Sara Kolak European champion: secured gold in Birmingham with her very first throw
Sara Kolak won the European title in the javelin throw at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, confirming her return to the very top of the discipline ten years after her Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro. In the final held on 16 August 2026 at Alexander Stadium, the Croatian javelin thrower won with a result of 62.43 metres, producing the decisive throw immediately in the first round. According to the official European Athletics report, that mark remained the leading result until the end of the competition, although her rivals came closer to her over the course of the six rounds. Germany's Julia Ulbricht won silver with 61.53 metres, while bronze went to Serbia's Adriana Vilagoš, who threw 60.93 metres. Kolak thus won her first senior European title and the second major gold medal of her career, almost exactly a decade after her greatest success at the 2016 Olympic Games.
The first throw immediately set the standard for the entire final
Kolak opened the final without holding back. The javelin flew 62.43 metres in the first round, immediately putting her in the lead and setting the rest of the field a mark that proved unreachable by the end of the evening. The Croatian Athletics Federation reported that her next three throws measured 59.17, 58.67 and 57.84 metres. In the final two rounds she raised her level again, first to 60.49 and then to 61.37 metres, meaning even her last attempt was better than the result that won the bronze medal. Such a series showed that the victory was not the consequence of one isolated attempt, but of a competition in which Kolak exceeded the 60-metre mark several times and maintained control of the standings.
According to data from the Croatian Athletics Federation, only the three medal winners in the final surpassed 60 metres. Ulbricht, with 61.53 metres, came within less than one metre of Kolak but was unable to take the lead. Vilagoš secured bronze with 60.93 metres and her third consecutive medal at the European Championships, after winning silver medals at the previous two editions of the continental championships. European Athletics states that conditions were demanding because of the wind, something also mentioned by the medal winners after the final. Kolak said she was particularly proud to win a major gold medal again after ten years of waiting and stressed that during that period she had never given up on returning to the highest level.
Reaching the final with 60.82 metres in qualification
The road to gold did not begin with a result that would have suggested certain dominance in the final in advance. In qualification on 14 August, Kolak threw 60.82 metres and reached the final as one of the 12 best competitors. Official European Athletics results show that she was third in her qualification group, behind Switzerland's Leonie Hügli, who set a national record with 62.33 metres, and Ulbricht with 60.86 metres. The automatic qualification standard was 61 metres, so Kolak advanced thanks to her placing among the top 12. Her series of attempts in qualification was 58.13 metres, a foul and 60.82 metres in the third round.
That result was enough to confirm stable form, but at the same time left open the question of how much she could raise her level in the battle for medals. Kolak arrived in Birmingham with a season's best of 62.61 metres, achieved on 16 June in Ostrava, so the winning 62.43 was only 18 centimetres short of her best result of the 2026 season before the championships. She therefore came very close to her own season's maximum in the most important competition of the season. In throwing events, in which wind, the rhythm of the run-up and execution in the circle or on the runway can strongly affect every attempt, that level of performance in a final is often more important than the position on the annual rankings itself.
Ten years from Rio to another major gold
The gold in Birmingham carries additional significance because of the time that had passed since Kolak's last title on the biggest stage. At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on 18 August 2016, as a 21-year-old, she won gold with a throw of 66.18 metres. According to the World Athletics report, she was sixth in the Olympic final after three rounds, before setting what was then the Croatian record in the fourth round and taking a lead she never relinquished. Silver went to South Africa's Sunette Viljoen with 64.92 metres, while bronze went to world record holder Barbora Špotáková with 64.80. With that result, Kolak made a major breakthrough during the Olympic season and became Olympic champion at just 21 years of age.
Only a few weeks before Rio, she had already shown that she had broken through among Europe's best throwers. At the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam, she won bronze with 63.50 metres, which at the time was the Croatian record. A year later she pushed the mark even further and on 6 July 2017 in Lausanne threw 68.43 metres. World Athletics still lists that result as her personal and Croatian record. Birmingham therefore did not bring a new record, but it brought something that had been missing from her senior career: the title of European champion.
The period between the two major gold medals was not linear. After the rapid rise in 2016 and her performance peak in 2017, Kolak went through subsequent seasons dealing with changes in form and periods in which she was not consistently present on the podiums of the biggest competitions. That is precisely why her return to the Olympic final in Paris in 2024 carried great significance. World Athletics records that she finished fourth there with 63.40 metres, just 28 centimetres behind bronze medallist Nikola Ogrodníková. In qualification in Paris she threw even farther, 64.57 metres, showing that she had once again come close to the results required to contend for the biggest medals.
Paris 2024 signalled a return among the best
Fourth place at the Olympic Games often remains in the shadow of the medals, but in Kolak's case it was an important signal of continuity at world level. In the Paris final, Japan's Haruka Kitaguchi won with 65.80 metres, silver went to Jo-Ane van Dyk of South Africa with 63.93, while Ogrodníková won bronze with 63.68. Kolak finished with 63.40, ahead of a number of throwers with major international results, including Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, Yulenmis Aguilar, Kathryn Mitchell, Maria Andrejczyk and Elina Tzengko. Two years later in Birmingham, she turned that stabilisation of form into a championship title.
