 He first showed flashes of talent when finishing third at the 1970 European Junior Championships in Paris.Nenad improved by huge margin in future years capturing his first Yugoslav title in 1972.He retained it next year with 7.96 m jump and then went on to win his first title at the Balkan Games in Athens with wind-assisted 8.12 m. He further improved in 1974 to set new national record of 8.24 m (second best in the World that year) and retained his national and Balkan titles.