Ekaterini Stefanidi

Ekaterini Stefanidi

Stefanidi at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1990-02-04) 4 February 1990 Cholargos, Greece[1]
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)[2]
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Pole vault
Coached by	Mitchell Krier
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	4.90 m (i) 4.86 m[3]
Medal record Representing  Greece Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Pole vault World Indoor Championships 2016 Portland Pole vault European Championships 2016 Amsterdam Pole vault 2014 Zürich Pole vault European Indoor Championships 2015 Prague Pole vault World Junior Championships 2008 Bydgoszcz Pole vault World Youth Championships 2005 Marrakesh Pole vault 2007 Ostrava Pole vault Summer Universiade 2011 Shenzhen Pole vault

Katerina Stefanidi (Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990) is a Greek pole vaulter. She competed at the 2012^[1] and 2016 Olympics and won a gold medal in 2016 with a jump of 4.85 meters.^[2] She also won the 2005 World Youth Championships and the 2016 European championships.

Personal life

Stefanidi was born to athletes Georgios Stefanidis and Zoi Vareli, who competed internationally in the triple jump and sprint, respectively. Her younger sister Georgia and husband Mitchell Krier are former pole vaulters.^[4]

Career

Junior level: 2005–2010

Stefanidi attended the 1st High School of Pallini and won the National High School Championships. She broke the National High School record and the Championship record winning gold at the 2006 Gymnasiade. Growing up she broke all of the World age-group records for the ages of 11–14 and right after she turned 15, she broke the World Youth (under-18) record with a jump of 4.37 m. Her first international experience came at the age of 15, when she represented Greece at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, placing first with 4.30 m. At the 2007 World Youths, held in Ostrava, she was second with 4.25 m. In 2008 she won the bronze medal with 4.25 m at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The same year she gained an athletic scholarship at Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinal.^[5] She received her master's degree in cognitive psychology with Dr. Gene A. Brewer at Arizona State University while training under the guidance of 2000 Olympic Champion Nick Hysong.^[4]

At Stanford, Stefanidi, broke the freshman school record with a jump of 4.13 m, under the guidance of coach Kris Mack and head coach Edrick Floreal. In 2010, under the guidance of Toby Stevenson, she tied for fifth place (4.30 m) at the NCAA Indoor Championships, was the Pac-10 Conference Champion and tied for fourth (4.25 m) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, after breaking the school record multiple times.

2011–2013

In 2011, she was second at the NCAA Indoor Championships with 4.40 m. That same year she defended her Pac-10 Conference title (4.28 m) and was third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (4.40 m). She placed second at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Ostrava and third at Universiade in Shenzhen, China, after jumping a personal best of 4.45 m to tie the Greek under-23 record. Her senior year, Stefanidi placed third at the NCAA Indoor Championships (4.35 m).

In the 2012 outdoor season, she was the Pac-12 Conference Champion, in Eugene, Oregon, where she broke her own school record with 4.48 m. A month later she became the NCAA Champion in Des Moines, Iowa (4.45 m). Her season best, 4.51 m, achieved in July 2012 at Livermore, California, is the Greek under-23 record. In 2013 she faced some injury problems, thus not improving her personal best, with a 4.45 m season best.

2014–present

In the 2014 indoor season, she improved her personal best at 4.55 m. In the 2014 outdoor season, she improved her personal best at 4.57 m and established a new personal best at 4.60 m at the Diamond League meeting at New York City, where she placed 4th. She competed for the first time at European Athletics Team Championships 1st league, held in Tallinn, representing Greece and winning at 4.55 m. She managed to improve her PB again at the Diamond league in Glasgow with a 4.65 m, taking the third place. One week before the European Championships she set another PB at 4.71 m, equaling the outdoor Greek national record.

At the 2014 European Championships, she had an easy qualification, while in the final she had her first success in major events as a woman by winning the silver medal with 4.60 m, losing the gold medal by the very last jump of the event, made by Anzhelika Sidorova. She later won the Birmingham Diamond League meeting with 4.57 m and took the third place at the Diamond league final, held in Zurich with 4.67 m. With these results, she took the second place overall at the Diamond League series, only behind Fabiana Murer. During 2014, she jumped 10 times above 4.55 m, while her former PB was at 4.51 m.

During the 2015 indoor season, she set a personal best four times (4.56 m, 4.60 m, 4.61 m and finally 4.77 m, which was temporarily a national record). At the 2015 European Indoor Championships, she won the silver medal with 4.75 m. In April 2015, she was named Female Athlete of the Month by European Athletics.^[4]

In the 2016 indoor season, she set a national record with a huge leap at 4.90 m at the Millrose Games, which ranks her at fourth place of all time in the event, tied with Demi Payne who jumped the same height at the same meet. At the World Indoor Championships in Portland, she won the bronze medal with 4.80 m. In the following months she continuously improved her personal outdoor record (4.73, 4.75 and 4.77 m) and in Filothei she set an outdoor national record of 4.86 m.

Honours

Stefanidi in 2013

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  Greece
2005	World Youth Championships	Marrakesh, Morocco	1st	4.30 m CR
2007	World Youth Championships	Ostrava, Czech Republic	2nd	4.25 m SB
2008	World Junior Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	3rd	4.25 m SB
2011	European U23 Championships	Ostrava, Czech Republic	2nd	4.45 m PB
	Universiade	Shenzhen, China	3rd	4.45 m
2012	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	final	NM
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	24th (q)	4.25 m
2013	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	13th (q)	4.36 m
2014	European Championships	Zurich, Switzerland	2nd	4.60 m
2015	European Indoor Championships	Prague, Czech Republic	2nd	4.75 m
	World Championships	Beijing, China	15th (q)	4.45 m
2016	World Indoor Championships	Portland, Oregon	3rd	4.80 m
	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1st	4.81 m CR
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	1st	4.85 m

References

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