Ivana Španović

Ivana Španović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивана Шпановић, [ǐʋana ʃpǎːnoʋit͡ɕ], born 10 May 1990) is a Serbian long jumper, reigning World indoor champion and reigning European indoor champion. In 2013, she became the first Serbian track and field athlete to win a medal at the IAAF Outdoor World Championships. In 2018, she became the first Serbian track and field athlete to win a world senior gold medal at the IAAF Indoor World Championships. She is the Serbian record holder in the long jump, indoors and outdoors, and also she is the national indoor record holder in the 60 metres and in the pentathlon. Her coach is Goran Obradović and she is a member of the Athletic Club Vojvodina in Novi Sad.[2]

Ivana Španović
Španović in 2017
Personal information
NationalitySerbian
Born (1990-05-10) 10 May 1990
Zrenjanin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight63 kg (139 lb)[1]
Sport
Country Serbia
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Long jump
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)Outdoor: 7.10 m
Indoor: 7.24 m

Career

Španović earned gold medals at the 2008 World Junior Championships and the 2009 Summer Universiade. She was selected as Serbia's Best Young Athlete of 2008. She also won silver medals at the 2007 World Youth Championships, the 2009 European Junior Championships and the 2011 European U23 Championships.

Španović participated in the qualifying round at the 2008 Olympic Games, and was a finalist at the 2012 Olympic Games.

In 2013, she started at the European Indoor Championship when she was ranked fifth. At the World outdoor championship she had achieved the best result in her career by then, bronze medal with the new national record 6.82 meters. The Olympic Committee of Serbia therefore declared her the best female athlete of the year.

In 2014, she won the bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships and silver medals at the European Outdoor championship and IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh. She also improved her outdoor personal best on 6.88 meters in the Diamond League meet in Eugene. Španović was second in long jump at 2014 Diamand League race.

In 2015, she won her first gold medal as a senior athlete becoming European indoor champion with new national record 6.98 meters. She won the second bronze medal at the World outdoor championship, improving her national record twice, both in qualification (6.91) and the final (7.01 got twice). Španović was second in long jump at 2015 Diamand League race. The Olympic Committee of Serbia therefore declared her the best female athlete of the year for the second time.

In 2016, during the indoor season, Španović won the silver medal at the World Indoor Championships improving her national record twice, 7.00 (at first round) and 7.07 (at fifth round). She was ahead for all the competition but she lost the gold medal because Reese had a fantastic 7.22 at the final round. During the outdoor, first Španović won the gold at the European Outdoor championship with 6.94, then she won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games with 7.08, new national record. Španović won for Serbia a medal in athletics at Olympic Games 60 years after the last medal. Španović clearly won 2016 Diamand League race in long jump. She won 5 of 7 meetings (a new record for Diamond League in long jump because before her none won more than 4 meetings in a year) and she was second in the other two ones. At the end of her long season Ivana improved her national record to 7.10 in a street meeting in front of her home fans in Belgrade on September 11. This manifestation was held to promote 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

In 2017, she had an impressive win at European indoor championships in Belgrade. During the qualification she achieved the best ever indoor mark in a qualification round with 7.03. In the final she broke her national records twice, 7.16 (at second round) and 7.24 (at third round). So, she defended her gold medal got in 2015. Her new national record, 7.24, put her as the third all-time indoor performers, and result is the second best ever jumped in the European Indoor Championships (after Drechsler's 7.30 in 1988) and the best performance got in the latest 18 years, since Chistyakova has jumped 7.30 on 28.01.1989. During the outdoor season, she had injuries so before the World outdoor championships she competed only in two Diamond League meetings. She led in the first part of the competition, but she was only 4th before her last attempt. With her final jump Spanović seemed to land beyond the 7.02 mark of the leading, Brittney Reese, and tensely awaited the measurement but it was recorded only as 6.91. The Serbian team appealed but in slow motion replays it showed that maybe the indentation in the sand nearest to the board was made by the flapping bib number on her back. Her coach Obradović saw VDM images (the system used for measuring horizontal jumps) but according to him it was not clear if the possible mark was result of a bib contact or just of unevenly flattened sand. So she was only 4th with 6.96, behind Reese’s 7.02, Klishina’s 7.00 and Bartoletta’s 6.97. After World Championships Spanović won 2017 Diamand League race in long jump for the second consecutive time.

