The Sevan Podcast - #106 - Lazar Dukic and Luka Dukic

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

The Sevan Podcast EP 106 - Lazar and Luka Dukic & Brian Friend The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Brian's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/brianfriendcrossfit/ https://morningchalkup.com/author/brianfriend/ Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What's up, guys? How are you doing today? Great. Enjoying the day off? Having a little rest day today. Actually, we trained a little bit, had some body work done, and now we are talking to you guys.

Great. It's going to be one of those shows where they know Brian and not me. This really sucks. I want to quit. Come on. Everybody knows you guys. Great. It's going to be one of those shows where they know Brian and not me. This really sucks. I want to quit. Everybody knows you, Sevan. You guys sound like you could be

relatives of mine. Are you guys Armenian? No. What are you guys? Serbians. Serbians. Two handsome Serbian men.

Luka Lazar, thanks for doing this. This is pretty crazy uh you're in the middle of one of the hardest weeks of your life and you're uh in terms of physical competition and you're giving us some time in the middle and i appreciate it we'll we'll try not to say anything that gets in your head and scrambles your head will be nice thank you very much thank you thank you for inviting us to this podcast uh guys, if you're watching this, it's Luka on the left and Lazar. Am I saying your name right? Lazar?

Yeah. So I don't know how you see us, but this is Luka and this is Lazar. And what's the age difference? Three years. Three years. Lazar is 25 and I'm 22. 25 and 22. Yeah. And where

are you guys right now? Are you guys at the venue? Yeah, we had some body

work done and yeah, we just finished that actually. And did they provide that for

free for you guys? Yeah. With A. Rosti, like, guys are great. Okay, so it's someone you trust trust so it's not like someone who's going to make you so relaxed and disconnect your okay and do you guys do a lot of body work at home with your training or is this something new yeah we're

doing it like every week once or twice a week every week on some active recovery or rest days actually massage in the serbia is pretty cheap it's like 12 so it's yeah it's something we do often you made so many people jealous right there like 12 that's awesome yeah i i told that yesterday he's like 100 per an hour at canada so yeah i i got i have 10 massages for his one so and and in canada that you have to be in separate cells and the both you have to be in uh astronaut suits so uh how crazy is this? You guys are brothers and you're both at the CrossFit Games. Yeah. It's really good.

It feels really good. Do you have any other family here? No, just coaches. And do you guys have the same coach? No. Do you guys train together? No. Do your guys train together? No. Do your coaches get along?

No. Yeah, they get along. They're actually staying in the same room this weekend, so they have to get along. Are you guys staying in the same room, the two of you? Yeah, we are in the same room. Do you guys get along the same room, the two of you? Yeah, we are in the same room. Do you guys get along? Sure, sure.

We didn't when we were younger. Yeah, now it's fine. But now it's really good. Are you born and raised in Serbia? Yes. And are your parents watching this weekend from Serbia? Yes. Man.

It's a huge time difference, but they stay awake so they can watch us. When you finish the events and you go back to your phone, do you have messages from them or pictures or anything? Well, no. Just a second. Now we can see both of you. Just a second. Now we can see both of you.

Well, actually, we don't respond to anybody except our girlfriends. So we just say, hey, mom, everything is good. And I don't do anything else. Hey, mom, I'm alive. And you do this to sort of just preserve this is to preserve energy and just stay focused? Exactly, yes. Okay. Then maybe you should talk to your mom and not your girlfriends.

Our mom is like, she's such a caring mother, but she's a little bit too much. Are you okay? Like, what's happening? Are you eating enough? Are you sleeping enough? It takes a lot of energy to talk to. Tell me about that really quick. So now I'm starting to get the picture here. Is there a... Tell me your last name first so we can get it right. It's Djukic? Djukic, yeah.

Djukic. Seva. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I saw someone in the comments says, let's see if Seva will say his name correct. Behind your back, I call you guys Djukic, but to your face, I call you Dukic. Yeah. Brian keeps correcting me. I'm like, I like the way I say it. I was listening to your podcast with Brian and when he was predicting Europe semifinals.

