2020 Serbian National Championships (Open and Age Groups)
- December 17-20, 2020
- Belgrade, Serbia
- LCM (50 meter pool)
- Live Results
A best time and new National Record in the 50 free from Andrej Barna highlighted the Serbian National Championship meet last weekend swum in the capital Belgrade.
Barna swam a 22.21 that broke his own record of 22.27 done at the 2018 European Championships.
The 22-year old is a former Louisville Cardinal and current Louisville post-grad whose last meet was at the Greensboro stop of the US Open series in the United States. There he swam 22.76 in the 50 free, 48.75 in the 100 free, and 1:49.47 in the 200 free.
He was slower in the 50 free final, swimming 22.96 to win gold, but led off Spartak’s 200 free relay in his new record-setting time. He also swam the 50 fly, taking silver in 25.20.
Also winning multiple events on the men’s side was 27-year old Velimir Stjepanovic, a two-time Serbian Olympian. He came away with wins in both of his specialty middle distance freestyle races, topping the 200 in 1:49.12 and the 400 in 3:55.62; and also won the 200 fly in 2:02.14.
16-year old Nina Stanisavljevic topped the women’s sprints, winning 7 individual events, including a sweep of the 50 meter races.
That included a 25.16 on a 200 free relay leadoff that breaks an 11-year old Serbian Record. The old mark was set in a now-banned supersuit at the 2009 World Championships when Miroslava Najdanovski swam 25.21 in the heats.
Among Stanisavljevic’s swims, the 50 free on the relay leadoff of 25.16 (.48 second improvement), a 2nd-place finish in the 200 free in 2:06.32 (1.23 second improvement), and her 100 fly time of 1:00.92 (.63 second improvement) were lifetime bests.
Individually, in total she won the 50 free in 25.92, 50 back in 29.01, 50 breast in 32.94, 50 fly in 27.73, 100 free in 56.41, 100 breast in 1:11.46, and 100 fly in 1:00.92. She was the 2nd-fastest swimmer in the 100 back prelims, but scratched the final.
Other Noteworthy Results:
- 20-year old Djurdje Matic swam 53.63 to win the men’s 100 butterfly. That’s a new lifetime best for him, and in total he’s dropped 7-tenths of a second in that race in post-quarantine racing. That jumps him into 5th place in Serbian history in the event.
- Anja Crevar, Serbia’s only female pool swimmer at the 2019 World Championships and their highest-placing pool swimmer of either gender at that meet, swam and won a single race, the 400 IM, in 4:47.45 over the weekend. She placed 12th in that event at the World Championships. This is just her 2nd meet since March after swimming for her Spanish club Fuensanta earlier this month. There, she was 4:41.92 in the same 400 IM.
