Andrea Ivančević


Andrea Ivančević is a Croatian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles. She has a best of 12.85 seconds for the event which is as well Croatian national record. She holds Croatian records in the indoor 60 metres and 60 metres hurdles. Ivančević has represented Croatia at the European Athletics Championships, European Athletics Indoor Championships and the IAAF World Indoor Championships

Career

Born in Zagreb, Ivančević took up gymnastics at an early age but switched to athletics at the age of 15 after ten years of little success in her previous sport. Focusing on hurdling instead, she competed internationally as a youth and ran in the heats of both the 2001 World Youth and the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She ran a Croatian junior record at the latter event. She gradually improved her personal bests in her first seasons as a senior athlete, having a best of 13.86 seconds for the 100 m hurdles in 2003, 13.64 in 2004, then 13.60 in 2005. She competed in the heats only of the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships and made her senior debut at the 2006 European Athletics Championships, again only competing in the heats. A personal best of 13.42 seconds came in 2006, but a further appearance at the 2007 Summer Universiade saw her again fail to pass the heats.
At the start of 2008 she ran a Croatian record of 7.32 seconds for the 60 metres flat indoors. She missed the 2009 and 2010 seasons, but helped set another national record in 2011: 45.14 for the 4×100 metres relay while at the 2011 European Team Championships. She also represented her country at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, but did not qualify for the final. She was again inactive in 2012 and 2013. Her sole major outing of 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships brought her success in the form of two national record runs – first she ran 8.10, then 8.09 in the semi-finals.
Ivančević broke new ground at the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Having national record times of 8.02 seconds in the heats and 7.97 seconds in the semi-finals, she made her first continental final and ended up seventh overall.

Personal bests