Daniel Gyurta Skips Hungarian Short Course Nationals

2016 Hungarian Short Course National Championships

• November 2nd-5th, 2016
• Százhalombattán, Hungary
• 25 meter (short course meters)
• Results

2012 Olympic medalist and two-time defending World Short Course Champion in in the 200 breaststroke Daniel Gyurta won’t compete in this week’s Hungarian National Championships, in spite of a near-guarantee on a stab at the big prize pool available to the 10 best swimmers of the competition.

According to the Hungarian Federation, Gyurta is taking an extended recovery break after the Rio Olympics at 27 years old before returning to competition. That break coincides with a new coach – the Hungarian Jozsef Nagy, with whom Gyurta has been training since a disappointing Olympic showing. Nagy has been stationed in western Canada and been one of that country’s leading coaches for some time, but this summer was not chosen as part of their Olympic staff and has left his post there.

Gyurta didn’t advance out of the heats of either breaststroke race in Rio. He wound up in a tie for 16th in prelims of the 100 (1:00.26) and withdrew from a swim-off; and placed 17th in the prelims of the 200 breaststroke (2:11.28).

Aside from a few good swims in the middle of 2015, Gyurta hasn’t looked the same since swimming his lifetime best in the 200 of 2:07.23 at the 2013 World Championships. During that stretch, he bounced around, sometimes trying to focus on the 200, and sometimes trying to focus on the 50 and 100 instead, but the ultimate result was performances behind schedule in the lead-up to Rio, and ultimately missing even his season best in the 200.