LSU sophomore Jovan Lekic is one of the biggest surprises of the NCAA Championships so far. Seeded 16th in the men’s 500 free with a time of 4:12.26, he dropped nearly four seconds in prelims and went 4:08.55 to qualify for the ‘A’ final. In the final, he finished eighth in 4:10.55.
After suffering from food poisoning a week prior, however, Lekic didn’t even know if he’d be able to compete at NCAAs.
Lekic dealt with a stomach virus for the entire week before NCAAs and only attended four practices, struggling to get through his training sessions. Eventually, he had to take three to four days off from swimming. But by the Monday before NCAAs, he was back to his normal self.
“I felt pretty weak. I couldn’t finish the practice at all,” Lekic said. “I thought that my season was going to be over, but then I rested for three, four days and then came in Monday and I was back in shape.”
Even after recovering, Lekic’s expectations for NCAAs weren’t as high as what he achieved — he merely wanted to place in the top 16. During his freshman season a year prior, he finished 27th in a time of 4:15.78, adding nearly two seconds from his SEC Championships time of 4:13.93. This year, Lekic not only met his goals, but blew his expectations out of the water.
As a freshman, Lekic was still getting accustomed to the United States. He came to Louisiana from Bosnia and Herzegovina, completely unfamiliar with the short course yards system and only knowing English as a second language. With a year under his belt, he ensured that the mistakes he made a year ago wouldn’t happen again.
“He handled [the SECs to NCAAs transition] a lot better. I think he had a better understanding from last year to this year of what he needs to do, what he needs to accomplish,” LSU associate head coach Jon Sakovich said of Lekic. “Generally people four weeks away, three weeks away say ‘I want to keep taper,’ and it’s like, ‘No, we’ve got to do some work.'”
“He became more disciplined…so I think that’s a tribute to him and what he’s accomplished.”
However, Lekic’s progress didn’t start in the leadup to NCAAs — it was a long-term development.
Last summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lekic gained experience battling sickness while swimming, having raced the 400 free with a fever. He finished 30th overall in the event, but more importantly, getting experience on the biggest stage of the sport gave him a massive confidence boost.
Then when Lekic’s sophomore season started, he made changes to his training regimen that he attributed to his improvement. Some of them included eating healthier, going to bed earlier, changing his lifting routine and increasing his yardage.
Sakovich believes that there’s a direct correlation between increasing yardage in the fall and better results at championships meets during springtime.
“The best way to look at it is you’re filling your piggy bank,” Sakovich said of practice yardage. “When you start tapering, you’re taking money out and paying for the events. The fuller your bank the better able you are to handle that back-to-back.”
“SECs is a tough, fast meet. It wears you out. If you don’t have background, it takes a lot of recovery. That ability to recover quickly and get back to work for NCAAs is important.”
Doing more yardage gave Lekic the opportunity to go head-to-head with other distance swimmers, including Serbian freshman Nikola Simic — an NCAA qualifier in the 1650 free who Lekic says helped push him in practice.
The teammate-induced motivation spilled over to NCAAs when Lekic’s roommate, Croatian sophomore Jere Hribar, made the ‘B’ final of the 50 free after Lekic went his 500 free PB. After LSU only had one swimmer score at 2024 NCAAs, it now has two individual swimming scorers after just day 2.
“We speak the same language, and we’ve known each other before we came to the U.S.,” Lekic said of Hribar. “At this point, he’s like a brother to me. He means a lot to me and makes me definitely more motivated.”
Lekic is still a work-in-progress — he did add two seconds from prelims to finals. However, just being able to race in the finals session at NCAAs was a memorable moment for him.
And after all, Lekic knows he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet.
“In the afternoon, I just went out there and tried to have fun and do my best,” Lekic said. “The atmosphere was pretty electric…I was definitely very nervous, very anxious. But I guess it’s a good feeling, since the adrenaline makes us faster.”
“I think next year I’m going to be even better and score more.”
Great article!
Hearing stories like this make me think that more taper could be better for a lot of swimmers