Considering her achievements and longevity, Ivana Španović is regarded as one of the greatest female long jumpers of all time, with her indoor 7.24m jump ranked 3rd in all-time records.

In 2015, she won her first gold medal as a senior athlete becoming European indoor champion with new national record 6.98 meters.

She won the second bronze medal at the World outdoor championship, improving her national record twice, both in qualification (6.91) and the final (7.01 got twice).

At the end of her long season, Španović improved her national record to 7.10 in a street meeting in front of her home fans in Belgrade on 11 September.

With her final jump, Spanović seemed to clear the 7.02 mark of the leading, Brittney Reese, and tensely awaited the measurement but was awarded only 6.91.

The Serbian team appealed with the slow motion showing that the indentation in the sand nearest to the board was made by the flapping bib number on her back.

After World Championships Spanović won 2017 Diamond League race in long jump for the second consecutive time.

In 2019, Španović, recovered by the injury of the previous summer, won gold medal at European indoor championships in Glasgow with 6.99.

She matched the world indoor leading mark of 6.99 to emulate Heike Drechsler (1986–1988) as a three times in a row winner, but she got it in editions held every two years (2015–2017–2019).

During the summer Španović had various injuries, including the one at ISTAF Berlin meeting, and was forced to forfeit the World Championships in Doha.

In 2021, Španović injured her right leg in the last training before leaving to Toruń and was forced to skip European Indoor Championships in which she would be trying to win a record fourth successive title.

Recovered by the injury, in the outdoor season, she had two successes in the 2021 Diamond League race at the Golden Gala in Florence and at the DN Galan in Stockholm and one second place at Bislett Games in Oslo, before competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

After a disappointing 7th place at World outdoor championships in Eugene, but with a millimeter foul, enough for a medal, she had a brilliant final of the season.

After her seventh gold medal at a major championships, Španović-Vuleta won the final of 2022 Diamond League race in Zürich, with a result of 6.97, once again got on her first jump.

[6] After her eighth gold medal at a major championships, Španović-Vuleta won the final of 2023 Diamond League race in Eugene, with a result of 6.85.

In 2024, an achilles tendon injury meant she only competed twice before the Olympics where she failed to qualify for the final - achieving 6.51 m just short of the automatic qualification distance of 6.59 m.[7][8] Španović has achieved nineteen victories in the IAAF Diamond League circuit, a record in women long jump.

Also, she has achieved two victories in the IAAF World Challenge circuit, at the ISTAF Berlin in 2015 and at the Hanžeković Memorial with 6.96, a new meeting record, in 2016.

Even on the field she can be seen fiercely competing with her fellow elite athletes while sporting fashionable nails, often polished in neon colours.