Graham Croker
Sydney University Sports Scholarship holder Matt Jaukovic maintained his unbeaten record in the men’s 50m butterfly and put his own world record to the test in the final leg of the FINA/ARENA Short Course Swimming World Cup, held in Berlin on Saturday night.
Jaukovic, 22. clocked 22.58s, just 0.08 outside the world record mark he set in Sydney last month, to edge out Johannes Dietrich of Germany (22.88) and Russian Evgeny Korotyshkin (22.93).
Since setting the world mark at 22.50 in the third leg of the World Cup, Jaukovic has since chalked up wins in Singapore, Moscow, Stockholm and now Berlin and 100m wins in Sydney, Singapore and Moscow – taking his winnings to over $33,000).
With the 100m final scheduled for tonight (Monday), Jaukovic will be looking for his ninth series win and another dip into the prizemoney. The economics-law student is still in contention for an overall World Cup winner’s prize of $US100,000.
Born in Montenegro in 1985, Jaukovic came to Australia three years ago to study at the University of Sydney and train under the watchful eye of the University’s head swimming coach Steve Alderman.
Jaukovic, who swam for his native country as a junior before coming to study in Sydney, said his ultimate goal is to represent Australia at the Olympic Games.
