The 34-year-old athlete has been one of Montenegro’s leading representatives in the discipline for years, having already won European silver in Munich in 2022.
Vuković’s success comes in a discipline that has also become closely associated with Serbia’s Angelina Topić, one of Europe’s leading young high jumpers. The two athletes have already shared the same major competitions, with Vuković competing at the 2022 European Championships when Topić won her first major senior medal.
The latest achievement is another important milestone for Montenegrin athletics and highlights the continued presence of athletes from smaller Balkan countries on the biggest international stages. Vuković, who was born in Knin and has represented Montenegro throughout her senior career, has remained a prominent figure in European high jump despite competing against athletes from much larger sporting systems.
Her result also adds another chapter to the growing regional rivalry in women’s high jump, with Topić having enjoyed a remarkable 2026 season of her own. The Serbian athlete won silver at the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, clearing 1.99 metres and sharing second place with Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers and Ukraine’s Yuliia Levchenko, while Yaroslava Mahuchikh took gold with 2.01m. For Montenegro, however, Vuković’s latest medal is particularly significant: it once again puts the country on the athletics map and underlines how athletes from the region continue to punch well above their countries’ size on the international stage.
