Vlašic wins historic gold for Croatia – European Athletics (EAA) – News

Blanka Vlašic won Croatia's first ever medal at these championships in the women's high jump when she collected gold with a championship record of 2.03m.

Silver went to Sweden's Emma Green with a personal best 2.01, improving her best by 3cm. Bronze went to Germany's Arianne Friedrich with the same height.

"This is not an easy season for me,” admitted the winner. “I'm not myself this year. I had zero confidence tonight and was struggling hard to achieve a good jump. Luckily it was enough to win"

For her part, Green was delighted: "It's a fabulous silver medal. It's great and unbelievable that I'm back after my injury in Paris. It was just a perfect night for me. Now I look forward to jumping even higher. I'm in top shape."

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, said a resigned Friedrich. “I jumped technically well but the main problem was that I did not clear 2.01 at my first attempt. I'm not disappointed"

Essentially, the outcome was decided at 2.01m, a height at which the German had her first failure while Vlašic went over at the first time of asking. Green, meanwhile, cleared at the second attempt which moved her up from bronze to silver. She gave the bar a hefty clout but it stayed on, rocking gently. Friedrich, however, required three attempts to get it right and was now back in bronze after leading the competition in the early stages.

Neither Green nor Friedrich found 2.03 within their reach and the title went to Vlašic who leapt for joy. Despite her earlier pessimism that she might not win, she strode over to the advertising hoarding, reached over for the Croatian flag that had been neatly folded there and set off on her lap of honour.

Behind her, the Olympic champion, Tia Hellebaut of Belgium, was eliminated at 1.99m to finish fifth, a season's best for the mother who had come out of retirement.

For the Spanish crowd there was disappointment when Ruth Beitia, potentially a medal shot, went out at the earlier height of 1.97 to end up sixth.

But the night belonged to Vlašic and Croatia.

European Athletics (EAA) – News