Yes. And you're like, who are these guys? uh semi-finals yes anyway who are these guys i wouldn't be an american if i could say a name right um so so tell me about that is your mom tripping i'm guessing that you grew up in a household where you guys had to eat until you popped and and and now and now you're now your mom thinks you're on these weird crossfit diets is there like when you go to the house is she like just trying to fill you guys with bread and just all sorts of just crazy shit and you're like mom we can't eat that anymore no like she she understands she understands very very much what what we are doing so

she's trying to she's trying her best to make the best food and to like help us with our diet so yeah she's she's a great mom but uh yeah she's boring too much sometimes what's the name of the gym you guys train at in serbia each of you actually like we have a huge uh garage at So, but the affiliate that we are working, that we are training in when we are training affiliate is CrossFit Novi Sad or CrossFit NS, like a short name for that. Say the name again. I heard you say NS,

but I want to try to say the real name. What is it? Navi Stad? CrossFit Novi Sad. Navi Stad. Novi Sad. Novi Sad. Novi Sad. Navi Sad. Navi Sad. Navi Sad.

Navi Sad. Navi Sad. It's the place where we are from. So it's CrossFit Navi Sad. In Armenian, Navi Stag is a rabbit. So that's why I kept wanting to say Navi Stag. This is the name of the city. Like Navi Sad is the second biggest city in Serbia. So basically the affiliate is carrying the name of the city. Novi Sad is the second biggest city in Serbia.

So basically, the affiliate is carrying the name of the city. Okay, and how many people live in that city? Like 300,000, even a little bit, like 400,000. And how many CrossFit gyms are there? One that is like an official affiliate. Like there are a few gyms that are working CrossFit but they're not you know like when gym is working but they are not like affiliate

so yeah but one official affiliate and how long has that gym been there for this year they were celebrating their 7th birthday so yeah 7 years wow and have you guys been there for that long But this year, they were celebrating their seventh birthday. So, yeah, seven years. Wow. And have you guys been there for that long?

No, we started CrossFit in 2016, 15. End of 2015, beginning of 2016. So, yeah. That's five years. Since then, basically, yeah. So, Lazar, you've been doing CrossFit since you've been 20. And Luca, you've been doing it since you've been 17. Yeah, exactly.

And when I judge people, I think if you're from Canada, you must play hockey. If you're from Brazil, you come out holding a soccer ball. I want to guess before they answer. I want Sevan to guess, What's the Serbian sport? What's the national sport of Serbia? My guess is basketball. And one more. Handball. No.

It's water polo. Oh, wow. Wow. Actually, basketball, most famous sport, and water polo is a sport that we are most successful at. Yeah, I should have known that. Tons of famous, some really famous people in the NBA, Serbians, right?

Who's the guy who played with the Lakers forever? Jokic, then there's Bogdanovic. Is that the new guy that people are saying it's unfair? He's so good, it's unfair? Is that the new guys from people are saying it's unfair? He's so good, it's unfair? Is that the new guys from Serbia? I don't know. There's a funny story in Serbia that Jokic posted a post on Facebook. He was asking, hey guys, does anybody want to play basketball with me?

Zero likes, zero shares. And five years later, he's like NBA. Million likes, million shares after five years. Nobody wants to play with fat kid, right? That's awesome. Did you guys play water polo? I was water polo player. I was playing water polo for 10 years and I was playing soccer for 10 years. Okay.

Is Lazar tougher than you? I think of water polo as being like a really tough, brutal sport. Actually, when we started CrossFit, I was like, I would give everything now that I was a water polo player because I feel that for CrossFit, it's like such a much better background to have than soccer. But yeah, like now we are doing CrossFit for long enough

that yeah, those like sports that we did before, they are just like, they're in the back. So we are now more like CrossFit athletes that we are like water polo or like soccer, like backgrounds that we have. Yeah. Tons of tons of great crossfitters with a soccer background. Nothing wrong with soccer. I've never heard of a I'm sure they're out there, but I've never heard of a crossfitter who has a water polo background.

But my friends who played water polo were tough as shit, man. No. Oh, right. Right, also water polo. Oh, right, right, right. You knew that, huh, Brian? Brian's not here. Brian, you're muted. You're muted.

