Sara Kolak is a track and field athlete who has competed for Croatia. She competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games.
She was the youngest member of the Croatian team competing in the track and field disciplines, and the third-youngest athlete to compete in the women's javelin throw competition, behind Yulenmis Aguilar and Maria Andrejczyk. In the qualification, the bronze medalist of the European championships was not able to make any impact, with throws of 55.68 and 55.86 metres a provisional fifteenth place in qualification group A. In her last attempt of the qualification, she broke the national record with a throw of 64.30 metres to advance to the final in third place. She started her final a bit safely, with throws of 60.89, 62.95, and 63.00 a sixth place after three attempts, but with a throw of 66.18 metres she improved on her national record by almost 2 metres. She was not able to improve it with a failed throw and a throw of 59.42 metres, but comfortably finished ahead of Sunette Viljoen. She was the second Croatian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal after Sandra Perkovic won the women's discus throw in 2012 and 2016, and became the first track and field athlete from Croatia ever to win a gold medal in javelin.
Five years later, she returned to the Olympic stage in a postponed edition in 2021 as defending champion. She was the second-youngest member of the Croatian track and field delegation, only behind Marija Tolj, as the world number nine in javelin throw. However, she did not fare as well as her qualification five years prior. All three of her attempts were flagged as failed, and she was the only of thirty athletes to have three failed attempts, and subsequently was not able to qualify for the final.
Olympic Results[]
Year | Event | Result |
---|---|---|
2016 | Women's javelin throw | |
2020 | Women's javelin throw | DNF |
2016[]
Discipline | Round | Stage | Result | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Javelin throw | Qualification | Throw 1 | 55.68 | |
Throw 2 | 55.86 | |||
Throw 3 | 64.30 | NR | ||
Final | Throw 1 | 60.89 | ||
Throw 2 | 62.95 | |||
Throw 3 | 63.00 | |||
Throw 4 | 66.18 | NR | ||
Throw 5 | X | |||
Throw 6 | 59.42 |
2020[]
Discipline | Round | Stage | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Javelin throw | Qualification | Throw 1 | X |
Throw 2 | X | ||
Throw 3 | X | ||
Final | Throw 1 | Did not advance | |
Throw 2 | |||
Throw 3 | |||
Throw 4 | |||
Throw 5 | |||
Throw 6 |