You are working on Staging1

arena Swim of the Week: Antonio Djakovic Takes Big Leap Forward With 3:43 400 Free

Swim of the Week is brought to you by arena, a SwimSwam partner.

Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Many big-time performances from the recently-concluded European Championships flew under the radar, which is bound to happen when there are 43 events contested in a seven-day timespan.

One swimmer in particular who stepped up and had the best meet of his young career was Switzerland’s Antonio Djakovic, who picked up a pair of silver medals in the men’s 200 and 400 freestyle.

Djakovic first broke his Swiss National Record in the 200 free semis, clocking 1:45.32, and then challenged eventual champion David Popovici early in the final before ultimately finishing second in a time of 1:45.60.

But Djakovic had an even better showing in the 400 free.

The 19-year-old had set his previous best time of 3:45.82 in the prelims of the Tokyo Olympic Games to finish ninth, 14 one-hundredths shy of earning a swim-off to fight for a berth in the final (the eighth-place qualifier happened to be eventual gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui).

At the 2022 World Championships, Djakovic once again had a near-miss in the heats, clocking 3:46.90 to finish 10th overall, less than half a second off of making the final.

But at the European Championships on Wednesday, he found another gear.

After posting a time of 3:47.67 in the morning to advance third into the final, the Frauenfeld, Switzerland native dropped nearly two seconds off his lifetime best to win the silver medal behind Germany’s Lukas Maertens, annihilating his Swiss Record in 3:43.93.

In Tokyo, Djakovic went out fast, and in Budapest, he was perhaps too conservative on the front-half. In Rome, he seemed to find a happy medium in the final, managing to get out with the leaders and still close strong, ultimately posting the fastest closing 50 in the field at 27.10.

Split Comparison

2021 Olympics, Prelims 2022 Worlds, Prelims 2022 Euros, Final
25.58 26.26 25.42
53.54 (27.96) 54.85 (28.59) 53.75 (28.33)
1:22.09 (28.55) 1:24.00 (29.15) 1:22.30 (28.55)
1:50.81 (28.72) 1:53.25 (29.25) 1:51.22 (28.92)
2:19.31 (28.50) 2:22.05 (28.80) 2:19.80 (28.58)
2:47.82 (28.51) 2:50.69 (28.64) 2:48.40 (28.60)
3:17.08 (29.26) 3:19.18 (28.49) 3:16.83 (28.43)
3:45.82 (28.74) 3:46.90 (27.72) 3:43.93 (27.10)

Having knocked almost two seconds off his Swiss Record from Toyko, Djakovic jumps up 29 spots in the all-time rankings, moving to 31st after previously ranking 60th, and also now ranks fifth in the world this year.

Men’s 400 Freestyle (LCM) World Rankings, 2022

  1. Elijah Winnington (AUS), 3:41.22 – World Championships
  2. Lukas Maertens (GER), 3:41.60 – Swim Open Stockholm
  3. Guilherme Costa (BRA), 3:43.31 – World Championships
  4. Felix Aubeock (AUT), 3:43.58 – World Championships
  5. Antonio Djakovic (SUI), 3:43.93 – European Championships

In an event where a sub-3:44 swim has frequently been all that’s required to get on the podium at the Olympics or World Championships (his time is faster than the bronze medal time from Tokyo, for example), Djakovic is now a bonafide medal contender moving forward, especially considering he is still a teenager.

See arena North America here.

Follow arena USA on Instagram here.

About arena

arena has revolutionized the world of aquatic sport through insightful collaboration with world class athletes and the development of cutting edge competitive swimwear since 1973. Today, this spirit of collaboration and innovation lives on through a continuous evolution of advanced materials and Italian design that improves the performance, style and expression of all those who chose arena. From leading the lanes to living in style, arena is dedicated to providing all swimmers with the tools they need to express themselves, feel confident, win and achieve more. Because in arena, you can.

In This Story

3
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

3 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
NathenDrake
2 years ago

The swiss swim on the men side is just insane, without a question they are the best after the traditional big 6.

W_P_1
Reply to  NathenDrake
2 years ago

Who are the traditional big 6?

Afcl1
2 years ago

Awesome swimmer! Following him since when he won in EJC. Keep going Antonio 😀

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

Read More »