In 2018 she achieved the first world title, winning the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham with 6.96. Reese was 2nd with 6.89 and Moguenara 3rd with 6.85. Španović is the first Serbian athlete to win a world senior title in athletics. After Španović won the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona with the Games record (7.04 windy and 6.99 regular), she got the best performance in the qualification at European Championships in Berlin. But an injury during the qualification forced her to give up the final and to defend her title. Her 6.84 got in qualification was better than the performance got by Mihambo (6.75) to win the gold medal, so it was the best result in the competition. The injury at Achille's tendon forced Španović to give up the final part of the season, included 2018 Diamand League race in which she qualified for the final.

In 2019 Španović, recovered by the injury of the previous summer, won gold medal at European indoor championships in Glasgow with 6.99. She matched the world indoor leading mark of 6.99 to emulate Heike Drechsler (1986-1988) as a three times in a row winner, but she got it in editions held every two years (2015-2017-2019). During the summer Španović had various injuries, including the one at ISTAF Berlin meeting, and was forced to forfeit the World Championships in Doha.

In 2020 Ivana Španović, bothered by a metatarsal bone fracture in June, has decided to end her season already in August. She plans to compete at the European Indoor Championships next year, but not at the World Indoor Championships two weeks later. She had only one competition this year 6.80/0.8 long jump on June 6 in Novi Sad.

Španović has achieved twelve victories in the IAAF Diamond League circuit: at the DN Galan in 2013 (although in that year women long jump were not present in the Diamond League program of the meeting); at the Prefontaine Classic and Weltklasse Zürich in 2014; at the Herculis and Weltklasse Zürich in 2015; at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix, at the Bislett Games, at the DN Galan, at the Athletissima and at Meeting Areva in 2016; at the Athletissima and at Memorial Van Damme, final of Diamond League in 2017. Also, she has achieved two victories in the IAAF World Challenge circuit, at the ISTAF Berlin in 2015 and at the Hanžeković Memorial with 6.96, new meeting record, in 2016.

Since 2013 World Championships Španović has won medals in 9 consecutive major championships.

She set 30 national senior records: 12 outdoors (all in long jump), 18 indoors (16 in long jump, 1 in 60m, 1 in pentathlon).

Personal bests

Ivana Španović (left) in 2011

Outdoor

Event Performance Date Location Notes
100 m11.9014 June 2014Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia
Long jump7.10 m (23 ft 3 12 in)11 September 2016Belgrade, SerbiaNR
Triple jump13.78 m (45 ft 2 12 in)14 June 2014Belgrade, Serbia

Indoor

Event Performance Date Location Notes
60 m7.3131 January 2015Novi Sad, SerbiaNR
Long jump7.24 m (23 ft 9 in)5 March 2017Belgrade, SerbiaNR
Pentathlon4240 pts19 January 2013Novi Sad, SerbiaNR

