Hungary has officially announced its 21-person roster for the Short Course World Championships in Doha, Qatar, though one of its biggest stars will not be making the trip.
Laszlo Cseh, who won two silvers and a bronze at the 2012 Short Course World Championships, is not on the Hungarian team. In the Hungarian federation’s press release, coach Laszlo Kiss said that Cseh got a late start on preparing for the meet after the European Championships this past summer.
That’s vaguely reminiscent of breaststroker Daniel Gyurta, who skipped the 200 breast at the European Championships, also citing a lack of preparation and a desire to start focusing on the short course version of the race instead. Gyurta is a part of the Hungarian Worlds roster.
Fresh off a money-making sweep through the World Cup series, Katinka Hosszu is entered in 10 different events at Worlds, according to the federation. That’s not a major surprise considering how busy Hosszu’s typical meet schedule is, but it’ll certainly raise questions about whether fatigue will keep her from gold medal status in some of her best events. It’s easy to understand why Hoszzu packs so many events into each World Cup meet – each race pays out a good sum of money – but Worlds is more focused on each country’s medal count than on any sort of prize money. That suggests what now seems obvious: Hosszu simply prefers to swim multiple events during a single session, whether prize money or series points are on the line or not.
Hosszu won the 200 fly and 100 IM in 2012, plus took silvers in the 200 IM and 200 free and a bronze in the 400 IM. This time around, she’ll swim the 200, 400 and 800 frees, the 50, 100 and 200 backs, the 100, 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 fly.
Hungary’s coach Laszlo Kiss noted that this is a relatively young crew for the nation, with limited international experience. Some of the younger swimmers on the roster include Youth Olympic Games champ Liliana Szilagyi (born in 1996), and a pair of swimmers born in 2001: freestyler Anja Kesely and breaststroker/freestyler Fanni Gyurinovics on the girls side, and Youth Olympic Games gold medalists Tamas Kenderesi and Benjamin Gratz for the boys.
8 of the team’s 21 swimmers were born in 1996 or later, meaning over a third of the squad is age 18 or below.
The full roster with event entries:
Men (14)
Balog Gábor (1990) – 50m back, 100m back, 200m back
Bernek Péter (1992) – 200m free, 400m free, 100m back, 200m back
Biczó Bence (1993) – 100m fly, 200m fly
Dudás Dániel (1994) – 1500m free
Földházi Dávid (1995) – 100m IM
Grátz Benjámin (1996) – 200m IM, 400m IM
Gyurta Dániel (1989) – 100m breast, 200m breast
Gyurta Gergely (1991) – 400m free, 1500m free
Holoda Péter (1996) – 50m free, 100m free, 50m fly, 100m IM
Horváth Dávid (1996) – 50m breast, 100m breast, 200m breast
Kenderesi Tamás (1996) – 50m fly
Kozma Dominik (1991) – 50m free, 100m free, 200m free
Szabó Norbert (1996) – 100m fly
Verrasztó Dávid (1989) – 200m fly, 200m IM, 400m IM
Women (7)
Gyurinovics Fanni (2001) – 50m free, 100m free, 50m breast, 100m breast , 200m breast
Hosszú Katinka (1989) – 200m free, 400m free, 800m free, 50m back, 100m back, 200m back, 200m fly, 100m IM, 200m IM, 400m IM
Jakabos Zsuzsanna (1989) – 50m free, 50m fly, 100m fly, 400m IM
Kapás Boglárka (1993) – 400m free, 800m free
Késely Ajna (2001) – 100m free, 50m back, 100m back
Szilágyi Liliána (1996) – 50m fly, 100m fly, 200m fly
Verrasztó Evelyn (1989) – 200m free, 200m back, 200m IM
Are they entering relays? (Last I checked there were 34 individual events and 12 relays)
Looks like Hosszu’s FIRST DAY could be:
Prelims: 200 fly, 100 bk, 400 IM
Finals: 200 fly, 100 bk (sf), 400 IM, 4×200 FR(?)
… which proves she’s insane