Introduction
Ivana Španović (Serbian Cyrillic: Ивана Шпановић, [ǐʋana ʃpǎːnoʋit͡ɕ], born 10 May 1990) is a Serbian long jumper, reigning both European indoor champion and European outdoor champion. In 2013, she became the first Serbian track and field athlete to win a medal at the IAAF Outdoor 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 - Čele and she is a member of the Athletic Club Vojvodina in Novi Sad.
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 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 champion 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 jumped 7.30 on 28.01.1989.
Španović has achieved ten 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. 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 | 14 June 2014 | 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 |
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| 2005 | World Youth Championships | Marrakech, Morocco | 16th (q) | Long jump | 5.97 m |
Representing  Serbia |
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| 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 | 11th | 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) | |
| 2014 | World Indoor Championships | Sopot, Poland | 3rd | Long jump | 6.77 m |
| 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) | |
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships | Portland, United States | 2nd | Long jump | 7.07 m NR |
| European Championships | Amsterdam, the Netherlands | 1st | Long jump | 6.94 m (wind: +0.9 m/s) | |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 3rd | Long jump | 7.08 m NR (wind: +0.6 m/s) | |
| 2017 | European Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 1st | Long jump | 7.24 m NR |
Honours
- Order of Karađorđe's Star
Personal life
Ivana's parents are Ljubiša and Vesna Španović. Her mother was also a competitive athlete. Španović is in a long-term relationship with fitness trainer Vladimir Kumrić. 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.