Dubai: Chris Tidey, the coach of UAE-born swimmer Velimir Stjepanovic, has hailed his charge’s recent 200m butterfly gold medal at the European Short Course Championships as a significant step towards the 2016 Olympics.
Stjepanovic, 20, set a career best time of 1minute 51.26seconds in Herning, Denmark, on Saturday, 0.09 seconds ahead of second-placed former world champion Pawel Korzeniowksi and an impressive 1.18 seconds quicker than five-time Olympic medallist Laszlo Cseh, who could only finish fourth.
The Serbian’s win follows on from a sixth-placed finish in the 200m butterfly event at the London 2012 Olympics and places him sixth in the world rankings. He also finished third in the 400m freestyle in Denmark with a time of 3:40.91, placing him 11th in the world. He was one of the event’s highest Fina points scorers and was voted best newcomer.
Tidey, of Hamilton Aquatics in Dubai, said Stjepanovic’s improvement in short course timings makes him a more well-rounded swimmer looking ahead to next year’s European Long Course Championships in Berlin and beyond.
“This performance was significant because Velimir is not historically a short course swimmer,” Tidey said. “He has had to improve underwater and on the turn, stressing his back, which had been an injury concern following the 2012 Olympics.
“Last year, we trained through his injury niggles because of the Olympics. We could have medalled at the World Championship in Barcelona this year but decided to have an easier year as we thought his build up to the Rio 2016 Olympics was more important.
“I’m proud of the way he has come back from injury so quickly and worked so hard to improve, knocking 4.5 seconds off his time from last year, especially to beat swimmers such as Korzeniowski and Cseh.
“But, realistically, the Olympics are still two-and-a-half years away and anything can happen. Only 10 per cent of his work is done and there’s a massive way to go before we can say we are contesting for medals. It’s a long road.”
Stjepanovic’s European Championship success may be considered among the biggest achievements in UAE swimming, arguably only trailing former UAE resident Sara Isakovic, of Slovenia, who won silver in the 200m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
