she quickly equalled her personal best of 1.87 metres, during a meet in GothenburgGothenburg
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...
. At the Norwegian Indoor Championships she started by setting her first ever Norwegian record
Norwegian records in athletics
The following are the national records in athletics in Norway maintained by its national athletics federation: Norges Fri-Idrettsforbund .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:+ = en route to a longer distance# = not officially ratifiedOT = oversized track...
, in the standing high jump
Standing high jump
The standing high jump is an athletics event that was featured in the Olympics from 1900 to 1912.It is performed in the same way as high jump, with the difference being that the athlete stands still and jumps with both feet together....
. Her new record was 1.53 metres, an improvement from 1.52 which had stood since 1984. After passing 1.53, she declined to continue the competition. She won the high jump event the next day, and also the standing long jump
Standing long jump
The standing long jump is an athletics event. It was an Olympic event until 1912.In performing the standing long jump, the jumper stands at a line marked on the ground with their feet slightly apart. The athlete takes off and lands using both feet, swinging their arms and bending their knees to...
. Her 2.91 metres is only one centimetre behind the Norwegian record in that event; in fact she was only millimetres from achieving 2.92. In total, she has six national titles in the standing high jump (2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) and three in the standing long jump (2006, 2008, 2009). These are indoor only.
She competed at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. With 1.80 metres she failed to reach the final. In the early 2009 outdoor season, Kufaas made a definite breakthrough. She improved her personal best by four centimetres to 1.91 metres, winning for Norway at the 2009 European Team Championships
2009 European Team Championships
The first SPAR European Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008...
First League. Norway surprisingly won promotion to the Super League, and Kufaas had achieved the qualifying standard for the 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....
. At the high jump competition there
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...
she failed to reach the final. She stated that she did not like the track of the Olympiastadion, comparing it to a sponge.
2010
She started the 2010 indoor season with a few mediocre competitions before leaping to 1.92 metres on 6 February in EskilstunaEskilstuna
Eskilstuna is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 60,185 inhabitants in 2005. Eskilstuna has a large Sweden Finn population....
. Two weeks later she won the 2010 Norwegian Indoor Championships in a new championship record (counted since 2004) of 1.87 metres. At the 2010 World Indoor Championships
2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships – Women's high jump
The women's high jump at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships was held at the ASPIRE Dome on 12 and 13 March.-Medalists:-Records:-Qualification standards:-Schedule:-Qualification:...
she managed 1.89 metres, but it was not enough to reach the final. In the outdoor season she jumped a personal best at a national competition at Lillehammer and qualified for the European Championships in 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...
. Later she became again national champion in Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
(1.89m).