- Darko Sarovic
-
Darko Sarovic 
Darko Sarovic's first appearance for the Serbian National Team at the European Team Championships 2nd League in Novi Sad 2011Personal information Nationality 
Serbia & 
SwedenBorn May 16, 1990
Belgrade, SerbiaResidence Belgrade (Borås, Sweden) Height 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) Weight 150 lb (68 kg)} Sport Sport Track & Field Event(s) 60m and 100m Club Red Star Belgrade & IK Ymer Achievements and titles Personal best(s) 60m: 6.96 (Gothenburg 2011)[1]
110mH: 15.97 (Eskilstuna 2009)[7]
100m: 10.46 (Sliven 2011)[2]
200m: 21.94 (Kragujevac 2011)[3]
400m: 51.17 (Novi Sad 2011)[4]
Pole Vault: 4.13i (Borås 2011)
Long Jump: 6.73i (Borås 2008)
High Jump: 1.85 (Bar 2011)
Javelin: 48.23 (Borås 2011)[5]
60mH: 8.56 (Gothenburg 2009)[6]Medal recordCompetitor for IK Ymer Swedish Championships U20 Silver 2009 Sollentuna Decathlon Competitor for Red Star Belgrade Serbian Championships Gold 2010 Sremska Mitrovica Pole Vault Gold 2011 Kragujevac 200m Silver 2011 Kragujevac 100m Bronze 2011 Novi Sad Decathlon Serbian Championships U23 Gold 2011 Novi Sad 400m Gold 2011 Novi Sad 4x100m Silver 2011 Novi Sad 100m Darko Sarovic (Serbian: Дарко Шаровић, born 16 May 1990 in Belgrade) is a Serbian athlete who specialises in the 60 meter and 100 meter sprint events. He is the fifth fastest serb of all time,[8] and the Serbian record holder U23 in the 100m.[9] He is also the Serbian Champion in the 200 m and the pole vault event and Serbian U23 champion in the 400m and 4x100. As of 2011, Sarovic represents the Serbian National Athletics Team in the 4x100m. He is currently being coached by Ljubisa Stevanovic at Marakana in the club Red Star Belgrade.
In 2009 he finished the IB Diploma Programme and started studying medicine at the University of Belgrade.
He holds both Serbian and Swedish Citizenships.
Contents
Personal life
Sarovic was born in Belgrade on May 16, 1990 as an only child to parents Zorica Zarkovic and Dusan Sarovic. In 1992, he and his mother moved to Borås, Sweden where she had grown up. In 2009, he moved back to Belgrade to study medicine at the University of Belgrade.
Sarovic's parents were both athletes competing in the highest national leagues in basketball and volleyball. His maternal grandfather was the captain of the Yugoslavia men's national volleyball team, playing the position of setter.
He also has cousins in the Serbian National gymnastics and taekwondo Teams.
Career Overview
Sports Background
After starting to practice swimming and gymnastics at age 4, he tried most sports and had multiple practices a day up to his late teens, when he decided to focus solely on track and field.
Sport Time Swimming 1994–1997 Gymnastics 1994–1997 Basketball 1997–2004 Table tennis 1998–1999 Judo 2000–2001 Soccer 2001-2002 + 2004-2009 Shooting 2002–2004 Handball 2002–2009 Volleyball 2003-2006 + 2008-2009 Badminton 2005 Football 2006–2008 Tennis 2007–2009 Athletics 2008–Present Basketball
Across all seasons he averaged 22.6 points per game, most often playing as the playmaker.
Judo
He has a blue belt in judo.
Soccer
Played on the Regional U13 Team. He also participated in the try-outs for the Regional U16 Team. Became Swedish champion with Byttorps IF's Reserve Team in the Premier Division for reserve teams.
Shooting
Club champion 2003 and 2004. Regional Champion 2004.
Handball
Played in Byttorps IF in Borås. Made his debut in the senior team at an age of 14, scoring the most goals in a game that season (14). Was on the try-outs for the regional team and got a place on the team, but later lost his place. Competed at the Swedish National Championships in 2006 and was the 5th best scorer (9.8 goals per game). He also got elected as the MVP of the game in 5 of the 6 matches they played.
