Katerina Stefanidi (Greek: Κατερίνα Στεφανίδη; born 4 February 1990[3]) is a Greekpole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the2016 Rio Olympics and has also competed at the2012 London and the2020 Tokyo Olympics. Stefanidi was the2017 World champion and earned bronze at the2019 World Championships. At theEuropean Athletics Championships, she has won two gold medals (2016,2018) and three silvers (2014,2022,2024). Indoors, she is a two-timeWorld Indoor bronze medallist from2016 and2018, was the2017 European Indoor champion and earned silver at the2015 European Indoor Championships.
At age 15, Stefanidi became the2005 World Under-18 champion and earned silver at the2007 edition of this championships. The 18-year-old won bronze at the2008 World U20 Championships. She then placed second at the2011 European U23 Championships and third at the2011 Universiade. She won fourDiamond League Trophies between 2016 and 2019. Stefanidi was voted theEuropean Women's Athlete of the Year in 2017 and theGreek Female Athlete of the Year in 2017 and 2019.[4] Because of her achievements she is widely regarded as the greatest female athlete in the history ofGreek sport.[5][6]
Katerina Stefanidi was born to athletes Georgios Stefanidis and Zoi Vareli, who competed internationally in thetriple jump andsprints, respectively. Her younger sister, Georgia, is also a pole vaulter. In 2015, she married Mitchell Krier, her future coach and also a former pole vaulter. She lives in theUnited States.[7][8]
Stefanidi attended the 1st High School ofPallini where she won the National High School Championships. She broke the national high schoolpole vault record and the championship record, winning gold at the 2006Gymnasiade. 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 under-18 best with a jump of 4.37 m. Her first international experience came at the age of 15, when she represented Greece at the2005 World Youth Championships inMarrakesh, winning the gold medal and setting a championship record of 4.30 m in the process. At the2007 edition held inOstrava, she was second with 4.25 m. In 2008, the 18-year-old won the bronze medal with 4.25 m at theWorld Junior Championships inBydgoszcz, Poland. The same year, she gained anathletic scholarship atStanford University and began competing for theStanford Cardinal track and field team.[9] She received her master's degree incognitive psychology with Dr. Gene A. Brewer atArizona State University while training under the guidance of 2000 Olympic pole vault championNick Hysong.
At Stanford, Stefanidi broke the freshman school record with a leap of 4.13 m, under the guidance of coach Kris Mack and head coachEdrick Floreal. In 2010, under the guidance ofToby Stevenson, she tied for fifth place (4.30 m) at theNCAA Division I Indoor Championships, was thePac-10 Conference champion and tied for fourth (4.25 m) at theNCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, after breaking the school record multiple times.
In 2011, she was second at the NCAA Indoors with 4.40 m. That same year she defended her Pac-10 Conference title (4.28 m) and was third at theNCAA Outdoors with 4.40 m. She placed second at theEuropean Under-23 Championships inOstrava, Czechia and third atUniversiade inShenzhen, China, after jumping a personal best of 4.45 m in both competitions to tie the Greek U23 record.
Her senior year, Stefanidi placed third at the NCAA Indoors (4.35 m). In the 2012 outdoor season, she was again the Pac-12 Conference champion inEugene, Oregon, where she broke her own school record with 4.48 m. A month later she became the NCAA champion inDes Moines, Iowa, clearing 4.45 m. Her season's best, 4.51 m, achieved in July inLivermore, 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's best.
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In the 2014 indoor season, she improved her personal best to 4.55 m. In the 2014 outdoor season, she improved her lifetime best to 4.57 m and then established even better best of 4.60 m at theDiamond League meeting inNew York City. She competed for the first time at the European Athletics Team Championships 1st league, held inTallinn, representing Greece and winning with a 4.55 m jump. She managed to improve her PB again at theGlasgow Diamond League in with a jump at 4.65 m. One week before the European Championships she set another personal best at 4.71 m, equaling theGreek national record.
At the2014 European Championships held inZürich, Switzerland she had an easy qualification, while in the final she had her first success in major events by winning the silver medal with 4.60 m, losing the gold medal in the very last jump of the event toAnzhelika Sidorova. She later won theBirmingham Diamond League meeting with 4.57 m and took the third place at the circuit's final held inZürich with 4.67 m. With these results, she took the second place overall at the Diamond League series, only behindFabiana Murer. During 2014, she jumped 10 times above 4.55 m, while her pre-2014 PB was 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 4.77 m, which was temporarily the national record). At the2015 European Indoor Championships, she won the silver medal with 4.75 m.[3]
During training season and outside of competitions, Stefanidi trained at SPIRE Institute and Academy, aUnited States Olympic Training Center inGeneva, Ohio.[10]
In the 2016 indoor season, she set a national record with a huge leap of 4.90 m at theMillrose Games, which ranked her atfourth place of all time in the event, tied withDemi Payne who cleared the same height at the same meeting. At theWorld Indoor Championships inPortland, Oregon, Stefanidi won the bronze medal with a jump of4.80 m. In the following months she continuously improved her personal outdoor record (4.73, 4.75 and 4.77 m), and inFilothei, she set a Greek record of 4.86 m. In July at theAmsterdam European Championships, she won the gold medal with 4.81 m, taking the competition record fromYelena Isinbayeva.
At the2016 Rio Olympics, Stefanidi became Olympic champion with a jump of 4.85 m, becoming the seventh Greek female athlete to win a gold medal at theSummer Olympic Games. In September, she won her firstDiamond League Trophy.
