Luka Janežič

Luka Janežič
Luka Janežič (2018)
Full name	Luka Janežič
nation	Slovenia
birthday	14th November 1995 (age 24)
place of birth	Vodice ,  Slovenia
size	192 cm
Weight	80 kg
Career
discipline	400 m
Best performance	44.84 s
society	AD Kladivar Celje
Trainer	Rok Predanič
status	active
Medal table
U23 European Championships 1 × 0 × 1 ×
U23 European Championships bronze Tallinn 2015 400 m gold Bydgoszcz 2017 400 m
last change: August 4, 2020

Luka Janežič (born November 14, 1995 in Vodice ) is a Slovenian athlete who specializes in the 400-meter run . In this discipline he is the holder of the national record.

Life

Luka Janežič comes from a sports-loving family who registered him with the AK Medvode club at an early stage . There he discovered that he had a great talent in various disciplines and subsequently began to focus completely on athletics. In 2011 he decided to change the club and from now on to train under the guidance of the coach Rok Predanič in Celje , as he saw better development opportunities there. Despite numerous offers, including elite universities from the USA, he decided to continue training in his Slovenian homeland.

Athletic career

After showing good sprint performances throughout 2011, Janežič competed in the U18 World Championships in Lille in July at the age of 15 . There he competed over 200 meters, but could not make it clear to move into the next round in fourth place and was eliminated. In 2012 he was able to improve his 200-meter time to 21.72 s. In 2013 he started both over 200 and over 400 meters at the U20 European Championships in Rieti. Over 200 meters in the semifinals he came very close to his best time of 21.25 seconds, but it was not enough to make it into the final. Overall, he finished tenth. A similar picture emerged the day before at the 400 meters. He also ran into the semifinals there, but was eliminated in fifth place in his run. So in the end result he was one place better than over 200 meters. Janežič then competed at the U20 World Championships in the USA on both routes in 2014 , before concentrating entirely on the 400 meters from 2015 onwards. In both disciplines he made it to the semifinals. With his semi-final time of 47.06 s, he also set a new record over 400 meters. During this time he ended up in twelfth place overall.

In spring 2015 Janežič took part in his first international adult championships at the European Indoor Championships in Prague. He reached the semifinals, in which he could not start. In the course of the season Janežič improved to a time of 45.44 s and thus also met the norm for the World Championships in Beijing. Previously, he competed in the U23 European Championships in Tallinn in July . In the final he came there to a time of 45.73 s and won the bronze medal. In Beijing, a month later, he set a new personal best with 45.28 seconds and for the first time also a new national record, which, however, was not enough for the semi-finals. He was eliminated as sixth in the first heat. 2016 was also a successful year for the Slovenian. In the spring he first appeared at the World Indoor Championships in Portland. As second in the third heat, he reached the semifinals, in which he was then disqualified. In the summer season he was able to improve again slightly and qualified for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Before that, he competed at the European Championships in Amsterdam. He moved into the final, in which he finished fifth with a time of 45.65. In Rio, a month later, he was able to move into the semi-finals. As in Beijing a year before, he was able to set a new record at an international championship. As fourth of his run, he just missed making it into the final with 45.07 seconds. Overall, he finished 17th. In 2017, like a year earlier in Portland, he was disqualified at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, this time right after the preliminary run. In July he started again at the U23 European Championships , this time in Bydgoszcz. After winning bronze two years earlier, this time he was able to secure the European title. Just a week later, he ran in Monaco with a time of 44.84 s, a personal best that has stood since then and represents the current national record for Slovenia. However, he could not confirm this time in the run-up to the World Championships in London and was eliminated in the run-up.

2018 began for Janežič with setting a new indoor record. With 46.02 s he is not only in the open air but also the holder of the national indoor record. In March he took part in the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. He moved into the semi-finals, in which he ran the seventh fastest time. So he just barely missed the finals for the top six. In August he started at the European Championships in Berlin. Like two years earlier in Amsterdam, he was able to finish there in fifth. In spring 2019 he just missed the podium in fourth at the European Indoor Championships . At the World Championships in Doha, he was eliminated in advance.

Major competitions

year	event	place	space	discipline	time
Starts for Slovenia
2011	U18 world championships	Lille	44.	200 m	22.49 s
2013	U20 European Championships	Rieti	9.	400 m	47.31 s
			10.	200 m	21.27 s
2014	U20 world championships	Eugene	12.	400 m	47.06 s
			21st	200 m	21.41 s
2015	European Indoor Championships	Prague		400 m	DNS (semifinals)
	U23 European Championships	Tallinn	3.	400 m	45.73 s
	World championships	Beijing	28.	400 m	45.28 s
2016	Indoor world championships	Portland	12.	400 m	46.79 s (lead time)
	European championships	Amsterdam	5.	400 m	45.65 s
	Olympic Summer Games	Rio de Janeiro	17th	400 m	45.07 s
2017	European Indoor Championships	Belgrade		400 m	DSQ
	U23 European Championships	Bydgoszcz	1.	400 m	45.33 s
	World championships	London	36.	400 m	46.06 s
2018	Indoor world championships	Birmingham	7th	400 m	46.37 s
	European championships	Berlin	5.	400 m	45.43 s
2019	European Indoor Championships	Glasgow	4th	400 m	46.15 s
	World championships	Doha	33.	400 m	46.84 s

Personal best

open air

• 200 m : 20.60 s, June 24, 2017, Tel Aviv
• 400 m : 44.84 s, July 21, 2017, Monaco , (Slovenian record)

Hall

• 200 m: 21.54 s, January 24, 2015, Vienna
• 400 m: 46.02 s, January 27, 2018, Vienna, (Slovenian record)

Web links

Commons : Luka Janežič  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Luka Janežič in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Luka Janežič in the database of European Athletics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry at sportnaoprema.si
2. ↑ Alenka Zapušek: LUKA JANEŽIČ. In: sportnaoprema.si. Retrieved August 4, 2020 (Slovenian). 
3. ↑ Results on worldathletics.org
4. ↑ Results on european-athletics.org
5. ↑ Results on worldathletics.org
6. ↑ Results on worldathletics.org
7. ↑ Results on worldathletics.org