Ivana Španović

Ivana Španović

Španović in 2017
Personal information
Nationality	Serbian
Born	(1990-05-10) 10 May 1990 (age 31) Zrenjanin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Serbia
Sport	Track and field
Event(s)	Long jump
Club
Achievements and titles
World finals	2013 Moscow Long jump,  Bronze 2015 Beijing Long jump,  Bronze 2017 London Long jump, 4th
Olympic finals	2008 Beijing Long jump, 30th (q) 2012 London Long jump, 8th 2016 Rio de Janeiro Long jump,  Bronze 2020 Tokyo Long jump, 4th
Personal best(s)	Outdoor Long jump: 7.10 m (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in) NR (Belgrade 2016) Indoor Long jump: 7.24 m (23 ft 9 in) i NR (Belgrade 2017)
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 0 1 World Championships 0 0 2 World Indoor Championships 1 1 1 European Championships 1 1 0 European Indoor Championships 3 0 0 Total 5 2 4 Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Long jump World Championships 2015 Beijing Long jump 2013 Moscow Long jump World Indoor Championships 2018 Birmingham Long jump 2016 Portland Long jump 2014 Sopot Long jump European Championships 2016 Amsterdam Long jump 2014 Zürich Long jump European Indoor Championships 2019 Glasgow Long jump 2017 Belgrade Long jump 2015 Prague Long jump Diamond League Winner 2021 Long jump 2017 Long jump 2016 Long jump Continental Cup 2014 Marrakech Long jump Mediterranean Games 2018 Tarragona Long jump Summer Universiade 2009 Belgrade Long jump World Junior Championships 2008 Bydgoszcz Long jump World Youth Championships 2007 Ostrava Long jump European Athletics U23 Championships 2011 Ostrava Long jump European Junior Championships in Athletics 2009 Novi Sad Long jump European Youth Olympic Festival 2007 Belgrade Long jump 2007 Belgrade 4x100 relay

Ivana Španović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивана Шпановић, [ǐʋana ʃpǎːnoʋit͡ɕ], born 10 May 1990) is a Serbian long jumper, reigning World indoor champion and three times 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]

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 Diamond 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 Diamond 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 Diamond 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 Diamond 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 Diamond 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 last year 6.80/0.8 long jump on June 6 in Novi Sad.

In 2021 Ivana Španović, injured her right leg in the last training before leaving to Toruń and was forced to skip European indoor championships in which she was trying for the record, fourth successive title in it. Recovered by the injury, in the outdoor season, she had two successes in the 2021 Diamond League race at the Golden Gala in Firenze and at the DN Galan in Stockholm and one second place at Bislett Games in Oslo, before competing in Olympic Games. In Olympic Games she got the best performance in the qualification (7.00), measure which would have allowed her to win the gold medal in the final. But she jumped only 6.91 in the final and she was fourth. After the disappointment of the Olympic Games, Španović had another success in the 2021 Diamond League race at the Athletissima in Lausanne. At least she had a success in Weltklasse Zürich, final of 2021 Diamond League race, with a result of 6.96. So she won for the third time the long jump in the Diamond League, the most winning in this event.

Španović has achieved sixteen victories in the IAAF Diamond League circuit, a record in women long jump: 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; at the Golden Gala, at the DN Galan, at the Athletissima, at the Weltklasse Zürich, final of the Diamond League in 2021. 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[]

Outdoor[]

Event	Performance	Date	Location	Notes
100 m	11.90	18 May 2013	Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia
Long jump	7.10 m (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in)	11 September 2016	Belgrade, Serbia	NR
Triple jump	13.78 m (45 ft 2+1⁄2 in)	14 June 2014	Belgrade, Serbia

Indoor[]

Event	Performance	Date	Location	Notes
60 m	7.31	31 January 2015	Novi Sad, Serbia	NR
Long jump	7.24 m (23 ft 9 in)	5 March 2017	Belgrade, Serbia	NR
Pentathlon	4240 pts	19 January 2013	Novi Sad, Serbia	NR

International competitions[]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
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]
2021	ISTAF Indoor Düsseldorf	Düsseldorf, Germany	3rd	Long jump	6.61 m[14]
	Golden Gala	Florence, Italy	1st	Long jump	[15]
	Stochkolhm Diamond League	Stockholm, Sweden	1st	Long jump	[16]
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	4th	Long jump	6.91 m (wind: −0.4 m/s)[17]

¹Did not start in the final

Honours[]

• Order of Karađorđe's Star^[18]
• Order of Njegoš^[19]

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.^[20]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ivana Španović.

• Ivana Španović at World Athletics
• Ivana Španović at Olympics.com
• Ivana Španović at OlympicChannel.com (archived)
• Ivana Španović at Olympic.org (archived)
• Ivana Španović at Olympedia

Sporting positions
Preceded by Brittney Reese	Women's long jump Best year performance 2017	Succeeded by Lorraine Ugen