Tina Šutej (born 7 November 1988) is a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er. She won bronze medals at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The tournament began three days after the conclusion of the 2022 Comm ...

. Šutej earned a silver at the 2021 European Indoor Championships and again in 2023. She took silver at the 2006 World Junior Championships. Šutej is the Slovenian record holder both in and outdoors.

Career

Šutej was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

and began competing in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

at an early age, practising in a variety of events from the age of seven. A change of coach at her local club saw the arrival of a pole vault specialist, who encouraged her to focus on vaulting the high bar.Slovenia's Sutej vaults to a prestigious American accolade

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

(2011-04-27). Retrieved on 2011-04-28. She made her international debut at the

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Marrakesh, Morocco on July 13–July 17. The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali. The boy's 400 metres hurdles event was initially won by Sudan's Abdulagadir Idriss in a time ...

and finished eighth in the pole vault final. Her first medal came the following year as she was the runner-up behind Zhou Yang with a Slovenian junior record mark of 4.25 m.Sutej, Tina
IAAF. Retrieved on 3 October 2017 The next season saw her senior debut at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships, but she did not progress into the final. Although she won an indoor and outdoor title nationally, she made little progress in her performances in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, in which a fifth place at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal ta ...

was her international highlight. She enjoyed success in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

competition while studying at

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, however, and she was the runner-up at the collegiate outdoor championships in 2009. The 2010 saw her make improvements as she recorded a national indoor record clearance of 4.46 m in February and went on to claim the national title outdoors with a Slovenian record mark of 4.50 m. She was the runner-up in the First League section of 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 ...

and came tenth in the final 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 ...

. Her 2011 indoor season saw her undefeated in eight competitions. She won at the 2011

NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship The NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship refers to one of three annual collegiate indoor track and field competitions for women organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for athletes from institutions that make up its th ...

, having improved her best to 4.54 m in the weeks prior to the event. This was an American collegiate record and as a result ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

'' chose her as its Collegiate Women's Indoor Athlete of the Year. She continued her form into the outdoor season, breaking the outdoor collegiate record and Slovenian mark with a clearance of 4.61 m to win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title. She competed at the 2011 World Championships and

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

without reaching the final, before reaching the final of the 2014 World Indoor Championship. She competed at the World Championship in 2015,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and was a finalist at the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

. After seven years of no improvement, Šutej produced her finest season in 2019, equalling or improving her national record on five occasions, topped by a 4.73 m clearance in

Velenje Velenje (; german: Wöllan''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 4: ''Štajersko''. 1904. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 272.) is Slovenia's sixth-largest city, and the seat of the Municipality ...

, Slovenia, on 15 September before capping her season at the World Championships where she reached the final. She improved the national indoor record to 4.74 m indoors and 4.75 m outdoors in 2020. The following year, she tied for fifth at the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games and later improved her national record to 4.76 m in

on 16 September. On 2 February 2023, Šutej set the 30th Slovenian record of her career when clearing 4.82 m for a win at the

Czech Indoor Gala The Czech Indoor Gala is an annual indoor track and field competition which takes place in January or February at the Ostravar Aréna in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The meeting was first held in 2009 in Prague before it moved after unsteady interval ...

held in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four riv ...

International competitions

¹No mark in the final

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutej, Tina 1988 births Living people Slovenian female pole vaulters Arkansas Razorbacks women's track and field athletes Athletes from Ljubljana Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Slovenia World Athletics Championships athletes for Slovenia Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Slovenia Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2013 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Mediterranean Games FISU World University Games silver medalists for Slovenia Competitors at the 2009 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists 20th-century Slovenian women 21st-century Slovenian women European Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 European Games European Games silver medalists for Slovenia European Games medalists in athletics