Blanka Vlašic (born November 8, 1983 in Split) is a Croatian high jumper and current world champion. Her personal best jump of 2.07m (also a national record) was set on August 7, 2007. Only two other women (one indoor and one outdoor) have jumped higher than this. She jumped over 2 metre in 49 competitions, which ranks her third, behind Kajsa Bergqvist (52) and Stefka Kostadinova (197). She is known for striking a pose after she clears a height; she first did this in the IAAF World Championships in Osaka 2007. She is six feet and four inches (1.93 m) tall, taller than most male high jumpers.
As of 2007, Vlašic is the world’s top-ranked high jumper, as well as being first in the overall rankings.
Vlaši? used to be coached by her father Joško, a former decathlete, whose personal best, set in 1984, still stands as the Croatian national record; the two are a rare example of father and daughter simultaneously holding athletics national records. She is currently coached by Bojan Marinovic.
During the 2007 season, Vlašic 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.
Vlasic also won eighteen out of nineteen outdoor competitions, with her only loss coming early in the season at the first Golden League meeting. As the women’s high jump was a jackpot event this year, had Vlaši? won here, she would have won (along with Russian Pole Vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and American sprinter Sanya Richards) a share of the Golden League jackpot ($1,000,000).
Vlašic’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, Vlašic 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.
Vlašic’s only loss of the outdoor season came at the Golden League meeting in Oslo. This cost her a share of the $1,000,000 jackpot, which was shared between Sanya Richards and Yelena Isinbayeva.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, Vlasic won the silver medal, beaten by the Belgian Tia Hellebaut (both cleared 2.05m, but Vlaši? needed one more attempt than Hellebaut). This ended her recent unbeaten streak of 34 competitions.
source: Wikipedia
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