Matija finished in 11th place at this event, just short of the top ten and the opportunity to race Ander Elosegi for the European quota.

[20] At the 2019 World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell, Matija finished in 12th place, automatically qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as the 10th ranked NOC.

[21] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only two major competitions Matija competed in between the 2019 Worlds and the Olympic Games were the 2020 and 2021 European Championships, where he finished in 16th and 14th place, respectively.

[7] Marinić spent the winter leading into the Olympics training at Wadi Adventure in the United Arab Emirates with fellow Croatian Ren Korpes.

[24] They were initially required to self-isolate for a week but were allowed to return to training on the 15 July, two days later, following an appeal by the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee Zlatko Mateša.

[25] Mateša publicly criticized the handling of the issue, calling it a "glaring example of the inability of the organizers to deal with the problems associated with the pandemic".