Thanks to Radovan Siljevski for contributing to this report:
Serbia has named 7 swimmers to its roster for next month’s Short Course European Championships and has also announced its standards for the 2016 Olympic team and the 2016 Long Course European Championships roster.
The short course Euros list is headed by multi-event national record-holders Vuk Celic and Anja Crevar, both of whom are distance freestylers. Celic owns long course Serbian marks in the 800 and 1500 frees, while Crevar is the fastest Serbian in history in the 400 and 800 frees.
The full roster:
- Ivan Lendjer
- Boris Stojanovic
- Petar Petrovic
- Vuk Celic
- Anja Crevar
- Stefan Sorak
- Uros Nikolic
In addition to Celic and Crevar, four more athletes on the roster own national records in short course meters. Lendjer (50 back) and Petrovic (100 back) are backstrokers, while Stojanovic holds the 100 IM record in short course and Sorak the 800 free.
The roster notably does not include 2014 long course European champ Velimir Stjepanovic, or recent national addition Arkady Vyatchanin.
For the 2016 Long Course European Championships, Serbia will take athletes who hit A cuts established by the Serbian Swimming Federation. Athletes hitting B cuts can make the team as relay swimmers, and no relay swimmers will be taken who do not have B cuts. You can find the A and B cuts in this document, in its original Serbian.
In addition, the Serbian Federation will take athletes with FINA A cuts to the 2016 Olympic Games. Relays will only be taken if they reach top 16 status worldwide.
As of now, only four athletes have earned A cuts for Olympic berths:
- Velimir Stjepanovic – 100 free, 200 free, 400 free
- Arkady Vyatchanin – 100 back, 200 back
- Caba Siladji – 100 breast
- Anja Crevar – 400 IM
Ivan Lendjer might be 50 back record holder (won’t even check) but he is not a backstroker. He swims only butterfly in long course and his best event is 100 fly.
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That’s true… He swims backstroke sometimes to cover the relay leg, but his main event is 100 fly. At the 2009 short course Europeans he won the bronze medal in the 100 fly.