Brian, you're muted. Brian, you're muted. We see your lips moving, Brian. Brian, you're muted. Oh, he can't hear us and we can't hear him. That's perfect. This is going to be the best show ever i love it uh ryan will you text brian and tell him that nothing needs thank you maybe she just realized it

hey brian did you realize that lazar and luca were on the show and then it started 10 minutes ago are you still writing an article for the morning chalk up? Nothing for morning chalk up. Nope. We're trying to get the age group leaderboards correct. They're having their ceremony in 15 minutes. I've never been more excited to have two guys on the show before. I know, by the way, he went into a panic when we couldn't use your Android. I'm like, Nope,

I guess we're not doing the interview. And Brian's texting back ferociously the fuck we're not let's figure this out um so so you guys both have that sports background were you super dedicated to those sports yeah pretty much yeah we were we were both like just on the edge of making it like professional i think and then we both had like a like uh i think decisions that we had to make to like switch like to stop you know there was a school uh we were like getting i would say like all the need to start going to university and you know so that's what what, like, maybe if we dedicated a little bit earlier, I think we would maybe both

make a professional career out of that, but in the end, it played out well. Also, also, there's Serbia is a small country, and there's a lot of politics involved in the team sports, so, like're you're you need to have a great not great like you have to have good relations yeah to make it in team sports and

i didn't want to do that if i if i want if i'm going to be good at something, I want it to be because of me and not because of somebody else. Your career was depending too much on the other people and not actually on your performance. Okay. And then how did you guys come across CrossFit? Well, first of all, how many people live in Serbia? Do you know the population of the country? Seven million. Six to seven million, yeah. Okay, wow. It is a small country, twice as big as Armenia. Sorry. I have to keep thinking of Armenia. You guys look like you could be my

relatives. So one CrossFit gym in your town, you live in the second biggest town in Serbia with 400,000 people, 6 million people in the country. What's the highest? I'm guessing no one from Serbia has ever been to the CrossFit Games before, correct? Well, there was a girl, Tamara. When was 2019? That doesn't count. That doesn't count. That doesn't count. Sorry.

Sorry. We don't make any money on this show. We can say what we want. That shit doesn't count. Oh, Savan, this is good. I was national champion 2019, and shit doesn't count. Oh, Sevan, this is good. I was national champion 2019 and I didn't come.

Okay. Because of that. Because of that. Okay, let me push back on you a little bit there, though. Why didn't you come

because of that? I mean, wouldn't it have been fun to get the experience or was it just, it was a totally different league, you think?

It's an expensive trip to pay and be cut after two events back then i wasn't feeling ready to to play with big guys so i dedicated more and yeah now now i feel as ready as ever okay and what was the lady's name who came in 2019 do you guys know her do you train with her yeah actually i i was her training partner for some time in while i was working in belgrade are you engaged to her oh no okay just checking no no okay no no relations um and And are either of you guys married?

Lucas, almost. We are both at the end. So neither of you are married? No, we have girlfriends, both for three years. I'm actually living with my girlfriend, but we are not married. And is your mom pressuring you guys to get married i mean you guys are getting pretty old now 20 22 and 25 she's like i want to be a grandmother as soon as possible of course especially with especially she's pushing me

yes you're the older older and like our mother was 20 when she gave birth to me and then 23 when she was having luca and my father was 25 so in her head i'm i'm old right yep you're over the hill already tell her that a guy interviewed you today i didn't have my first baby till I was 39 and I didn't get married till I was 42. And it's working. Right. And now I have three kids and it's working out perfect. Yeah, I'll tell her. So so you're both doing your sports, soccer and water polo. How did how did the intersection with CrossFit come? It doesn't sound like it's a very big, there's not a lot of, you know, it's not as big as it is here in the United States or Iceland or the UK. And two questions, how did you find it? And what made you think that you guys could be good enough to compete when you were, you know, the whole world had this head start on you?

Well, I found it first. I was a student of economics. And in first year, there was this student exchange. It's called the work and travel. You come to US and you work some seasoned job. Like I took a job as a lifeguard. And the guy that I came with, friend igor from novice sad uh was already doing crossfit for like a year and he was like at that time i was switching from water polo and i was doing some bodybuilding and stuff like that.

And he's like, let's do this workout called Murph. I'm sure. Why not? Some pull-ups, push-ups, squats. Not a big deal. And I think I did strict pull-ups. I couldn't run. Of course. He crushed me so bad.

And my competitive spirit, like, got, got like i won i won revenge for this so i i started checking like crossfit pull-ups butterfly pull-ups stuff like that and as when you work as a lifeguard you have 15 minutes break each 45 minutes and each 15 minutes we had a small gym in in that that pool that i was working in and i was doing some pull-ups double unders handstand push-ups stuff like that and at the end i i i i learned everything in those four months that I was there. And we did Murph again and I beat him, actually. And when I came to Serbia, there was a small competition. And there was already some small CrossFit community in Serbia.

