Spartan 2025, the World Obstacle Course Racing Championship, took place in October on the island of Hvar, Croatia. With more than 4,000 competitors from over 60 countries, the event broke every record to date. Over three intense days, athletes competed across five disciplines, conquering obstacles that led them through this island’s Old Town (Stari grad) – listed as UNESCO World Heritage site.

During the Spartan weekend, Hvar turned into a giant arena of endurance and grit as competitors from all over the globe tackled brutal obstacle courses featuring everything from rope climbs and wall jumps to crawling under barbed wire and leaping through fire.

Athletes competed across various distances, from the 100-meter sprint to 5km, 10km, and 21km races known as Sprint and Beast. The event opened Friday evening with a parade of nations in Hvar’s St. Stephen’s Square, followed by a kids’ race that drew loud cheers from locals and visitors alike.

This was the second year that Hvar hosted the Spartan race. Since I photographed the event last year as well, it is enough that you put words Spartan and Hvar in the same sentence, and I can already picture a spectacular event and photos.

Hvar truly is a one-of-a-kind location with a charm of its own. The Old town feels timeless, you pass along cobblestone streets and beside houses that date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, glance down at the Adriatic see, and look up toward the Fortica Fortress standing above the city. When an event like Spartan happens in a city that is a living piece of history, it creates an almost cinematic backdrop for every frame.

It seems as though Hvar was made for OCR, a dynamic sport that blends endurance, strength, agility, and teamwork into one demanding discipline. Each obstacle brought its own challenge, and was placed within this vivid landscape, it felt as if I was moving from one outdoor studio to another. No two moments looked alike, and every photograph told a new story.

Some of the challenges required athletes to dive into the sea, which gave me the chance to experiment for the first time with underwater photography. Combining underwater photography, and photography from the water, added a completely new dimension to how this sport can be captured. It allowed me to portray not just the physical intensity of OCR, but the Spartan Race itself from a fresh and unseen perspective.

Honestly, this is one of those events that is so inspiring for me as a photographer, and even though I’ve already made unique photos and combined different techniques in this edition, there’s still so much that I can do next year. The possibilities are numerous.

INSIDE THE SHOOT WITH PREDRAG VUCKOVIC

Predrag’s connection with obstacle course racing runs deep, having photographed numerous OCR events across Europe over the years. His unique set of skills allowed him to master not only the timing and precision that are crucial to capture the action of such events, but also the storytelling that reveals the true spirit of each location.

Vučković knows exactly how to make the most of every event and location, especially when the backdrop is as stunning as the island of Hvar. At Spartan 2025, his versatility behind the camera played a crucial role.

For this photoshoot he used:

  • Subal underwater housing for Nikon Z9 + Z7 + Z8 cameras
  • MARES underwater equipment
  • Lenses 14 – 24mm, f 2.8
  • Lenses 35mm, f 1.2
  • Lenses 50mm, f 1.2
  • Lenses 70 – 200mm, f 2.8
  • Fisheye lens 8 – 15mm, f 2.8
  • DJI Mavic PRO 3 Drone

By combining traditional, ground photography with underwater photography, as well as aerial shots from drone, he brought photographing OCR events to entirely new level. The result is a series of images that show the sport from a perspective never captured before.