Spain’s Mireia Belmonte was the star of the opening day of the Short Course World Championships with double world records, but her Hungarian rival Katinka Hosszu has slowly evened up the score. Hosszu broke her second world record on day 3, taking down the 200 back mark a day after breaking the 100 back.
Hosszu is typically at her most dominant in the IMs, but she’s been on a backstroke tear all week. Not only did she break the 100 back world record yesterday, but the backstroke split of her 400 IM was the fastest she’s ever been, even in her previous world record-setting performances.
On Friday, she became the first woman under two minutes in the 200 short course meter back, going 1:59.23 to break the world record set by American and reigning Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin. That mark stood at 2:00.03 from 2011.
Hosszu and Franklin are both known as great closers, but Hosszu used her front-half speed to get under the record, taking out her race aggressively as she’s been doing all week. This time, she had enough left in the tank to stay under the record by the finish, doing much of her damage on the third 50 and hanging right with Franklin’s splits on the final leg:
Hosszu 2014 | Franklin 2011 |
28.17 | 28.64 |
30.19 | 30.22 |
30.41 | 30.75 |
30.46 | 30.42 |
1:59.23 | 2:00.03 |
That put Hosszu at two world records on the week, matching Belmonte’s total. For those keeping score at home, through the 200 back, Hosszu has 2 gold medals and 2 silvers, while Belmonte has 3 golds.
Go Katinka go, we are sooo proud of you!!!!