And I took second place at that competition. From the guys that were doing crosses for two, three years. I was like, maybe I can be good at this. And then Luka, sorry. Yeah, then I, at that time I was playing soccer

and I was just like getting into like a team of like, of playing like soccer almost professionally. Like semi-professionally here in serbia and then on one game i broke my leg and uh and then i like i needed like three three months of three months of break i get like a few kilos more than i had you know and i wanted something to to get as fast in shape as possible because I was like basically laying at home for three months, not doing anything, like waiting for four legs to heal.

And Lazar came back from the United States with that like CrossFit hype, you know. And at first I was like, no, I won't do that for sure. And then he was like, you should try these few workouts. You will get in a good shape, like really fast. It will help your soccer like, you should try these few workouts. You will get in good shape really fast. It will help your soccer game. And then I started doing it a little bit with him. Every now and then, he will write me a workout that I would do together with my soccer preparation. And I was seeing that I'm like, oh, I'm really good at this.

Not really good, but I felt that I'm really good. Yeah, so did I. So did I when I started. I was like, damn, I'm good. And then, yeah, I started doing like every workout every now and then. And Lazar started competing at those local competitions in Serbia. And then he was like, you should come with me. There is like a teen division you should

compete in a teen division you should try just just go there just go there support me and if you want you can like do a do a teen competition and then uh I started going with with him to those like uh uh a small local competitions he will compete like in Ellie division like or Eric's division and I would compete in a scaled or in a teens. And then as the time was going, we were getting like, how to say like better than the rest of the field. And we were getting more into CrossFit. And then that's how it started basically.

How close do you guys live to each other? Like we were living together for... Until last year. Yeah, until last year. Well, we were living together on and off. I was working in Belgrade, then I was studying in Subotica, then I was working in Kuwait,

and then I came back, and then he moved out. Yeah, no, I was this last year when we were doing a semifinals preparation. In that period, I started working as a coach in affiliate, but like a part-time. And I moved with my girlfriend because she's also a professional athlete. So we are living together. But we are like, it's really like, it's a 15,

15 minute drive. So we are, you can say like, basically we are still living together because we meet so often and we are training at our garage gym, like really often. Yeah. So it's like nothing changed too much.

You know, we're just like trained together, but not the same. Yeah. We're, we train, but not the same thing. We train together, but not the same thing. Why don't you guys live at home with your mom and dad?

I live at home. I live at home. Okay. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's the way to do it, especially if you're Serbian. Lazar, is that gym that you've built in the last year at your parents' house? Yes. And was that inspired because of the lockdowns and stuff like that?

Or had you always planned to do that? It just worked out perfectly with our sponsors. They saw Luca. Can I say the name of the sponsor? Yes, of course. You can say it every five minutes in the show if you want. We have this great, great sponsorship from super pit their their equipment company from germany and they saw luca at some german competition and they were amazed but at the same time that was the same weekend with when dubai was happening uh like two two separate. I think one weekend I was competing

in Germany and then next weekend or weekend before, Lazar was competing at Dubai. And he finished fifth, which was an amazing result, especially in that field. I was competing at one of the bigger German competitions. I won that

competition. They were official sponsor. They were amazed and then they saw that I have a older brother there's two of us? yeah and then they were like they were interested we had already

we have like in our backyard we have like a garage that was empty it was like it was just waiting for the gym it was just waiting for the gym yeah it was just waiting for the gym to happen basically and uh and then yes they gave us full just before covid happened yeah uh some guy named jay lee barber said man these guys are awesome yeah you should talk to them they're oozing fun these. These are guys that I just feel like I'm friends with right away.

I couldn't agree more. So I want to go back and talk about when you came to the States. So this Superfit, they're an equipment manufacturer out of Germany, and they provide CrossFit equipment all over Europe. Yes. And they were nice enough to reach out to you guys. They liked what you were doing, and Superfit said, hey, we'll hook you up. Okay. That's really cool.

Are they Germans? They're Germans? Yeah. It was pretty weird actually that all the sponsors are looking just for social media and followers. And together we don't have 10,000 followers. So it was just amazing that they gave us so much equipment. It's full gym, full affiliate.

It's just small. It's 50 square meters of working space, but it's basically full affiliate. It looks bigger than that when you put pictures up. It looks like you got space to do pretty much everything you need. Yeah, except hands-on work. yeah we have a huge backyard we have a full yard for this what's the temperature range at that house um what's the coldest it gets there in the winter oh we have like four four different seasons okay so yeah when it's winter it's like it's winter, it's really cold. It's just like in minus 5, 10. In the gym.

