Ljubica Christina Vukicevic Demidov ( sr, Ljubica Kristina Vukićević, Љубица Кристина Вукићевић, ; born 18 June 1987) is a Norwegian former

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. She represented Ski IL, and was coached by her father Petar Vukićević, who participated for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Her brother, Vladimir Vukicevic, is also a hurdler. Her gold medal in the

2003 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival The 2003 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival (french: Festival olympique de la jeunesse européenne 2003) was the seventh edition of multi-sport event for European youths between the ages of 12 and 18. It was held in Paris, France, from 27 July ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

was her first international medal. She finished fifth at the 2004 World Junior Championships, and won a silver medal at the 2005 European Junior Championships in Kaunas. She was forced to take a prolonged break during the summer of 2005 due to a knee-injury and the following surgery. At the 2006 World Junior Championships she took the silver medal with the time 13.34 seconds, a national junior record. She made her senior global debut at the 2007 World Championships and ran a personal best of 13.07 seconds in the heats. Since 2004 she has been the Norwegian champion, last in 2008 with a time of 13.20 seconds. She has later lowered her personal best time to 13.05 seconds, achieved during the 2008 Olympic Games in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. On the 60 meter hurdles she has 8.03 seconds set on an international meeting in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

2008. She just missed out on the podium with a fourth-place finish at the

2009 European Indoor Championships The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena

. She won her first international gold medal at the 2009 European U23 Championships in Kaunas, with a time of 12.99 seconds. She lowered her best that year to 12.74, which she achieved in

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...

. She competed at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

but she could not reach heights she had in Hengelo, and was knocked out in the semifinals after running 13.00 seconds. She started the 2010 season by setting a new best in the 60 metres hurdles with a run of 7.94 seconds – a Norwegian record. She narrowly missed a place in the final at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation ...

. At the

2010 European Team Championships The second SPAR European Team Championships took place on 19 and 20 June 2010. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008. The 20 ...

she won the bronze medal and came fourth at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

later on, recording her season's best of 12.78 seconds in the final. Her 2011 opened just as it had the previous year, with a national record over 60 m hurdles (7.92 seconds). She set her sights on a medal at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, hoping to go beyond her fourth place at the 2009 event. She improved her mark further to 7.90 seconds at the BW Bank Meeting in February. She once dated Norwegian javelin thrower,

Andreas Thorkildsen Andreas Thorkildsen (born 1 April 1982) is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the fi ...

. In November 2012 it was reported that she had been training with the controversial doctor Srdjan Djordjevic. She is married to the Norwegian footballer, Vadim Demidov. On 29 February 2016, she revealed that she is expecting a child with Demidov and announced her retirement from professional sport, not having competed since 2012 due to an injury.Idrettskarrieren over for gravid Vukicevic Demidov
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Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukicevic, Christina 1987 births Living people Norwegian female hurdlers Norwegian people of Serbian descent People from Lørenskog Olympic athletes of Norway Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Serb diaspora sportspeople Sportspeople from Viken (county) Association footballers' wives and girlfriends