Hungarian 16-Year-Old Zombori Lowers Newly-Minted 4free World Jr C’ships Record

7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019

• Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
• Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
• Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
• 50-meter (LCM) course
• Meet site
• Entries book
• FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
• Live results

The man who made history with a new World Junior Championships Record this morning did it again tonight, as Hungarian Gabor Zombori delivered an electrifying performance in the men’s 400m freestyle.

16-year-old Zombori had never before been under the 3:50 threshold in the men’s 400m free. In fact, his lifetime best entering Budapest sat at the 3:53.30 he produced at the Hungarian Youth Championships in May of this year, meaning he’s never even been under the 3:53 threshold.

Flash forward to this morning’s heats, however, and Zombori came out like a bandit, splitting 53.44/58.53/58.93/56.07, including a final 50m leg of 27.46, to crush the field in a wicked-fast 3:46.97.

Zombori’s time laid waste to the previous Championships Record time of 3:47.12 that Olympic champion Mack Horton of Australia set back at the 2013 edition of these World Junior Championships. For additional perspective, the teen’s time would have finished 10th at this year’s World Championships.

More locally, Zombori’s effort checked him in as the fastest Hungarian 18&U ever, overtaking Kristof Milak‘s previous Age Record of 3:48.08 clocked at last year’s Youth Olympic Games. Milak went on to produce the World Record in the men’s 200m fly at this year’s senior World Championships in Gwangju, Korea.

But, Zombori wasn’t done, lowering his time to a new mark of 3:46.06 to further set himself apart from the pack, although Aussie Thomas Neill finished just a hair behind in 3:46.27.

Splits for Zombori’s swim this evening included 53.06/58.23/58.89/55.97, including a final 50m leg of 27.12. Comparing the splits, Zombori was simply faster all around, including saving some energy for another heated final lap. Neill was, too, hitting 26.97 to make it close.