Yeah, in the gym. In the gym. It's crazy cold. When it's cold, it's crazy cold. When it's hot, it's crazy hot. Do you have any way to keep the barbells or pull-up bars warm? We have a fan warmer, and we put it in front just to a heater like a space heater like the gym is built really good but when uh there's no isolation yeah but when it's really really cold

then it's then it's also really cold inside and basically you can't help it because when outside is like minus 10 or minus 15 it goes goes until, I think, minus 15 or 20 in Serbia. Like degrees, right? Not Fahrenheit. It's minus 15 degrees. Celsius. Yeah, Celsius. And so you're saying it'll be minus 20 outside

and then it'll be significantly warmer in your gym. Minus five. Minus five. Oh, my God. outside and then mine and then it'll be significantly warmer in your gym minus five oh my god when it's like 35 degrees outside or 40 uh in outside it's 50 inside yeah that's what okay that's how it was with this game spread like outside everybody's like, oh, it's very hot in Madison. It's 30 degrees. And they're like, it's 60 inside my gym. And so you guys are just drinking water

nonstop during your workout. Electrolytes, water, whatever. Okay. So what city were you in with Igor in the United States? Oh, I was in Rockville. It's Madison. No, it's Maryland. Sorry I was in Rockville. It's Madison. No, it's Maryland.

Sorry, Maryland. Rockville, Maryland. And did you know Igor back in Serbia or you just met him? He was another Serbian exchange student. Well, I met him in lifeguard education. So we knew each other for about a month before we went to US.

And when you did... He was a buff guy and like you can see he trains something crazy. So I liked it right away. Gotcha. And when you did Murph the first time, did you do it with a weight vest? No, no. And do you remember what your time was? Oh, over an hour.

I think I didn't finish the last run. Awesome. That's incredible. And at that time, that was, what did you say? That was five years ago. It was 2015. It was 2015. It was the summer of 2015, but I don't really count it as my start of CrossFit.

I counted from the October 2015 when I started actually weightlifting and doing everything. Before it, I counted as a functional fitness or something. And were you super sore? After the Murph? Yeah. Yeah. Like just broken the next day, right? I remember eating like this

yeah that's crazy for you i'm guessing for sure you had rhabdo that's amazing it's almost i'm one i'm wondering are you still in touch with igor uh actually no uh he opened his gym he got married and stuff so we split sides but we are still good friends is he in yeah i actually met him like uh three three days before uh i before we were about to like uh leave for the united states and i was doing like mary in the corner of the gym and he went inside the gym just to see something i think with the owner or something and he and I was just in the middle of the workout and I turned my head saw him and he was saying if there was not for me you guys would not be going for the crossing games that's awesome which is true yeah which was completely true yeah okay and and to follow

up that question I know Brian's excited to say something. I got to get this out quick. What made you think that you could do this? I mean, I get why if someone goes and trains in one of these big gyms, if you go to San Diego, California, you could immediately have games aspirations. You see people all around you who are really good. But in Serbia, you're already in a month the best guy at your gym what made you think then that you could come here and compete with these 38 other complete savages well yeah like i i actually didn't know it i i just wanted i just loved love working out and then this guy started working out and he was pushing me pushing me pushing me pushing Like there's no if I stop he'll get better. I don't want him to get better

So we were pushing each other and then like and I think that Like when we started actually competing at those local competition I think once we finish one local competition We were like looking for the next one and then next one would be like a little bit bigger a little bit bigger then once we were like to say like best in serbia and once those competitions like started to be to not be that big for us then we are starting looking for like the the international local competitions and then like lazar then uh setra like regionals as a goal you know in europe

and then it was like gradually getting like bigger and bigger and then as he when he qualified uh for regionals 2018 then i think that actually at that time then we were like okay maybe we are like good enough actually he was good enough then but and then we were like i was looking at him and then we were like okay maybe we should like go 100 on this and like try to make it actually each competition was a surprise my first big competition was at instrodown in greece it was like my actual first big competition and I came there we came by a car and we took a hotel with one bed me and Luca and our father was sleeping in the car we came amateurs and and then we competition started and they were like a couple of regional athletes. There are guys coming with coaches and like

with coaches packed food Luka was in scale division I was in elite and after day one I was in second place just after

the guy that qualified for the regionals 2017 that was and then that guy popped for Reuters so I

