Jumping is in her veins: Topić family tradition
Aiming high is a Topić family tradition. Her mother, three-time Olympian Biljana Topić, holds the Serbian triple jump record and narrowly missed the podium at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin. Her father, six-time Olympian Dragutin Topić, is a former European high jump champion and the Serbian high jump record holder, having claimed the European title as a teenager in 1990. Now, Dragutin channels his extensive expertise into coaching his daughter, guiding her every leap as she follows in their Olympic footsteps.
“My father is my biggest inspiration and he’s my best teacher in life, not just for sports – but also for everything I know, I learned from my parents and I’m really grateful for them. My mom was also an Olympian and she was an amazing top athlete. I’m so happy that I have people who already went through this path. And I think I’m like one step above everyone else because I have so much experience in my mind from them,” she told Olympics.com
Topić also competes in the long jump and the triple jump, but the high jump is her favorite. “High jump is my main event. I’m strongest here,” she explained.
With the experience of her parents behind her, who knows how far, or high, Angelina will go.
2022: World, meet Topić
Topić’s 2022 breakout season was one for the books. Standing tall at six feet, and just 16 years old at the time, the Serbian shattered a longstanding national senior high jump record in June by clearing 1.96 meters at the Serbian Championships in Kruševac, a record that had stood since 1984. Her leap also equaled the world under-18 best.
One month later, she took home U18 European gold in Jerusalem with a jump of 1.92 meters, and did it again the following month, securing a bronze medal at the World U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, at 1.93m.
The teenager then decided to challenge the seniors, and managed to clinch another bronze at the Munich European Championships, again clearing 1.93 meters, and became the youngest medallist of the entire event.