Dark horse alert: how Serbian sensation Angelina Topić could make waves in women's high jump
Watch out women's high jump, a new champion is emerging. And her name is Angelina Topić.
The 18-year-old Serbian sensation started turning heads at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, where she became the youngest medallist of the entire championships. But her bronze medal there was just the beginning.
Read on to discover why Topić could make some serious waves at her Olympic debut this summer in Paris 2024.
Jumping is in her veins: Topić family tradition
Aiming high is a Topić family tradition. Her mother, three-time Olympian Biljana Topić, holds the Serbian triple jump record and narrowly missed the podium at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin. Her father, six-time Olympian Dragutin Topić, is a former European high jump champion and the Serbian high jump record holder, having claimed the European title as a teenager in 1990. Now, Dragutin channels his extensive expertise into coaching his daughter, guiding her every leap as she follows in their Olympic footsteps.
"My father is my biggest inspiration and he’s my best teacher in life, not just for sports - but also for everything I know, I learned from my parents and I’m really grateful for them. My mom was also an Olympian and she was an amazing top athlete. I’m so happy that I have people who already went through this path. And I think I’m like one step above everyone else because I have so much experience in my mind from them," she told Olympics.com
Topić also competes in the long jump and the triple jump, but the high jump is her favorite. "High jump is my main event. I'm strongest here," she explained.
With the experience of her parents behind her, who knows how far, or high, Angelina will go.
2022: World, meet Topić
Topić's 2022 breakout season was one for the books. Standing tall at six feet, and just 16 years old at the time, the Serbian shattered a longstanding national senior high jump record in June by clearing 1.96 meters at the Serbian Championships in Kruševac, a record that had stood since 1984. Her leap also equaled the world under-18 best.
One month later, she took home U18 European gold in Jerusalem with a jump of 1.92 meters, and did it again the following month, securing a bronze medal at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, at 1.93m.
The teenager then decided to challenge the seniors, and managed to clinch another bronze at the Munich European Championships, again clearing 1.93 meters, and became the youngest medallist of the entire event.
2023 - 2024: moving up ladybug by ladybug
Following her breakout season, Topić inched up one centimeter, jumping 1.97 to a silver medal at the Memorial Van Damme in Belgium and bronze at the Meeting du Paris in June 2023.
In the world of high jump, one centimeter can make or break a dream. That's the width of a pencil, or the length of a kernel of corn, or a ladybug.
In May of this Olympic year, Topić claimed not one but two Diamond League titles, in Doha and Marrakech. In the latter, Topić moved up a ladybug, clearing 1.98 for the first time in her life, and breaking the Serbian national record once again.
1.98, her personal best, is already higher than the Olympic gold medal-winning jump from Rio 2016 (1.97).
Topić placed 7th at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and 5th at the 2024 indoor world championships in Glasgow. She continues to inch upward, getting closer and closer to the podium each time.
Just a few more kernels of corn and the 18-year-old could break the prestigious two-meter threshold and become a serious threat to the Paris podium this summer.
The current world lead is 2.04, jumped by Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh. Four other athletes have jumped over two meters this year, placing the Serbian in sixth place at the moment.
Angelina Topić: right place, right time
The teenager's 2024 successes have continued since May, including a silver medal at this week's (9 June) European Athletic championships in Rome, where she jumped 1.97 to stand just behind world leader Mahuchikh on the podium.
"The European Championships have a really special place in my heart," she told Olympics.com. "This is where I got my first senior medal at 17 in Munich two years ago. I’m really happy it’s happened here again. I’ve had an amazing day. I’m really happy. Everything came to the right place in the right time."
Topić has grown a lot since Munich, as is evident in both her results and how she carries herself. Despite still being quite young, she has a lot of valuable experience under her belt. "I started coming to these competitions… I’m here for like four years now, which is a lot of experience. Maybe even more than some of the girls that are competing next to me. So I**’m happy that I went through the hard times when I was so young. It’s really made my mind stronger now.** And I’m really a different person than I was two years ago in Munich," 18-year-old Topić explained.
As she prepares to make her Olympic debut*, the Serbian is ready to soak it all in: "I’m just going to enjoy the moments and enjoy the atmosphere which I know it’s going to be from another world. I’m really looking forward to hopefully going to the final and experiencing the Olympic final."
Her excitement is palpable. "I’m going to take a picture with everybody I see!" she laughed.
The women's Olympic high jump qualifiers are set for 2 August, with the finals on 4 August.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.