Volleyball
At an age of 13 he started playing the position of setter for the first team in the club IK Ymer, which was at the time in the 3rd division in the Swedish league. In 2006 he finished a referee course to become a referee for the 1st division for women and 3rd division for men.
Football
Played in the club Borås Rhinos[10] and got elected MVP offence in 2007. While playing in the club he scored 21 touchdowns and 86% of the team's points.
Track & Field
Sarovic started practicing track and field in 2008 in the Swedish club IK Ymer. He practiced track for 3 months as early as in 2001 and placed 3rd in the Regional Championships in the high jump event with a record of 1.25m, but soon lost interest due to the lack of coaches in the club.
2008
In his first 60 m competition he clocked a time of 7.47 to tie for the 4th place at the Regional Indoor Championships.[11] He ended the indoor 2008 season with a personal best of 7.34,[12] recording a personal best in all 10 races.
In his first 100 m race he ran 11.60[13] at a division 1 meet with IK Ymer placing 2nd. The remainder of the season he traveled around Sweden to competitions trying to qualify for the Swedish U20 Championships (11.50 s). He ended the season with a personal best of 11.53 in allowed winds; 11.26, 11.28, 11.41 and 11.46 with +2.4 or more wind. Since he was close to the qualifying norm, the club decided to allow him to compete at the National Junior Championships in the 100 m and 200 m events where he placed 21st and 19th respectively.[14]
At the end of the season he placed 3rd in the high jump event at the Swedish High School Championships;[15] Also 7th in the 100 m and 300 mH, and 8th in the long jump event.
2009
In the beginning of the season he lowered his personal best to 7.04 at the Regional Championships. He won the gold medal in the 60m, long jump and 60mH events for U20. He also won another gold and a silver in the long jump and 60m events respectively for the senior class.[16]
On March 14–15 he competed at the Swedish National Indoor Multi Event Championships in Eskilstuna and did his first heptathlon. He finished 5th after having scored 4 personal bests.[17]
On March 23, 2009 he badly injured his left ankle when practicing pole vaulting due to a bad fall. After this he was out of practice for more than 4 months, and back in competition in late July. There was little time to get back in shape but he still finished the season with a small personal best of 11.40.[18]
At the end of the season the injury was almost completely healed and he decided to compete in the Swedish National U20 Championships in the decathlon, his first time. He placed second after having scored 5 personal bests.[19]
2010
In September 2009, Sarovic moved to Belgrade, Serbia to study medicine. He then started practicing in Red Star Belgrade with coach Ljubisa Stevanovic (Serbian: Љубиша Стевановић). This proved to be a successful cooperation.
The winter season of 2010, still recovering from the injury and not having had a regular practice since March, he averaged 7.21 in the 60m dash.
After getting back on track with practices he opened the outdoor season with a personal best in the 100 m of 11.19. He lowered his personal best 9 more times that season and finally broke the 11 s-barrier at the Serbian National Championships; 10.89 in the qualifying round and 10.90 in the finals to finish 5th[20] on the first day. On the second day he competed in the 200 m and pole vault. He qualified for the final in the 200m event but did not run in it since it was at the same time as the pole vault; the discipline which he went on to win a gold medal in; his first at a national championship.[21]
In 2011 he won a triple gold at the Belgrade Championships[22]: 100 m, 400 m and 4x100 m.
Towards the end of the season he lowered his personal best down to 10.83, running out of competition at the Serbian National U18 Championships in Kragujevac, Serbia.
He finished off the season with his second decathlon and became the champion of Vojvodina with 6 new personal bests.
In November he pulled his left hamstring; an injury that persisted across the winter season to April 2011.
2011
During the winter break at his University, Sarovic went back to Sweden to compete. On February 5 he broke the 7 s-barrier with a personal best of 6.96 to finish first in the qualifying rounds of the Gothenburg Regional Championships. In the final he won with a time of 6.86, but that race got restarted due to unknown circumbstances. In the re-race he placed 3rd with 7.02.[23]
He also competed in the preparative competition (Road To Göteborg 2013) for the European Indoor Championships that will be held in Gothenburg 2013. There he ran under 7 s for the third time to finish 6th with 6.96 (7.002 in the qualifying rounds).
