15-Year-Old Lana Pudar Gives Bosnia & Herzegovina First Senior Int’l Medal

2021 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, December 16th – Tuesday, December 21st
• Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
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The women’s butterfly final took place tonight in Abu Dhabi, with Zhang Yufei 0f China topping the podium in a time of 2:03.01, beating the field by over a second.

Runner-up went to American Charlotte Hook, with the teen clocking 2:04.35 en route to silver.

Rounding out the top three was 15-year-old Lana Pudar, the seemingly unstoppable record breaker from Bosnia & Herzegovina. Pudar touched the wall in a time of 2:04.88 to get under the 2:05 threshold for the first time in her young career, making national history in the process.

Opening in 1:00.63 and closing in 1:04.25, Pudar’s bronze medal-worthy 2:04.88 easily surpassed her own previous national record of 2:05.81 the teen logged at this year’s European Championships. There in Kazan, Pudar split 58.29/1:07.52 to place 5th.

In terms of national significance, Pudar now becomes her nation’s first-ever senior elite international medalist. She already earned a pair of European Junior Championships medals in the form of her 50m fly silver, 100m fly gold and 200m fly silver. Jovan Lekić also earned 2 medals on the men’s side.

However, with her bronze here, Pudar now gives BIH the first-ever senior swimming medal at an international championship of this caliber.