Building off a fantastic debut season in Buff and Blue that finished at the NCAA Championship, Djurdje Matic has continued to showcase his progress this summer.
 
After winning a pair of individual golds at the Serbian National Championship last month, the rising redshirt junior swimmer put his best foot forward at the Mediterranean Games in Oran, Algeria, highlighted by a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter butterfly on Tuesday.
 
Matic set a personal best in prelims before going even faster in the final with a sizzling time of 52.82 seconds to shave nearly half a second off his morning swim at the long-course meet.
 
"It really meant a lot to me to represent my country on the international stage," Matic said. "I came here with a single goal and that was to give my best and try to represent Serbia in the best possible way."

For Matic, the high-caliber summer competition is offering a chance to continue to perfect his signature race.
 
A week after equaling his personal-best program record time of 45.52 seconds in the 100-yard fly at the NCAA meet in March to finish tied for 22nd in the nation, he headed to a TYR Pro Series meet in San Antonio and clocked a then-personal best time of 53.30 seconds in the 100m fly.
 
Since then, Matic has worked with GW Head Coach Brian Thomas on a race plan with a revised breathing pattern aimed at dropping more time.
 
That attention to detail has paid off for the Belgrade, Serbia, native. He won both the 50m and 100m fly at his national championship before heading to North Africa as part of his country's four-swimmer contingent for the Mediterranean Games, which bring together athletes from countries in Africa, Asia and Europe that border the Mediterranean Sea every four years.

Matic started his stay at the meet last Friday with a time of 24.66 seconds in the 50m fly, good for 14^th out of 19 in a decorated field.

On Tuesday, Matic was ready to go stroke for stroke with some of the world's best in the 100m fly. His prelims time of 53.27 seconds landed him second in his heat to punch a ticket to the final and set the stage for an even better swim in the evening session.
 
"For the finals, I got my confidence from the morning race," Matic said. "I knew I was ready and that I had more in me, so I just relaxed and gave it my all."

Seeded eighth in the final, Matic moved past three swimmers to finish just off the podium with a time that represented a long-awaited breakthrough.

"For the last couple of months, I was regularly swimming 53 low," said Matic, who will find out soon if he will be part of Serbia's team for next month's European Championships. "I was sure that I could go faster than that, so when I finished and saw the time, I was very happy."
 
Watching back in Foggy Bottom, Thomas was excited to see Matic's continued dedication rewarded.

"I thought Djurdje swam a great race on Tuesday, and it was especially nice to see some of his front-end speed come back a bit," Thomas said. "By the time we reached the end of the NCAA season and he had rested two or three times, we saw some of that speed diminish. 

"From a broader perspective, it's extremely valuable to get some experience at an international competition while representing Serbia. These meets are often stepping stones toward Euros, Worlds and the Olympic Games and it's a great learning experience."