Vlasic opts for a longer approach

By any measure, 2003 was an exceptionally memorable year in the women's High Jump. A record 12 jumpers cleared the two metres barrier in 2003, and the youngest among them was twice World Junior Champion Blanka Vlasic.

The 19-year-old Croatian entered the year with a 1.96 PB, a leap with which she captured the 2002 World Junior title in Kingston. Quickly fulfilling the potential she exhibited in the junior ranks, Vlasic improved to 1.98 at the Gugl meeting in Linz, Austria in March, just a week before finishing fourth at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. 

Moving outdoors, she reached 1.98 again at the FBK Games on June 1, then improved again five weeks later with a 1.99 clearance at the Gaz de France meeting in Paris for her first IAAF Golden League victory.

"I couldn't believe that I beat all those girls, who were very strong," she said.  "I didn't expect that."

Coming of age

Three days later, at Croatia's only IAAF Grand Prix meeting, Vlasic came of age. Before a capacity crowd at Zagreb's Sport Park Mladost, Vlasic electrified the stadium crowd, her capital city and her nation with a third attempt clearance at two metres.  Still a teenager --she turned 20 on 8 November -- Vlasic was now a member of the still-exclusive two-metres club.

"It was like a dream," she remembers. "Now, nothing is the same anymore. You are in the 2m club. Not many girls have jumped that high.  When you have two metres, you can say you are like a top jumper.  I jumped two metres at home, in Zagreb, and it was very emotional for me.  I was expecting it for such a long time, and when it happened I just couldn't believe it. It was the most emotional competition for me."

And for others as well. Seasoned local reporters openly wept.  Fans, filling every nook of the stadium grounds, roared.  And fireworks, prepared 'just in case,' filled the northern Croatian sky.  It mattered little that South Africa’s World champion Hestrie Cloete went on to win the competition. The evening clearly belonged to Vlasic.  It was one of the single most indelible moments of the 2003 season.

Less than two weeks later she added another title to her trophy case, the European Under-23 crown in Bydgoszcz, Poland with a 1.98 clearance.  "It was a really big fight with the Russian girl [Yelena Slesarenko], and it was also a nice result."

Her improvement continued. At Zurich's Weltklasse Golden League meeting, she entered even more exclusive territory with a 2.01 clearance to again finish second to Cloete.

"It was especially a great day because it happened in Zurich, in one of the biggest meets of all," she said.  "I had a really strange jumping schedule because I started at 1.90, then 1.95 then 2.01.  Three jumps and I jumped 2.01!  It was very surprising, and I was very proud of that.  I like to skip some heights and make things much more interesting for me and for the crowd.  I like to risk. There's much more adrenaline than when you jump at all the heights."

Paris distractions

Suddenly, Vlasic was a viable medal threat for the World Championships. But while she was overcoming physical barriers, psychologically she wasn't yet prepared for the task at hand on the big stage. She qualified for the Paris final, where she finished a disappointing seventh, managing 1.95.

"It wasn't very good for me," she said.  "I wanted more. I wanted to jump two metres. I was under so much pressure.  Everyone in Croatia was like, 'you can win a medal.' It was expected. It wasn't my first big competition, but it was the first time that I could do something. And then it was very hard for me to handle all this pressure."

Unable to mentally distance herself from the constant attention of Croatian reporters and photographers prior to the competition, she said she began to put higher expectations on herself, the definitive recipe for disaster for any athlete.

"I understand that we are a small country, and when we have one athlete who can actually do something, it's all about them. It's normal. They want to be able to say that we also have someone good."

But the distractions proved fatal. "I wasn't myself that day. I think I could have done better. It wasn't a physical problem, it was in my head." It was also an experience she learned from.  "But now I know how to approach this for next year. We young athletes have these problems very often," but she added, laughing, "you learn."

A sprinting ambition

She is the product of a sporting family. Her father Josko still holds the national Decathlon record and her mother was a basketball player and national level cross country skier. Vlasic took on an athletics lifestyle when she was very young. As a coach, she said, "My father was on the field all the time. Sometimes when I couldn't stay home alone, he brought me along. So I started to like it there."  But at first, she remembers, she wanted to be a sprinter. "When I was young, I wasn't interested in the High Jump. I was hoping that I would some day be a sprinter.  But when I grew up, I was very skinny, so when I tried the High Jump, I fell in love with it.  I tried everything before I decided on it."

Others encouraged her to try more lucrative sports like basketball or volleyball, but she resisted.  "I was very stubborn, and I didn't like group sports. I like to work alone.  When I make a mistake, I make it on my own. I'm guilty of that.  And when I win, it's all mine."

A longer approach in 2004

Vlasic, who lives in the Adriatic resort town of Split, is coached by her father, who is also a basketball trainer, and by Bojan Marinovic, who lends his technical expertise.  "We are a very good team," she said. "It's not boring when you have two coaches."

Besides a continuation of her steady improvement, Vlasic is aiming to increase her consistency in 2004.  "I need to increase my level, which was around 1.95 last year. I'm not interested in big, big results. It doesn't count when you jump 2.04 one time, and then jump 1.95 the others."

A new approach, both literally and figuratively, may assist that consistency.  Up to now, Vlasic has utilized a short five-step approach, one that she's extended it to nine. "Jumping with five steps is a very short approach, so it's very, very good when someone with that short of an approach jumps two metres," she said, again laughing. The longer approach, she believes, will cut down mistakes she's made in the past. "It's a much better technique for me. For me it was surprisingly easy to adjust."

She will test her new approach competitively when she debuts in early February, and plans to compete in seven or eight meets indoors before preparing for the Olympic Stage.

Her goal in Athens is to make the final, she said, "Then we will see what happens."

One thing she knows that won't happen will be a repeat of the distractions she faced in Paris.  "I've already said, no interviews, no photo-shoots ten days before," she said, again with a smile.  "I need to feel that I'm doing it for myself, and not for others."