I shouldn't be first but yeah Luka was I was in scaleouting for first in scale i was for first in uh rx so it was like surprise after the surprise uh i think then i was i just missed qualifying for dubai 2017 2017 and you just surprise after surprise maybe I'm actually good

maybe it's not a coincidence it's like most people are not saying that when you're starting we were competing at those small local competitions that have a prize money a little bit

just huge when we were five hundred dollars there one thousand there like you go you make some money you go like you earn like two hundred dollars in cash in serbia that's like really in serbia we were competing for one hundred dollars yeah like because in serb like salaries are not as big like salaries are really low compared to... But also prices are lower and everything. But in Serbia, at that time, when you earn $200, that was a big thing for us. Especially at 20 years old, you're going to college or university. Yeah, you could buy dinner for your girlfriend and fill up your gas tank.

Exactly. And you feel like, wow, I got a full, the world is yours. Yeah. You're a King. I remember having $20 in my pocket and going on a date being like, yo, I'm going to get her a cup of coffee and a pizza. Yes. So, um, what So that competition that you said you went to in Greece, when you come back to your hotel room on that second night, are the two of you just giddy? Are you just sitting there in the hotel room going,

holy shit, I can't believe how good we're doing, and you guys just laughing your asses off? Yeah. Like you said, the world is mine. Everything is so good we were so happy but actually I finished competition as fourth

because there were so many heavy deadlifts and I was really bad in that and Luka also missed a spot on the podium just by a little bit so after that we became so much motivated I can't beat these guys they are not better than me. I will beat them next time.

So that's how we got there. And I think that for me, actually, that switch happened maybe in 2018 or 2019. I was competing in Austria. And Adrian Muntweiler was there. He got a wild card for that competition. like a wild card for that competition. And I was never competing against like regional or games level athletes, except like that I was competing against Lazar.

We were like at home. We were going to some smaller competitions. And then that was like the first competition where I would go and compete against regional or games level athletes. And that was, and then Adrian came, he was like 88 place at the games to 2019 when they were when they were cuts yeah and i was like okay this guy is going to like crush us us here and then for i was like it was from first from seven workouts i beat him in like five and he but at the end of the weekend i finished four because i made such a huge mistakes on last two events and then it was a heartbreaking for me because i was leading competition for two

days and on the last day i dropped the floor because of some like my conditioning was really good at that time he wasn't eating he wasn't drinking water yeah i was such a living on a hype. Yeah. I'm beating... Who needs water? And then after that competition, I was like, okay, I should like... I think that I'm good enough to compete with the biggest names in the sport. So when you guys say you would push each other, you mean you would get a text from Lazar saying, hey, I just did 30 muscle-ups in 15 minutes and then you would go home and you would do it in 14 minutes and text them back and then three days yeah exactly or like I would run a mile or and then he would run a mile or like that we were pushing each other in those things or for example I just finished third session what you're doing yeah yeah for example like hey what's your thing

hey what you're doing hey I'm with girlfriend good i just finished my third training session of the day and then i would say like hey i need to go train yeah so stuff like that i think that and i think actually that's the best motivation and that's how how how like we are pushing each other the best are you guys closer than you've ever been as brothers yeah yes yes this since quarterfinals and the open it made us so close it's unbelievable especially after semifinals i mean this year uh we were really we were not happy that they put us in the same same like uh semifinal because basically in europe what they did is if for example you have four athletes from the same country. They were putting two athletes in one semifinals and two athletes in the

other. Except for Serbia. Except for our country. The only thing that they did, they put all of us in German throwdown. And then like, then it wasn't feeling like, then we weren't so happy about that because we,

there was only five spots, you know? And if one brother takes it yeah it was like how it was not that it was not like huge possibility like huge chances that people were giving to us that both of us can qualify and then immediately we are like rethinking yeah is it actually possible like for lazar this year i was thinking like most of people were expecting for him to qualify after like really good performances at Dubai and the Open

but yeah we both made it so it's good but I hope that for next year they will separate us from two different semifinals there was a third Serbian guy that had also made the semifinals and all three of them have been grouped in the same way yeah

oh yeah man that sucks. Luca, let's talk about your run this year. You took sixth place in event number three. And it's interesting. You were the soccer player, whereas Lazar, that was your worst event,

right? Yeah. Yeah. Like, and, and, and the one in the water, you took second place to Yonakoski, yeah yeah like and and and the one in the water you took second place

to Janikowski which I gotta say he told me three weeks ago he was gonna take second place in that event so well done yeah