During the 2017 indoor season, she became theEuropean Indoor champion with a world-leading jump of 4.85 m. In the 2017 summer season, she set a world lead at theRomeDiamond League with 4.85 m and attempted for the first time to set a new world record. Two years after a disappointing performance at the2015 Beijing World Championship, where she missed the final, Stefanidi won the gold medal at theWorld Championships held in London, where she even broke her own Greek record and set a new world lead for 2017 by vaulting 4.91 m. Katerina completed her 2017 outdoor season undefeated (14 wins in a row) and winning the Diamond League final inBrussels. On 14 October that year, at the traditionalEuropean Athletics gala inVilnius, Lithuania, she was namedEuropean Women's Athlete of the Year.[8]
In 2018, Stefanidi increased her collection of medals, taking the third place (4.80 m) at theWorld Indoor Championships inBirmingham, and the first place (4.85 m) at theBerlin European Championships. She won theDiamond League title for a third consecutive year and completed the season with a second place (4.85 m) behind Anzhelika Sidorova, representing Europe at theContinental Cup.
In 2019, she won theDiamond League Trophy for a record fourth consecutive year and won thebronze medal at the2019 World Championships inDoha, Qatar.
In 2020, as theCOVID-19 pandemic shut down most public sports events, Stefanidi, along withKatie Nageotte andAlysha Newman, took part in an online event conceived byRenaud Lavillenie and organized byWorld Athletics called "The Ultimate Garden Clash". At their local tracks, athletes had to collect as many vault clearances in two 15-minute periods as possible with the bar set at four metres. Stefanidi won with 34 clearances.[11] She was training at SPIRE Institute and Academy to prepare for the2020 Tokyo Olympics.[12] At the Games, she took the fourth place, equaling her season's best with a jump of4.80 m.[13]
In 2022 Stefanidi won the silver medal at the European Championships in Munich, behindWilma Murto, with a season's best (4.75m). In 2024 she took the second place at the European Championships in Rome (4.73m).
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | World Youth Championships | Marrakesh, Morocco | 1st | 4.30 mCR |
| 2007 | World Youth Championships | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 2nd | 4.25 mSB |
| 2008 | World Junior Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 3rd | 4.25 mSB |
| 2011 | European U23 Championships | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 2nd | 4.45 mNU23R |
| Universiade | Shenzhen, China | 3rd | 4.45 m | |
| 2012 | European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | – (f) | 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, OR, United States | 3rd | 4.80 m |
| European Championships | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 1st | 4.81 mCR | |
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1st | 4.85 m | |
| 2017 | European Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 1st | 4.85 mWL |
| European Team Championships Super League | Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France | 1st | 4.70 | |
| World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 1st | 4.91 mWLNR | |
| 2018 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 3rd | 4.80 m |
| European Championships | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 4.85 mCR | |
| Continental Cup | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 2nd | 4.85 mCR | |
| 2019 | European Indoor Championships | Glasgow, Scotland | 4th | 4.65 m |
| European Team Championships Super League | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 1st | 4.70 m | |
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 3rd | 4.85 mSB | |
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 4th | 4.80 m =SB |
| 2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 5th | 4.70 mSB |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 2nd | 4.75 mSB | |
| 2023 | European Indoor Championships | Istanbul, Turkey | 4th | 4.60 m |
| European Team Championships 1st Division | Chorzow, Poland | 8th | 4.40 m | |
| World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | – | NM | |
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 7th | 4.55 m |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 2nd | 4.73 mSB | |
| Olympic Games | Paris, France | 9th | 4.70 m |
2016,2017,2018,2019| Performance | Venue | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.91 m | London, UK | 2017, 6 August | NR |
| 4.86 m | Filothei (Athens), Greece | 2016, 8 June | NR |
| 4.77 m | Birmingham, UK | 2016, 5 June | |
| 4.75 m | Rabat, Morocco | 2016, 22 May | |
| 4.90 mi | New York (Armory), USA | 2016, 20 February | NRi |
| 4.80 mi | New York (Armory), USA | 2016, 20 February | |
| 4.77 mi | Flagstaff (AZ), USA | 2015, 20 February | NR |
| 4.71 m | Monaco, Monaco | 2014, 18 July | =NR |
| 4.65 m | Glasgow, UK | 2014, 12 July | |
| 4.60 m | New York City, USA | 2014, 15 June | |
| 4.57 m | Chula Vista (CA), USA | 2014, 30 May | |
| 4.55 mi | Flagstaff (AZ), USA | 2014, 25 January | |
| 4.51 m | Livermore (CA), USA | 2012, 16 June | NU23R |
| 4.48 m | Eugene, USA | 2012, 13 May | NU23R |
| 4.45 m | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 2011, 17 July | =NU23R |
| 4.41 mi | Seattle, USA | 2011, 15 January | |
| 4.30 m | Marrakech, Morocco | 2005, 16 July | |
| 4.37 mi | Peania, Greece | 2005, 20 February | previousWU18B |
| 4.14 m | Korinthos, Greece | 2004, 3 July | |
| 3.95 mi | Peania, Greece | 2004, 17 January | |
| 3.90 m | Chania, Greece | 2003, 9 June | |
| 3.60 mi | Athens, Greece | 2003, 22 February | |
| 3.40 m | Athens, Greece | 2002, 9 June |
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European Athletics Championships champions in women'spole vault | |
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