The result of 62.43 metres is not among the longest throws of Kolak's career, but championship competitions are not decided by the ranking of personal bests, but by the best performance in the specific final. That is exactly what defined the final in Birmingham. Kolak produced a very high-quality throw right at the start and then remained stable enough to keep her rivals under pressure throughout the competition from the mark set in the first round. Ulbricht remained on 61.53 and Vilagoš on 60.93 metres, while the other finalists finished below 60 metres. Fourth-placed Norwegian Sigrid Borge threw 59.98 metres, further demonstrating how important the 60-metre mark was in the battle for the podium.
Vilagoš continued her medal streak, Ulbricht claimed a major silver
The final also had a broader European context because the podium featured throwers from three different athletics generations. Kolak, born in 1995, arrived in Birmingham with an Olympic title and a decade of experience at the biggest competitions. Ulbricht, born in 2000, took silver with a result that was very close to her best performances, and after the final, according to European Athletics, she said she was pleased with her first throw, although the remainder of the competition did not go according to plan technically. Vilagoš, born in 2004, had already established continuity at the European Championships before Birmingham and added a third consecutive medal with bronze.
For Vilagoš, the result was below the level she had shown in her best performances of previous seasons, but 60.93 was still enough for another podium. European Athletics reported her assessment that she did not achieve the distance she had hoped for, but she emphasised the importance of the medal on an evening when conditions were not easy. Such an ending to the final further highlighted the value of Kolak's first throw: none of her rivals found an attempt during the following five rounds that could surpass it. In a discipline in which the standings can change completely with the final throw, leading from the first through the sixth round represents a different kind of pressure from a late comeback.
Croatia's second medal in Birmingham
Kolak's gold was the second medal for the Croatian team at the European Championships in Birmingham. Marino Bloudek won silver in the 800 metres on 13 August with a time of 1:45.62. According to the official World Athletics results, Ireland's Mark English won in 1:45.26, while Spain's Mohamed Attaoui was third in 1:45.71. The Croatian Athletics Federation described Bloudek's performance as the greatest senior achievement of his career up to that point. Three days later, Kolak added gold in the throwing sector to the silver won on the track.
The Croatian Athletics Federation states that after Kolak's title, Croatia's total collection of medals at the European Championships increased to 17: ten gold, four silver and three bronze. In Birmingham, alongside the two medal winners, other members of the team also achieved notable results. Marija Tolj was sixth in the discus throw final with 63.08 metres, while Nina Vuković in the 800 metres and Veronika Drljačić in the 400 metres reached the semifinals. According to the Federation's final report, the two medals won continued Croatia's run of podium finishes at the European Championships.
A victory that changes the perspective on the last decade of her career
The Birmingham gold does not erase the difference between Kolak's personal record of 68.43 metres and the winning result from 2026, but it changes the way the last decade of her career can be viewed. After the sensational Olympic triumph in Rio, expectations were exceptionally high, and the path to another major title took almost ten years. In the meantime, she remained the national record holder, returned to the Olympic elite with fourth place in Paris and then won the title that had been missing from her collection in Birmingham. European Athletics highlighted precisely that time span as the central story of the final.
Kolak now has an Olympic gold, a European gold and a European bronze in her senior collection, along with fourth place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Her personal record of 68.43 metres remains considerably above the result required to win in Birmingham, but major championship finals are often won through the ability to adapt to conditions and perform at the right moment. On Sunday evening at Alexander Stadium, it was precisely the first attempt that was enough to determine the entire competition. The remaining five rounds turned into a chase for 62.43 metres that none of her rivals managed to complete.
For Kolak, 16 August 2026 therefore became a new date in a career marked by the surprising Olympic triumph in Rio. Ten years after Rio she once again finished a major final in first place, this time as an experienced 31-year-old and as an athlete whose return among the best had already been evident in Paris. The first throw in Birmingham brought her the title, but the significance of that medal comes from a much longer period: from European bronze and Olympic gold in 2016, through the Croatian record in 2017 and fourth place at the 2024 Games, to her first European gold in 2026.
Sources:
- European Athletics / Birmingham 2026 – official report on the women's javelin final, medal winners' results and post-competition statements (link)
- Croatian Athletics Federation – report from the final day of the championships, Kolak's series of throws and overview of Croatian results and medals (link)
- European Athletics – official results of the women's javelin qualification in Birmingham, including Kolak's 60.82 metres and the qualification standard (link)
- World Athletics – report on the women's javelin final at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Kolak's gold with 66.18 metres (link)
- World Athletics – official results of the Olympic final in Paris 2024, in which Kolak finished fourth with 63.40 metres (link)
- World Athletics – Sara Kolak's profile with her personal and Croatian record of 68.43 metres (link)
- Croatian Athletics Federation – report on Marino Bloudek's silver medal in the 800 metres in Birmingham (link)