Jana Koščak (born 19 May 2006) is a Croatian multi-event

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete. In 2022, she became the European under-18 champion in

Pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

and

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

. In 2024, she became World U20 Champion in the Heptathlon. She is the Croatian senior national record holder in the heptathlon and pentathlon.

Career

From

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

, Koščak secured five personal bests in winning the

2022 European Athletics U18 Championships The 2022 European Athletics U18 Championships was the third edition of the biennial continental athletics competition for European athletes aged fifteen to seventeen. It was held in Jerusalem from 4 to 7 July at the Hebrew University Stadium. Th ...

Heptathlon event, held in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

in July 2022. Her points tally placed her fifth on the European U18 all-time list. In January 2023 Koscak cleared 1.90m in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

to break the Croatian indoor U18 record held previously by

Blanka Vlašić Blanka Vlašić (; born 8 November 1983) is a Croatian former track and field athlete who specialised in the high jump. She is a double world champion, an indoor world champion and twice Olympic medallist. Vlašić's personal best of is a Cr ...

. A month later in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

at the Tallinn Indoor Meeting, Koscak set a new European youth best in the pentathlon, scoring 4232. Later that month in Zagreb, Koscak scored 4585 points for the girls pentathlon which was reported as an under-18 world record score. In May 2023 she was awarded “rookie of the meet” when she finished ninth overall competing with senior women at the

Hypo-Meeting The Hypo-Meeting is an annual athletics (sport), athletics competition that takes place in the Mösle stadium in Götzis in Vorarlberg (Austria) held in the spring (late May, early June). In its history, a total of three world records have been se ...

in Gotzis. It was her senior athletics debut, and she secured a new Croatian senior national record in the heptathlon of 6293 points, surpassing the tally of 5615 set by her sister Klara Koščak in May 2021. In February 2024, she set a new national record score in the pentathlon of 4436 points, in Tallinn. She won gold in the heptathlon at the

2024 World Athletics U20 Championships The 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships, also known colloquially by its former official title, the World Junior Championships, is an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 2005) ...

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, Peru in August 2024. In February 2025, she managed 4478 in the heptathlon ro to break her own Croatian record at the World Athletics Combined Events Tour Silver meeting in Tallinn, Estonia.

Personal life

From

, she is coached by her father Patrik Koščak. Her sister Klara is also a competitor in athletics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koscak, Jana Sportspeople from Varaždin 2006 births Living people 21st-century Croatian sportswomen Croatian female high jumpers Heptathletes Pentathletes World Athletics U20 Championships winners