for the run I was actually hoping to win that event and win win the heat not win the event but I was like watching my heat

and I saw that I'm running with the hopper with Gamboa he was winning the spr not win the event but i was like watching my heat and i saw that i'm running with the hopper with gamboa he was winning the sprints of the games for multiple years and i was like okay it will be enough for sure to make to win my heat and then i won my heat and then the heat after was so much faster that actually five guys from that heat beat in my time but i think that if i was running with them that i would still take a first place but i will have that's awesome yeah we were talking we were talking to pat velner earlier and i asked him if he thought it was you know pretty fortunate that he got put in that heat because the top five times came out of that heat it is pretty difficult

to gauge yourself relative to the other heats when you're you're only running against those eight or nine guys it wasn't really about running to be honest it was about positioning yourself good so i was thinking 500 meters a long run people will die off but there's a 350 meters straight line if you're the first one into a corner, nobody will take you in the corner. And after the corner, there's 50 meters straight line to the finish. And there's a small chance somebody can take you on the sprint. But in my head, I was thinking it's 500 meters, people will die off. But actually, it's 350 and a turn. So, yeah, my expectations were bad. I think I was better than that

30th place just and you didn't i mean that was an event that you didn't have much time to repair you didn't know where the start was what the track was where the finish was just we were just done with the free flip and they were like okay guys be ready be ready be ready in 10 basically like be ready in 10 minutes we will run the course backwards you will have five you will have five minutes to warm up and yeah for me it was good that i like knew that i want to win that event so since the beginning i like ran as fast as i can to be in that like first position and then i made a huge gap between me and hopper and i was thinking that that i can like slow down a little bit and that's

where he catches up but yeah if I think if I was running with a faster heat maybe I could win the event but now it's like it's it's gone now so yeah let's focus on the next one yeah Luca you're you're three years younger than uh Lazar or Lazarar or lazar it's lazar lazar you can say both is correct how do you say it luke i want to say it like your brother says it how do you say luca lazar lazar um you're you're three you're three years younger than lazar and um and your brother played a sport that was very physical. There's a lot of nasty shit happening under the water. There's it's it's a pretty nasty sport. And you're playing soccer, which is spread out more. How did you did you were you intimidated at all? Or I mean, you're lining up with all of these guys. They're big guys. Were you nervous at all? I mean, you're lining up with all of these guys. They're big guys.

Were you nervous at all? For the sprint? Yeah. Or were you like, fuck this, I'm getting in the front? Yeah, I was like, I already ran with a few of them, and I know my running capabilities. And also, when we were playing soccer, I was really good at sprinting and i'm really good

at those types of like any distances so really good for me he's not your typical football player yeah when i was like soccer player yeah because he was the guy that they they put to like this this is a guy you need to be in contact with and they say luca he's your guy and then look be in contact with and they say look at his your guy and then look okay so you would deal with the more aggressive players on the opposing teams even when you played soccer I was like also always like I'm a lot faster than the guys that I was playing with playing against so they were a lot of contact contacts and they want to take the ball and stuff. So I really used contact, but this event was in my heat. If you rewatch my heat,

there was no contact because since the start, I like took off really, really fast. In their heat, there was a lot of contacts because they stayed more in the group. But in our heat, I started far left

and since the beginning, Hopper and me, we took off. So, yeah, I think that in our heat, that wasn't that important. It was more of like of taking off early. Are you guys making any friends while you're there? You have each other. Yeah, a lot. Yeah, sure.

There are a lot of really good guys. And they are really and they are really like welcome uh they welcomed us really good like you know like the veterans scott panchuk said we are his favorite rookies but don't tell anyone yeah he said he said you guys are he said you guys are my favorite rookies but don't tell anyone yeah it's staying confidential yes we'll keep it very confidential so because i was well noah is really nice all the guys are great yeah actually the day when we arrived noah was like we were driving with the same uber with not from the hotel to to to the stadium because we met at the same place to go to alliant energy center so yeah yeah we there are a lot of nice

guys here because there would be a chance that you guys since you know each other that you guys would keep to yourself right there's a chance you would show up there set up your stuff in the corner and like sort of just keep to yourself but that's not what you guys are doing they said they expected like a bunch of guys said they expect them yeah expect that from us they compared us to some uh guys from i don't know siberia and they were expecting us to be full beards um hat and swords yes we america that's how we are in america we every we have our little picture of imagine everyone to be they probably are surprised you even speak english they probably would think you don't even use silverware that you just like grab the leg of the cow and just eat it right yeah exactly and yeah i think we are like we are all together in this like we are driving together

in the buses to go to to some locations and here when we are like in the warm-up area it's really everything is really close so i think that if you are staying to yourself i'm not i just for me that's like not not really good energy so i So I like, I like to, for sure, when we are in corrals and we are ready to go, nobody's smiling and nobody's tapping each other on the back. Hey, I, hey, I hope you do well. Like, no. I hope you do well.

