Stine Kufaas

Stine Kufaas (born 7 April 1986) is a Norwegian high jumper. Her personal best jump is , achieved in June 2010 at a national competition at Lillehammer. She has on the indoor track, achieved in February 2010 in Eskilstuna. She is also the Norwegian record holder in the standing high jump, at .

Early life and career She grew up in Buvika, a settlement which had 1,856 inhabitants in 2009. She represented the club Trondheim Friidrett.

In 2003, she recorded 1.78 metres as a personal best. This was recorded in the qualification round at the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival. In the final round she jumped 1.76 metres to record a fifth place. She also won her first national championship medal, a bronze. She struggled more in the 2004 season, recording 1.73 as a season's best. Near the end of the year it became clear that she had struggled with infectious mononucleosis.

In 2005 a "lift project" was set up by the national association. It was spearheaded by former World Championships competitor Anne Gerd Eieland, and in total, seven women were a part of the project. Coaches were Dan Simion and Adrian Proteasa while the architect of the project was Terje Totland. Simion soon left, but Hanne Haugland was added as a coach. Also, the project was shrunk to four jumpers, because injury struck some of the project members. The goal was to have two jumpers qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. Around this time, Kufaas still lived in Buvika, and trained in the nearby Trondheim Municipality as well as in the local Bøndernes Hus. Traditionally a social house for the farmers' community, Bøndernes Hus was reinvented by Kufaas and her coach as a makeshift high jump arena, with modest economic support from Skaun Municipality and local businesses.

Later career Her result progression was positive. She achieved a new personal best in August 2005, when jumping 1.81 at the Norwegian Championships at Fana stadion to win the silver behind Anne Gerd Eieland. She beat Eieland again at the 2006 Norwegian Championships at Bislett stadion, when she won her first national title with 1.83 metres. She made her European Cup debut in the last edition of the competition, winning the Second League with 1.85 metres, In the autumn of 2008 she moved to Oslo and enrolled at the Norwegian Police University College. She was reunited with Hanne Haugland as a coach, and joined the club IL i BUL from New Year's.

2009 In the 2009 indoor season she quickly equalled her personal best of 1.87 metres, during a meet in Gothenburg. At the Norwegian Indoor Championships she started by setting her first ever Norwegian record, in the standing high jump. Her new record was 1.53 metres, an improvement from 1.52 which had stood since 1984. After passing 1.53, she declined to continue the competition.

She competed at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. With 1.80 metres she failed to reach the final. and Kufaas had achieved the qualifying standard for the 2009 World Championships. At the high jump competition there she failed to reach the final.

2010 She started the 2010 indoor season with a few mediocre competitions before leaping to 1.92 metres on 6 February in Eskilstuna. At the 2010 World Indoor Championships she managed 1.89 metres, but it was not enough to reach the final. In the outdoor season she jumped a personal best at a national competition at Lillehammer and qualified for the European Championships in Barcelona. Later she became again national champion in Stavanger (1.89m).

2011 Kufaas was less successful in the 2011 season which was hampered by neck problems. At the European Indoor Championships in Paris she jumped to 12th place with 1,89 m. In the outdoor season her best performance was 1,88 m achieved during a high jump meeting in Sollentuna, Sweden. She could not defend her indoor or outdoor national championships from 2010 and became second behind Tonje Angelsen in both events. Kufaas graduated from the Norwegian Police University College in 2011.