Matea Samardžić won the first medal for Croatian swimming since 2012, setting the new Croatian record for the 200 meters backstroke.
Great news for Croatian swimming came from London on May 17, 2016, as Matea Samardžić won the bronze medal at the European Swimming Championship. Twenty-one year old Matea, a member of Swimming Club Mornar Split has set the new Croatian record for the 200 meters backstroke, improving her own record set in March in Split by 49 hundredths of the second.
She has already qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio, later this summer, and with this result has shown great form. The winner in the race was Hungarian Katinka Hosszu and Ukrainian
Darina Zevina has finished second. The new Croatian record is now set at the time of 2:09.24.
Matea has spoken for the Croatian Swimming Federation official web-site: “This is my first medal at the senior competitions and an award for all my hard work in my career. I started the race in hard rhythm, and at the middle of the race, I have had enough confidence to keep it at the same level until the end. When I saw the board after the race, the feelings overwhelmed me. My family surprised me by getting to the race, and I have to thank them, my club, and my whole team for the support I got from them all.”
