Blanka Vlašić

Vlasic ISTAF 2008 in Berlin

Blanka Vlasic [ bla ː nka ʋlaʃitɕ ] ( born November 8, 1983 in Split ( SFR Yugoslavia) ) is a Croatian athlete. It was 2007 and 2009 World Champion and 2010 European Champion in the high jump.

Life

Blanka Vlasic is the daughter of Joško Vlasic, who holds the Croatian decathlon national record since 1984. It is named after the Moroccan city of Casablanca, where her father in 1983 took part around their due date at the Mediterranean Games.

Your personal best is 2.08 m, which she set up on 31 August 2009 (also Croatian national record ). So far, at outdoor events just jumped Stefka Kostadinowa higher (2.09 m). In the hall Kajsa Bergqvist also reach 2.08 meters. Vlasic is 1.93 m tall.

Trains will of her father. 2007 and 2010 she was chosen by the European Athletics Association of Europe's athlete of the year. In Germany, they came to greater popularity through their competition with the German athlete Ariane Friedrich, with whom she is more exciting duels bot.

Blanka Vlasic is in a relationship with the French Handball professional Nikola Karabatic.

Achievements

Already in her youth time Vlasic was quite successful. She is two-time Junior World Champion. At the age of 17 she won first in 2000 in Santiago de Chile with a height of 1.91 m and then two years later, also in Kingston with skipped 1.96 meters.

Moreover, they already took a young age at the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens, in each case without the final reach. At the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006, she was with a height of 2.01 m fourth. She now holds the record for the highest jump in a championship that was not enough for a medal win.

In the 2007 season, Vlasic jumped twelve of thirteen outdoor events over two meters and made ​​several attempts to improve the world record of Stefka Kostadinowa who stands 2.09 m. Vlasic convinced this season mainly through their resistance. At the World Championships in Osaka, they eventually won on September 2, 2007 Gold with a skipped height of 2.05 m.

After 34 wins in a row since June 2007, Vlasic was considered the favorite for the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. There, however, it was subject to Belgian Tia Hellebaut who had taken 2.05 m in the first attempt, while Vlasic it took two attempts and won the silver medal.

At the World Championships in Berlin on 20 August 2009, she won the gold medal with a jump over 2.04 m. A year later, Vlasic won the European Championships in Barcelona also gold, as they surpassed their rivals with skipped 2.03 m. At the 2011 World Championships, she won silver. Due to lack of form after surgery on the ankle 2012, she said shortly before the start of the Summer Olympic Games in London from their participation. Also at the World Athletics Championships in 2013 they could not participate due to injury.

Awards

• European athlete of the year 2007, 2010
• European Athlete of the Year ( UEPS ) 2009, 2010
• World track and field athlete of 2010
• "Track & Field Athlete of the Year" of the magazine Track & Field 2010
• Croatia's athlete of the year in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010