Following her impressive display in July’s European Athletics U18 Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia where she won javelin gold in a world U18 lead of 61.07m and discus bronze with 49.50m, Vita Barbic is ready to step up a level at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru from 27-31 August.
Turning just seventeen last week (13), the multi-talented Croatian is an energetic character who blends the unconventional and the more traditional approach.
Competing in more than one track and field event is nothing unusual, but her combined commitment to javelin and discus is rare.
Unprecedented at international level
More so, succeeding in both disciplines at international level, as she managed in Banska Bystrica is almost unprecedented in the modern era.
“I really don’t know anybody else,” admits the articulate thrower when asked if she knew of any other athletes balancing the same two events.
“I know people who combine discus and shot put or javelin and shot put, but discus and javelin too, it is unique. I enjoy multiple events that are different. I can test which goes better and try something new because things are always changing in both events.
“Some people think that one event makes the other one weaker. But for me, it wasn’t the case. Both of them are going great.
“Basically, when you get to the point of honed technique, it is very easy to combine multiple events. For me, it is not that difficult. I love it so much I can’t even describe it.”
Falling in love with athletics
But Barbic took a conventional pathway into the sport through her local club in her hometown Zagreb when growing up.
“I started doing athletics at five or six-years-old,” she recalled. “We were walking to the park one day and my sister saw a commercial that said ‘join the best athletics club in our country.’ After a month of persuading me to try it and me saying ‘no, no, no.’ I went. Then on my first training session, I fell in love with the sport.”
“It was so amazing, it was something new and you could choose between multiple events and I found throwing and my coach and he just took me under his wing and we have been together for over six years. It has been an amazing journey and I want to continue doing it.”
Croatia has rich lineage in the throws with the likes of two-time Olympic, world and seven-time European gold medallist Sandra Elkasevic, 2016 Olympic javelin gold medallist Sara Kolak, 2022 European shot put champion Filip Mihaljević and 2014 world U20 discus champion Martin Markovic, with the latter hailing from the same club as Barbic in Zagreb.
But Barbic embraces the attention and expectation upon Croatian throwing
“It’s definitely not pressure,” she says when asked how it feels to be a Croatian throws prospect. “As throwers, we have a really good environment for training. We have this one place on our coast where we all go for a throwing camp. It is amazing.
“We are all good. But we can encourage each other to be even better. So, I think it is an amazing thing to have a heritage of throwers in the history of our country.”
Looking to the long term
Although Barbic is a likely target for USA universities seeking talent for their collegiate system, for the moment, she is content in her home country.
“My ambitions are to go to some good college,” commented Barbic whose older sister Klara, a high and triple jumper, is in her first year of studying at the prestigious Harvard University.
“I really think about staying in Croatia, because I have my coach, and I really think Croatia has everything you need. So, I am going to stay there and pursue my career in this. I want to last to senior category. I just want to last in this sport and do it for as long as I can."
Outside of athletics, she also enjoys handball and basketball. But she also has another unusual hobby that marks out her sometimes unconventional approach.
“I do many paintings inspired by athletics,” she said. “Through the art I have managed see how the technique should look from the outside, compared to what I feel on the inside when I am throwing.
“Through my art I try to improve my technique, and I try to be even better. I paint other athletes. Sometimes I paint myself, but I really like to paint others.
“I don’t want to focus too much on me. So, some of the best javelin throwers like Johannes Vetter, Maria Andrejczyk, Steve Backley. My coach says they have a good technique and I try to figure out what they are doing.
“I don’t show my art to anybody. It just hangs in my room, and I try to have my own collection and for some close people I show them.”
Next stop: Lima
In Lima, the multi-talented Barbic is purely going to be focused on the javelin, where despite competing in the higher age group, she is ranked eighth on the entry list.
She is part of a 13-strong Croatian team that also includes Eva Barbaric, women’s 400m hurdles silver medallist in Banska Bystrica, and rising combined events star and 2022 European U18 helptathlon champion Jana Koscak.
Lima may come a little early in her career for a medal to be a realistic target although the experience will undoubtedly stand the 16-year-old in good stead for her ascent into the U20 ranks next year when the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere from 7-10 August.
But the multi-talented teenager has already demonstrated her artistry inside and outside the athletics arena.
And she paints a vivid picture of a future that could be daubed with gold.
Chris Broadbent for European Athletics