Serbia's First Gold in Taranto: Kayak Duo Wins K2 500m
Strahinja Dragosavljevic and Veljko Vjestica gave Serbia its first gold at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, winning the K2 500m kayak final a day after Zarko Krajisnik took bronze in taekwondo.
The morning in Taranto was calm, exactly what kayakers need. The water sat flat, the sun had not yet reached full strength, and at the start line a boat carrying Serbian markings on its bow waited for the final signal. Strahinja Dragosavljevic and Veljko Vjestica set off from the middle of the field, but after the first fifty meters or so, there was no longer any doubt about who was moving fastest.
The pair finished the K2 500m event in 1:28.92, delivering Serbia’s first gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto. Silver went to the Portuguese crew in 1:30.54, bronze to Italy in 1:30.89. The gap between gold and bronze came out to under two seconds, and over 500 meters in a kayak that means the race stayed tight down to the final strokes, with a mid-pack starting position proving to be nothing more than a detail rather than a handicap.
The gold arrived a day after Serbia had claimed its first medal of any color at the Games. Taekwondo athlete Zarko Krajisnik, only 19, beat Spaniard Djoan Horkera 2-1 across three rounds in the quarterfinal of the under-68kg category. He was stopped in the semifinal by Frenchman Sulejman Alafilip, but the bronze was already secured by then, and it stood as Serbia’s first medal in Taranto.
It was a double shift for Serbian kayaking that day. In the women’s field, in the same 500m event, Zofi Horvat and Kaja Saric finished fifth in 1:53.62. Spain took gold in 1:46.63, Italy silver in 1:49.16, and France bronze in 1:50.91. Fifth place at the Mediterranean Games is not a medal, but against competition at this level it still counts as a result worth noting.
Vjestica raced twice that day. Paired with Zarko Jakovljevic, he reached the final of the men’s K1 1,000m. Jakovljevic won his semifinal heat convincingly, in 3:54.35, while Vjestica finished third in his own heat, stretching his competition day into a second shot at a medal after the morning’s gold in the doubles. The K1 1,000m final is set for Sunday at 11:30.
All of this is unfolding at Games that opened officially on August 21. Serbia’s flag at the ceremony was carried by taekwondo athlete Stefan Takov and volleyball player Bojana Milenkovic, with the opening attended by Sports Minister Zoran Gajic, Olympic Committee of Serbia president Dejan Tomasevic, first vice president Ivan Todorov, and secretary general Dejan Bojovic. Serbia is competing in Taranto with 148 athletes across 32 sports, while the Games overall draw roughly 5,000 athletes from Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Mediterranean Games are held every four years, and the first edition took place in Alexandria back in 1951.
Two medals after two days of competition, plus another final already secured, is not a bad start for a Serbian team of 148 athletes at an event of this scale. Kayaking has already produced both a gold and a fifth-place finish on the same morning, a sign that form in the discipline is solid, while taekwondo showed that even the team’s younger members, such as 19-year-old Krajisnik, can hold their own against more experienced rivals. Two sports, two medals, inside a window of just over twelve hours, which is exactly the picture the Serbian delegation in Taranto wants to keep seeing in the days ahead. The next test comes Sunday at 11:30, when Jakovljevic and Vjestica line up for the K1 1,000m final, hoping to turn one gold into a second medal from the kayaking program.
