Veselin Ivanov stunned favourite and title defender Thomas Beck to be crowned winner in the longest distance category with a 53.22m throw. An engineer by profession Veselin pledges to back in 2018 to defend his crown at the Red Bull Paper Wings World Finals.
It was a very hard competition, a lot of tough competitors who had a lot more experience, like Jovica Kozlica for example. He was a very hard opponent and so was Thomas Beck, who tried to defend his title. These were tough people to beat.
To tell you the truth: No! I did not expect to win exactly because of the tough competition. My performance was better than 2012. I think after the first throw in the pre-elimination with 47 metres I was kind of happy but I knew it could throw more. I know there was more in it for me and I knew that I was able to win. I was preparing in Bulgaria after the national qualifications with my friends and we were training in a sports centre at the university. I was doing my training exercises and had my measuring tape with me all the time.
In 2012 there were a lot of competitors who were very tough and more experienced than me like Thomas Beck at the time.
The complete event was absolutely amazing. I met so many people, made so many new friends and that’s what made me most happy. I will now continue my work as an engineer and when the time comes the 2018 world finals a month maybe two or three in advance I think I will go to back to my university sports centre to prepare and defend my title.
