Milak’s Stunner, Kapas’ Double Fire Up Hungarian Nationals

2018 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 28th – Saturday, March 31st
• Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen, Hungary
• LCM
• Start Lists
• Results (look for link)

Although this year’s Hungarian Nationals are without mega star Katinka Hosszu, who is still on a competition hiatus, as well as the newly-retired Daniel Gyurta, the lanes were filled with both emerging and veteran talent in Debrecen tonight.

We reported earlier how the race of the evening went to 18-year-old Kristof Milak, who blasted a new personal best and near-Hungarian national record in the men’s 200m butterfly. His winning time of 1:52.71 held off Olympians Tamas Kenderesi and Laszlo Cseh, who finished with silver and bronze in times of 1:54.14 and 1:56.45, respectively. But, Milak’s performance also ranks him among the world’s best-ever, as the 3rd fastest performer of all-time.

Also making waves tonight was Olympic medalist Boglarka Kapas, who took home 2 pieces of hardware in the first finals session of the meet. Kapas clinched the women’s 200m butterfly victory in 2:09.39, the only sub-2:10 mark of the field, while also battling with 16-year-old Ajna Kesely in the women’s 800m freestyle.

Kapas took the lead from the get-go and held it, although Kesely kept pace and was within a second of her elder teammate for the duration. Ultimately, Kapas touched in 8:24.39, while Kesely earned a time of 8:25.82, with both women beating the field by almost 20 seconds.

Although a solid swim for Kapas, Kesely’s ability to dip under the 8:30 mark is big-time, as the teen’s personal best headed into this meet was the 8:30.62 put up to earn silver at last year’s World Junior Championships. Kesely did major damage at last year’s European Junior Championships, where she swept the women’s 200m/400m/800m/1500m freestyle events, winning the 800m in 8:31.81.

Additional Winners on the Day:

• The men’s 50m freestyle saw Maxim Lobanovszkij take the win in 22.32, while Petra Senansky was the women’s winner in 25.62, the only contestant under 26 seconds.
• Peter Bernek took the men’s 100m backstroke in 54.83, while Benedek Kovacs was also under the 55-second barrier in 54.99.
• The men’s 100m breaststroke saw Csaba Szilagyi make a move to the top of the podium in 59.75, the only sub-minute swimmer among the men.
• Anna Sztankovics took the women’s 100m breaststroke in 1:08.83, while Katalin Burian was tonight’s 100m backstroke winner in 1:00.55.