Katerina Stefanidi

Aikaterini Stefanidi
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Aikaterini Stefanidi

Personal information
Born February 4, 1990 (age 24)
Athens, Greece
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight 62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Country Greece
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Pole vault
Coached by Nick Hysong
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s) 4,71 m
Medal record[hide]
Representing Greece
World Youth Championships
Gold 2005 Marrakesh Pole vault
Silver 2007 Ostrava Pole vault
World Junior Championships
Bronze 2008 Bydgoszcz Pole vault
European Athletics U23 Championships
Silver 2011 Ostrava Pole vault
Universiade
Bronze 2011 Shenzhen Pole vault
Updated on 15 August 2012.
Katerina Stefanidi (Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990 in Cholargos, Greece) is a Greek pole vaulter. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1][2] She was the 2012 Pac-12 and NCAA Champion. She has a personal record of 4.71 metres for the event. She was also the 2005 World Youth Champion in the discipline.

Career[edit]
Stefanidi was born in Athens, Greece to Greek parents (Georgios Stefanidis, Zoi Vareli). She attended the 1st High School of Pallini and while there she won the National High School Championships, she broke the National High School record in the pole vault and she won gold at the 2006 Gymnasiade while breaking the Championship record. She gained an athletic scholarship at Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinals in 2009.[3][4]

Growing up she broke all of the World age-group records for the ages of 11, 12, 13 and 14 and less than a month after she turned 15 she broke the World Youth (under-18) record in the pole vault with a jump of 4.37 m in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Hysong, Greece. 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 a jump of 4.30 m. At the following edition of the championships, the 2007 World Youths, held in Ostrava, she won silver in the pole vault with a jump of 4.25 m. In 2008 she represented Greece at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where she won bronze with a jump of 4.25 m. That same year she entered Stanford University and began competing for the Stanford Cardinals.[5] She is currently a graduate student in Cognitive Psychology with Dr. Gene A. Brewer at Arizona State University and training under the guidance of 2000 Olympic Champion Nick Hysong.

As a freshman 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, and under the guidance of coach 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. In 2011, she was the runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a jump of 4.40 m. That same year she defended her Pac-10 Conference title (4.28 m) and came third at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (4.40 m). During the summer of 2011, she placed second at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Ostrava and third at Universiade (World University Games) in Shenzhen, China, after jumping a personal best of 4.45m 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 a jump of 4.48 m. A month later she became the NCAA Champion in Des Moines, Iowa, with a jump of 4.45 m.

Her season best, 4.51 m, achieved in July 2012 at Livermore, California, is the Greek under-23 record. She is also the current Greek Youth and Junior National record holder with her jump of 4.37 m.

In 2013 she faced some injury problems, thus not improving her personal best with a 4,45m. season best.

In the 2014 indoor season she improved her personal best at 4,55m and had also some very good competitions over 4,50m. In the 2014 outdoor season she first improved her personal best at 4,57m., then equalled that and finally she established a new personal best at 4,60m. at the Diamond League meeting at New York, where she placed 4th. She competed for the first time at European Athletics Team Championships 1st league, held in Tallinn, representing Greece, winning at 4,55m. During the 2014 season she has already passed 7 times over 4,50m.

Personal bests[edit]
Date Event Venue Record
18 July 2014 Pole vault Monte Carlo, Monaco 4.71 m (=NR)
25 January 2014 Pole vault (i) Flagstaff, Arizona 4.55 m