International competitions

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Serbia and Montenegro
2005 World Youth Championships Marrakech, Morocco 16th (q) Long jump 5.97 m
Representing  Serbia
2006 World Junior Championships Beijing, China 7th Long jump 6.23 m (wind: 0.0 m/s)
2007
European Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 18th (q) Long jump 6.18 m
World Youth Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 2nd Long jump 6.41 m (wind: +0.5 m/s)
European Junior Championships Hengelo, Netherlands 5 Long jump 6.22 m (wind: -0.2 m/s)
European Youth Olympic Festival Belgrade, Serbia 2nd Long jump 6.20 m (wind: -0.1 m/s)
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 46.85 s
2008
World Junior Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 1st Long jump 6.61 m (wind: +1.3 m/s)
Olympic Games Beijing, China 30th (q) Long jump 6.30 m (wind: +1.8 m/s)
2009
Universiade Belgrade, Serbia 1st Long jump 6.64 m (wind: 0.0 m/s)
European Junior Championships Novi Sad, Serbia 2nd Long jump 6.71 m (wind: -0.1 m/s) NR NJR
2010
European Championships Barcelona, Spain 8th Long jump 6.60 m (wind: -0.3 m/s)
2011 European U23 Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 2nd Long jump 6.74 m w (wind: +3.2 m/s)
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 15th (q) Long jump 6.33 m (wind: +0.1 m/s)
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 10th Long jump 6.35 m (wind: +0.9 m/s)
2013 European Indoor Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 5th Long jump 6.68 m
World Championships Moscow, Russia 3rd Long jump 6.82 m NR (wind: +0.1 m/s) [3]
2014 World Indoor Championships Sopot, Poland 3rd Long jump 6.77 m [4]
European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 2nd Long jump 6.81 m (wind: -1.6 m/s)
Continental Cup Marrakech, Morocco 2nd Long jump 6.56 m (wind: -0.1 m/s)
2015 European Indoor Championships Prague, Czech Republic 1st Long jump 6.98 m NR
World Championships Beijing, China 3rd Long jump 7.01 m NR (wind: +0.6 m/s) [5]
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, United States 2nd Long jump 7.07 m NR [6]
European Championships Amsterdam, the Netherlands 1st Long jump 6.94 m (wind: +0.9 m/s)[7]
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3rd Long jump 7.08 m NR (wind: +0.6 m/s) [8]
2017 European Indoor Championships Belgrade, Serbia 1st Long jump 7.24 m NR [9]
World Championships London, United Kingdom 4th Long jump 6.96 m (wind: +0.1 m/s) [10]
2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st Long jump 6.96 m [11]
Mediterranean Games Tarragona, Spain 1st Long jump 7.04 m (wind: +2.2 m/s) w
6.99 m (wind: +1.8 m/s) GR [12]
European Championships Berlin, Germany 1st (q) Long jump 6.84 m1
2019 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 1st Long jump 6.99 m [13]

1Did not start in the final

Honours

Personal life

Ivana's parents are Ljubiša and Vesna Španović. Her mother was also a competitive athlete. She favors a distinctive and playful personal style. Even on the field she can be seen fiercely competing with her fellow elite athletes while sporting fashionable nails, often polished in neon colours.[16]

References

  1. "Ivana SPANOVIC". olympicchannel.com. Olympic Channel Services. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  2. "Archived copy" AK Vojvodina - O klubu. AK Vojvodina (in Serbian). 2015-04-10. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Long Jump Women". IAAF World Championships. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  4. "Long Jump Women". IAAF World Indoor Championships. 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  5. "Long Jump Women". IAAF World Championships. 28 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  6. "Long Jump Women". IAAF World Indoor Championships. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  7. "Long Jump Women". European Athletics Championships - Amsterdam 2016. 8 July 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  8. "Long Jump Women". Olympic Games - Rio de Janeiro 2016. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  9. "Long Jump Women" (PDF). European Athletics Indoor Championships - Belgrade 2017. 5 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  10. "Long Jump Women". IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS LONDON 2017. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  11. "Long Jump Women". IAAF World Indoor Championships. 4 March 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  12. "Long Jump Women" (PDF). MEDITERRANEAN GAMES 2018. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  13. "Long Jump Women" (PDF). European Athletics Indoor Championships - Glasgow 2019. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  14. "Tomislav Nikolić povodom Dana državnosti odlikovao 84 ličnosti i institucije". Blic. 13 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  15. "Dodik odlikovao Ivanu Španović". herceg.tv (in Serbian).
  16. "Archived copy" Ivana Španović i nokti kao imidž. Telegraf (in Serbian). 2015-04-10. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Brittney Reese
Women's long jump
Best year performance

2017
Succeeded by
Lorraine Ugen
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