‘Double Euro success just the beginning’

Dubai: UAE-based Serbian swimmer Velimir Stjepanovic said his double gold medal success at last week’s European Long Course Championships in Berlin is just the beginning of an Olympic dream.

The 21-year-old Hamilton Aquatics squad member won 200-metre and 400-metre freestyle gold medals in respective times of 1:45.78 and 3:45.66 last week, but missed out on the semi-finals of his third event, the 200-metre butterfly, by five milliseconds.

Stjepanovic told Gulf News the results bode well in his preparation for next year’s World Championship in Kazan, Russia and the Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, providing he can stave off complacency.

“Becoming double European champion is just the beginning, I don’t want it to be the end,” he said. “It gives me a lot of motivation to train harder and be more prepared for the worlds next year and in two years time for Rio.

“We’re on a good path but I can’t let these two wins go to my head. I can’t stay on cloud nine, basically I have to stay grounded and carry on doing what I’ve been doing.

“There are still a lot of people in the world that are faster than me. I’m ninth in the world for the 400-metre freestyle and fifth in the world for 200-metre freestyle, so there is still a lot of work to be done if I want to be the best in the world.

“I have to carry on training, that’s my mentality, it’s not that now I’m a double European champion I can mess around in training, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Stjepanovic added that his double gold medal success in Berlin came as no surprise. “As long as I get into finals, the rest is history. I can give 110 per cent in that race and I’m really good at racing in finals. Once I got into both finals I knew I could do it if I swam properly.”

For the Olympics in 2016, he said he would continue to focus on his three events.

“I need to work a lot on my butterfly, my half way turn is off so I missed out on the semi-final by five milliseconds. It’s definitely increased my appetite to train harder to try and medal at Rio, it’s going to take a lot but I think I’m ready.”