Tina Šutej is a Slovenian

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 pole vault

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

er.

Šutej began competing in athletics at an early age, practising in a variety of events from the age of seven. A change of coach at her local club saw the arrival of a pole vault specialist, who encouraged her to focus on vaulting the high bar. She made her international debut at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics

The 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics is the 2005 version of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Marrakesh, Morocco.The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali.-Boys:-Girls:-Medals table:...

 and finished eighth in the pole vault final. Her first medal came the following year as she was the runner-up behind Zhou Yang

Zhou Yang (pole vaulter)

Zhou Yang is a female Chinese pole vaulter.She won the 2006 World Junior Championships and finished eighth at the 2007 Summer Universiade. She will represent her country at the 2008 Summer Olympics....

 with a Slovenian junior record mark of 4.25 m.

The next season saw her senior debut at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships, but she did not progress into the final. Although she won an indoor and outdoor title nationally, she made little progress in her performances in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, in which a fifth place at the 2009 European Athletics U23 Championships

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships

The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania.-Men's Results:-Women's Results:-Medal table:-References:General...

 was her international highlight. She enjoyed success in NCAA competition while studying at University of Arkansas

University of Arkansas

The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...

, however, and she was the runner-up at the collegiate outdoor championships in 2009.

The 2010 saw her make improvements as she recorded a national indoor record clearance of 4.46 m in February and went on to claim the national title outdoors with a Slovenian record mark of 4.50 m. She was the runner-up in the First League section of the 2010 European Team Championships

2010 European Team Championships

The second SPAR European Team Championships took place on 19 and 20 June 2010. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup competition which was held annually until 2008....

 and came tenth in the final at the 2010 European Athletics Championships. Her 2011 indoor season saw her undefeated in eight competitions. She won at the 2011 NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship

NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship

NCAA team champions for Women's Indoor Track and Field-See also:*AIAW Intercollegiate Women's Indoor Track and Field Champions*NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship*NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship...

, having improved her best to 4.54 m in the weeks prior to the event. This was a American collegiate record and as a result Track and Field News chose her as its Collegiate Women's Indoor Athlete of the Year. She continued her form into the outdoor season, breaking the outdoor collegiate record and Slovenian mark with a clearance of 4.61 m to win the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title.

Achievements

Representing
2006	World Junior Championships 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Center in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China....	Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...	2nd	4.25 m
2010	European Championships	Barcelona Barcelona Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of... , Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...	10th	4.35 m 2010 European Athletics Championships – Women's pole vault The women's pole vault at the 2010 European Athletics Championships was held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 28 and 30 July.-Medalists:-Records:-Schedule:-Qualification:...
2011	Summer Universiade 2011 Summer Universiade The 2011 Summer Universiade, the XXVI Summer Universiade, was hosted in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.-Bid selection:The cities of Kazan, Russia, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Shenzhen, China, Murcia, Spain, and Poznań, Poland were in contention for the Games. On 16 January 2007, FISU announced at the conference...	Shenzhen Shenzhen Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones... , China People's Republic of China China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...	2nd	4.55 m Athletics at the 2011 Summer Universiade The athletics competition at the 2011 Summer Universiade has been held at the New Shenzhen Stadium in Shenzhen, China from August 16 to August 21, 2011.-Men's events:-Women's events:-Medal Table:-Participating nations:...