Lobanovskij Becomes Just 2nd Hungarian Ever Under 22 In 50 Free

2019 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, March 27th – Saturday, March 30th
• Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen, Hungary
• LCM
• Meet Information
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Entry Lists
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Results (Look for Link)

There was plenty of action in the Debrecen Pool outside of the heated men’s 200m fly race, which saw Kristof Milak top both Olympic medalists Tamas Kenderesi and Laszlo Cseh. You can read more about that clash of the titans here.

But not to be outshone was Maxim Lobanovskij impressive demonstration of speed in the men’s 50m freestyle final this evening. He reaped the men’s 50m freestyle top slot in 22.19 this morning, but chopped that time to bits in tonight’s final.

Hitting the wall in 21.79,  Lobanovskij laid waste to the field, representing the only swimmer to dip under the 22-second threshold. Behind the winner was Nandor Nemeth, who notched a far away 22.18 for runner-up tonight.

Lobanovskij’s effort makes him just the 2nd Hungarian ever to delve under the 22-second barrier, led by National Record holder Krisztian Takacs’ 21.42 from the supersuited 2009 World Championships. As such, Lobanovskij’s time checks-in as the Hungarian textile National Record in the men’s 50m free. His outing also renders the Hungarian as the 2nd fastest performer in the world this season.

Zsuzsanna Jakabos turned some heads with her impressive 2:07.98 AM time in the women’s 200m fly, a mark that easily dipped under the FINA A standard of 2:09.21 for this summer’s World Championships. But, the 29-year-old couldn’t replicate the same type of performance this evening, as Boglarka Kapas surged to the wall first tonight in 2:07.37.

Kapas opened in 1:02.28, well behind Liliana Szilagyi and Katinka Hosszu, who opened with 100m splits of 1:01.89 and 1:01.40. But the mid-distance ace closed the door on the competition on the back half, rolling home to register the 2nd fastest time of her career in 2:07.37. Kapas’ personal best of 2:07.13 to take gold at last year’s European Championships is just .24 away from what she produced tonight.

Szilagyi took silver tonight in a strong time of 2:07.67, while Hosszu faded a bit to take bronze in 2:07.81. Jakabos finished further back still in 2:08.88 for 4th.

Kapas now enters the world rankings as #4, with Szilagyi now #5 and Hosszu slides to #6 with her 2:07.89 from last weekend in Marseille.

Serbia’s Caba Silađi cracked a new National Record en route to winning the men’s 100m breaststroke here in Hungary. Splitting 27.53/31.87, the 28-year-old Mediterranean Games silver medalist produced a winning mark of 59.40, a monster new personal best.

In Tarragona last year, Silađi produced a time of 1:00.46 for silver and before that notched 59.91 at the 2018 European Championships in the semi-finals. He scorched that mark tonight, checking in with the 6th fastest performance in the world this year.

Additional Winners:

• Petra Senanszky took the women’s 50m freestyle in a time of 25.75.
• The men’s 100m backstroke saw Gabor Balog get his hand on the wall first in 54.18.
• Katinka Hosszu had nabbed the women’s 100m backstroke top seed in 1:00.00 this morning, already a qualifying time for Gwangju. She dropped the final of this event to focus on the 200m fly, which left Katalin Burian to take the 100m back national title in 1:00.67, just .08 off of the 1:00.59 FINA A cut.
• European Champioships silver medalist in the 800m free, teenager Ajna Kesely, topped the field here in that same event. She clocked 8:28.19 to easily clear the FINA A standard of 8:38.56