Katinka Hosszu, as she is becoming of every meet she attends, was the star of the first two days of the Hungarian National Championships this week in Debrecen. While the meet is not the Worlds selection meet for Hungary, and it’s open to swimmers of different nationalities, with just a month to go it’s a huge meet among the huge number of swimmers that have been circling around the unofficial European summer tour.
Hosszu already has 5 titles to her name through two days of competition; that began with a 2:07.85 in one of her best events the 200 fly. That’s her best time this year and jumps her to 6th in the world, though Zsu Jakabos (not pictured in this race) is still the fastest Hungarian in 2013.
Close behind Hosszu was 17-year old Liliana Szilagyi in 2:08.74, as she looks to be the next in a long and proud line of Hungarian 200 butterfliers.
Hosszu’s next win came in the 400 IM with a 4:41.99; that’s not quite as good of a result for her as the 200 fly was, but it’s still a solid swim as she’s a month out from Worlds and tries to nail down exactly what races she’ll attempt in Barcelona.
In her next swim on Wednesday, Hosszu took the top seed in the women’s 100 back semifinal in 1:01.82. Though clearly biding her time, that’s well off of her own National Record set earlier this year. Evelyn Verraszto is the 2nd seed in 1:03.4.
Hosszu began her Thursday with a t0p seed of 26.96 in the 50 fly semi-finals. Then, back into medal action, she won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:30.62, albeit against an admittedly weak field without breakout 17-year old Anna Sztankovics (who’s the fastest Hungarian this year).
Hosszu then wrapped up the 100 backstroke with a comfortable 1:01.03 victory on Thursday and the 50 fly with a slightly slower 27.03 (just holding of Szilagyi, who was 27.16).
Hosszu’s last swim of the second finals session was the 800 free, where she swam an 8:46.97 to place 2nd behind Boglarka Kapas (8:30.35). We’ve seen Hosszu come to the end of a lot of tough sessions this year and have some off-putting 800 frees, and perhaps that will be one of the races that goes by the wayside when Worlds come around.
Szilagyi was in that 800 free as well, and is perhaps trying to build herself up to Hosszu’s level of endurance.
She’s not the only big name at this meet, however. South African Chad Le Clos, who has been in Europe for almost a month now, won the men’s 100 fly in 51.90. He beat out Laszlo Cseh in that race (52.51). Bence Biczo, Hungary’s best answer to le Clos (aka young, very talented butterflier) was 4th in just a 53.69. He’ll look to be slightly more competitive in the 200 fly against the defending Olympic Champion le Clos.
Le Clos also won the 200 free, swimming 1:48.23 ahead of Hungary’s Peter Bernkek (1:48.92).
Another Olympic champ got his first taste of victory early, as Daniel Gyurta won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.58. He’s the 200 meter champion, but has had a rather up-and-down year in this sprintier distance.
Evelyn Verraszto is swimming fairly well also, and has already picked up a win in the 100 free (54.98) ahead of Jakabos (55.81). The same 1-2 finish order came in the 50 breaststroke, though the times were less impressive.
And finally, Gergo Kis won the men’s 800 free in 8:00.21. That’s six seconds away from his season best, which is a pretty far fall considering his season best was two weeks ago at the Sette Colli Trophy in Italy.
If someone could count the number of races she has swum since London it would be very interesting. I’m sure there’s someone on earth who is enough crazy to do that.
Hahah!
I am not going to do that. In Bergen she dived in the water a combined total of 36 times over the single weekend. After that she earned the nickname “Iron lady”. And as Katinka told on her twitter, Roland Schoeman had said her that doubling your races at a meeting will be soon called the Katinka so dictionaries need to start updating their list of idioms :).
This is also precisely why I am a bit worried about her excessive racing. She seems to like it a little bit too much and may lack the patience that is needed to achieve the best possible results in Barcelona. World Cup is coming Katinka! Patience…
I hope she wins something. It would be too sad if that doesn’t happen.
I don’t think she has ever won a (LCM) major championships medal yet.
She won the 400 IM in Rome 2009. She’s also won 6 European long course titles.
But that does seem a relatively slim return at world level for a swimmer of her talent so I’d say she’s due one or two more 🙂
Of course short-course is not long-course but let’s not forget Hosszu got 5 medals at the s/c World Championships in Istanbul.
My favourite was her gold in 100m IM. She clearly outsprinted the likes of Herasimenia and Meilutyte over the last 25m. Meilutyte’s breast was crazy-fast, she was probably eight at the beginning of the breast leg but first only 25 meters later :). In a case anyone is interested, here is the race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoG5q-98gMs
Dear aswimfan, were you on the moon in 2009? Or perhaps you have erased from your memory this stupid year on swimming with the magical suits. I can help you to remind that year. Katinka has won in 2009 the 400 IM, was third in the 200 IM and third in the 200 fly.
If Hosszu gave her best at that 400m IM, I would say her time is a bit alarming. Considering her excellent time in 200m fly, it doesn’t seem to fit well in the big picture. Hosszu deserves success in Barcelona and I just hope she has patience with preparing herself for the Worlds in a best possible way.
Where can we find results for this meet?
Where can we find live results for the Hungarian Nationals?