2021 TURKISH JUNIOR MEET
- Thursday, April 22nd – Sunday, April 25th
- Edirne, Turkey
- LCM Format (50m)
- FINA Olympic Qualifying Standards
- Results
During the Turkish Junior Meet in Edirne over the past weekend, teenager Jovan Lekic set two Bosnian and Herzegovinian (BIH) records in the 800 free and 200 fly. Earlier this month at the Serbian Grand Prix in Belgrade, Lekic swam his now-former 200 fly national record at 2:02.25 before breaking it again in Turkey.
During the 800 free timed final, Lekic placed third behind Turks Yigit Aslan (7:56.49) and Batuhan Filiz (8:06.33). Lekic touched the wall at 8:08.15, shaving time off Mihajlo Ceprkalo‘ mark of 8:13.02 from the 2015 World Championships. The BIH swimmer is now the 9th-fastest 18&U European in this event for the 2021 calendar year.
Into the 200 fly, after swimming 2:04.07 to qualify fourth in prelims, Lekic pulled out closing 30.89 finishing effort to diminish Turk Jorge Eliezer Otaiza Hernandez‘s 2-second lead and win the event title. Lekic registered a time of 2:01.23, taking a full second off his former national standard. Otazia Hernandez settled for a close second place finish at 2:01.35.
Later on, Lekic swam the 200 fly again in a time trial, hitting 2:02.43 after his record-breaking swim. Nailing a Turkish national record also from a time trial was Berka Saka, swimming 1:57.36 in the 200 back to take down his month-old national standard of 1:57.67 from the Turkish Championships.
Earlier in the meet, Turk Umitcan Gures nailed the 100 fly national record at 51.91, the same day the quartet of Gizem Guvenc (1:59.35), Beril Boecekler (2:02.40), Merve Tuncel (2:00.17), and Deniz Ertan (2:00.84) broke the women’s 800 free relay national record at 8:02.76. 16-year-old sensation Tuncel also broke the 800 free national record at 8:26.06, during this meet, which ranks among the top 10 times in the world for the 2020-2021 season.
Congrats Jovan