2026 Hungarian National Championships
- April 15-19, 2026
- Prelims
- Day 1, 3, 5: 9:00 am local (3:00 am ET)
- Day 2 & 4: 10 am local (4:00 am ET)
- Finals — 5:30 pm local (11:30 am ET)
- Sopron, Hungary — Lővér Swimming Pool
- LCM (50 Meters)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Meet Central
- Live Results and Start Lists
- Livestreams on YouTube
15-year-old Zeteny Sarkany, the younger brother of Big Ten Champion and NCAA Championships runner-up, Zalan Sarkany, clocked a new Hungarian Age Record, twice, in the 800 free on the 2nd day of action at the Hungarian National championships in Sopron, charging to a major lifetime best of 8:01.05.
This is now the 2nd time at these championships that Sarkany managed to break the Hungarian Age Record in this event, having initially downed the former record, previously held by Gergo Kis, which had stood for 23 years, the oldest of all Hungarian Age records in the event at 8:09.15. Sarkany lowered it by over half a second yesterday, touching 6th out of the heats in 8:08.45, before annihilating that time a day later, touching 6th once again in 8:01.05, three spots behind his brother Zalan (who finished 3rd in 7:49.44, just over a second off of the top time).
Times Comparison:
|
Sarkany Prelims (Initial HUN Age Record)
|
Sarkany Finals (New HUN Age Record)
|
|
| 50 | 28.77 | 28.00 |
| 100 | 30.60 (59.37) | 30.03 (58.03) |
| 150 | 31.00 (1:30.37) | 30.55 (1:28.58) |
| 200 | 30.63 (2:01.00) | 30.58 (1:59.16) |
| 250 | 30.46 (2:31.46) | 30.38 (2:29.54) |
| 300 | 30.83 (3:02.29) | 30.65 (3:00.19) |
| 350 | 30.85 (3:33.14) | 30.68 (3:30.87) |
| 400 | 30.95 (4:04.09) | 30.85 (4:01.72) |
| 450 | 30.87 (4:34.96) | 30.21 (4:31.93) |
| 500 | 31.10 (5:06.06) | 30.20 (5:02.13) |
| 550 | 30.47 (5:36.53) | 30.24 (5:32.37) |
| 600 | 30.93 (6:07.46) | 30.26 (6:02.63) |
| 650 | 30.46 (6:37.92) | 30.06 (6:32.69) |
| 700 | 30.76 (7:08.68) | 30.42 (7:03.11) |
| 750 | 29.84 (7:38.52) | 29.38 (7:32.49) |
| 800 | 29.93 (8:08.45) | 28.56 (8:01.05) |
This time is also significantly faster than his brother’s at age 15; Zeteny’s 8:01.05 is just over 20 full seconds faster than Zalan, who was 8:21.09 at age 15 and finished 5th at the Hungarian Junior National Championships in 2019.
Zalan didn’t crack the 8:00 barrier until he was 19, when he finished 4th at the LEN U23 Championships in 2023, clocking 7:55.26.
Sarkany is already faster than the Hungarian Age Record for 16-year-olds, which is also held by Kis, in 8:03.53 from 2004, and he is now on the doorstep of the 17 and 18 Age record times of 7:56.23 and 7:55.41, both held by Akos Kalmar, who represented Hungary at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
What is it with these Hungarian siblings recently? First Hubi and Oli and now another Sarakany.