Yeah, I hope you're second. Yeah, I hope you're second. Yeah. As long as you stay behind me i hope you do great so yeah i think everything is perfect in the but on the floor everything everyone is focusing i need to say something so yesterday i was uh you know uh yours josh josh's and Matt's podcast. Yeah. It's called Funny Stories from the Games. And then Brent said, Hey, Josh, I'm proud of you.

You remember that? Yeah, that was great. I told him that yesterday. You told Brent that? Yeah. That's awesome. Did he get the joke? yeah that i explained it to him that's good oh that's so good that's awesome had you heard that story brian brian are you

even listening i am listening no i haven't heard that one the guys from serbia breaking breaking the balls of the very uh straightlaced Canadian, Brent Fikowski. He's very focused this week. He doesn't want a lot of distractions. These guys, I've been super impressed. You guys are incredibly cordial and friendly and whatever. Get on the competition floor, turn it on, do your stuff.

I like it more this way. If I'm close in my head, I feel like it more this way if i'm if i'm close in my head i feel like it will affect my performance negatively so i want to be like open-minded positive energy but then it's you know i was actually amazed last night lazar because that workout last night to me looked painful and brutal both from a mental and physical standpoint but you finished the workout and within five or ten seconds you were smiling and joking around with the buttery bros yeah it's it was it was a long workout and if you pace it right you you you

wouldn't really die off at the end. I felt I paced it good. And to take 10th place on this one was huge for me because neither thrusters or wall walks were really my thing. So, yeah, it was a good finish for me. It would be amazing if you could get those two guys to come to Serbia, Marzen and Heber. That would be awesome. That would be awesome. That would be awesome.

Let's hope for next season. Yeah, they could stay in the barn. Yeah, and it's two for one. It's two for one. How do you guys feel today? A couple questions. how do your bodies feel

and is the day off good or or or does it mess with your head yeah i think that i think both of us feel feels really good like yesterday yeah they were like the first workout was really long but it was not that taxing i think that most taxing workout was the second one i would say with the big flips and the muscle ups and uh sled sled drag so yeah i most of stuff that i feel is just a little soreness in the forearms a little soreness in the quads but nothing like crazy compared to the training so this rest day feels like that we will be really ready to go tomorrow but tomorrow is like five five events day so yeah i think that leading up to tomorrow this rest day was good so that we can hit it hard tomorrow do you guys how do you guys like the the nature of the games where there's a lot of

elements or workouts that you don't find out about till right at the last minute you think that's good or bad for you i think that we are both of us are really good at those elements like uh like odd objects and stuff we're not as good as like on some like the open stuff let's say open style open style workouts so yeah i think that these games games programming and and and environment suits us a lot more a lot more I would say I like it more than I don't know the workouts because I can sleep better if I if I know the workout I'll think what's the best strategy what's the best pace to hold what's if I don't know it I'm better tomorrow and some guys need to plan it much more than I do. So, yeah, I like it more. I don't know a lot of stuff.

Who's in the room with you? Nobody. Two of us. Oh, I just saw a guy walk behind you. Oh, no. It's a full room of people. Teams, coming in, doctors. Yeah.

The next time someone walks behind you and your microphone picks them up, just throat punch them. Okay. Hey, we have another podcast. I could talk to you guys forever, and I would love to continue. I don't know how you guys are going to feel later on in the week. If you'll be willing to come back on, like maybe during the final day, we would love to do it, but I have to use the bathroom and we have Daniel Brandon on in five

minutes. I think they're staying in the U S for a few days after the game. So maybe we can actually one day after the game. We have a time if you want. Okay. Okay. Since you We are up for that. Okay. Since you guys are on since you guys are on Android

for some reason we're having a little bit more difficulty texting you but we will find you before the final event on the last day and bug you guys again. All right, guys.

Thank you so much. So nice meeting you same same same pleasure yeah you guys are awesome see you around see you bye see you bye bye boys i have to use the bathroom and then i'll be back in three minutes to uh meet with daniel brandon