In the summer of 2011 Sarovic competed in his first major competitions: First at the Belgrade International Athletics Meet [24] (10.93), then at the European Champion Clubs Cup at his own Red Star stadium[25] (22.18 PB & 10.84). He made his debut in the national team in Novi Sad at the Europeam Team Championships, 2nd League, for the 4x100 m[26] (40.91). He made his second appearance for the National Team at the 64th Balkan Championships in Sliven, Bulgaria, running the 4x100 and the 100 m and 200 m out of competition. In the 100 m he lowered his personal best to 10.46[27] (2nd fastest at the Balkan Championships overall) and thus qualified for the European U23 Championships (10.55) in Ostrava, Czech Republic. That is also the 5th fastest time in history in Serbia, a National Record U23 and the fastest time in 2011 [28]. In the 200 m event he broke the 22s-barrier with a slightly wind assisted race 21.97 (+2.1).[29] His last major competition was the European Championships U23 in Ostrava where he finished 20th after having injured his hamstring.[30]
During the outdoor season he competed at three national championships. At the Serbian U23 championships he finished first in the 400 m and the 4x100 m, and second in the 100 m event. At the Serbian championships he won the gold medal in the 200 m, the silver in the 100 m, and the bronze in the decathlon event.
Statistics
60 m 100 m 200 m 2008 7.34 11.51 23.31 2009 7.04 11.40 23.09i 2010 - 10.83 22.44 2011 6.96 10.46 21.94 Education
Sarovic finished the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Sven-Eriksonsgymnasiet to receive a bilingual diploma. After high school, in 2009, he enrolled in the 6 year long Medicine and Surgery program at the Medical Faculty at Belgrade University. In 2010, he got elected as the best student having the highest grade point average at the English Medical Faculty.
During his second year he started doing research at the Anatomy Institute. He conducted research on the development of schizophrenia due to retarded development of the hippocampus induced by maternal deprivation; he presented his findings at the 22nd European Students Conference in Berlin[31] and his abstract "morphometric analysis of hippocampus in maternally deprived rats" was published in the European Journal of Medical Research.
He is currently in the third year of his medical studies.
Besides studying medicine, he also takes courses in physics, mathematics and programming at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and in cancer genetics at Skövde University College.
References
- ^ Road To Göteborg 2013
- ^ 64th Balkan Championships
- ^ Serbian Championships 2011
- ^ Serbian U23 Championships 2011
- ^ Castorama, IK Ymer 18.9.2011
- ^ Swedish U20 Indoor Championships 2009
- ^ Swedish U20 Championships 2009
- ^ Serbian All Time Lists
- ^ EAAF Profile
- ^ Forum post displaying Roster in 2006
- ^ Västergötland Regional Indoor Championships 2008
- ^ Löplabbet 2008
- ^ Motala Seriematch Div. 1
- ^ Swedish Junior Championships 2008
- ^ Skol-SM i Sollentuna 2009
- ^ Regional Indoor Championships 2009
- ^ Swedish National Indoor Championships for Multi Events 2009
- ^ Vätterspelen 2009
- ^ Swedish National Championships for Multi Events 2009
- ^ Serbian National Championships 2010
- ^ Serbian National Championships 2010
- ^ Belgrade Championships 2011
- ^ Gothenburg Indoor
- ^ BIAM 2011
- ^ ECCC Belgrade 2011
- ^ ETC 2nd League 2011
- ^ 64th Balkan Championships, 100m o.o.c.
- ^ Serbian Season Best Lists 2011
- ^ 64th Balkan Championships, 200 m o.o.c.
- ^ Results for 100 m at 8th European U23 Championships
- ^ 22nd ESC, Poster presentations day 2, Session 5, Neurology
External links
Awards Preceded by
Milos SavicBelgrade U23 Athlete Of The Year
2010Incumbent Categories:- 1990 births
- Living people
- People from Belgrade
- Male sprinters
- Serbian athletes
- University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine alumni
- Swedish athletes
- Swedish sprinters
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
