Jessica Zelinka

Jessica Zelinka (born 3 September 1981) is a Canadian pentathlete, heptathlete and 100 m hurdler. Her personal best score is 6599 points for the heptathlon. She was the gold medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games. Zelinka won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and repeated her silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics Zelinka finished in 6th overall in the heptathlon and 7th in the 100 m hurdles.

Career Zelinka first became interested in track and field in elementary school and competed in her first heptathlon at 16. She missed much of the 1999 outdoor season because of an illness. Her first international competition was the 2000 IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics, where she was fifth in the heptathlon and also competed in the heats of the 100 meter hurdles. She missed most of the 2002 season due to a back and hamstring injury. She was selected for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, but did not compete.

She finished in fifth place at the 2008 Summer Olympics. This equalled the best place finish of a Canadian woman in a multi-events sport at the Olympics. At the Beijing Olympics, she set a new Canadian record for heptathlon, with 6490 points.

Building up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, she finished third in the heptathlon at the Décastar meeting in Talence, France. She earned a season's best total of 6204 points. At the games Zelinka was battling the traveler's diarrhea that affected many athletes in Delhi. Despite the challenges she managed to finish a respectable second and win the silver. Though she did medal Zelinka admitted some disappointment as she had gone to Delhi to win gold. Zelinka's medal was notable however as she just had a baby the previous year and had taken that season off and only returned to competition in 2010. Two days later, she finished first in the 100 m hurdles, qualifying her for that event as well. She had considered foregoing it to concentrate on the heptathlon, but decided to compete in both events. At the 2012 London Olympics, Zelinka finished 7th overall in both the Women's Heptathlon event and the 100 m hurdles.

Zelinka competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games following a couple years away from the sport, there she won silver behind teammate Brianne Theisen-Eaton.

Results

Honours In 2012 Zelinka was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.