Kozma Wows With 1:45.77 2Free Gold To Lead Milak To Gwangju

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/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Recap
• Results (Look for Link)

The final night of the 2019 Hungarian Open National Championships brought both highs and lows to the myriad swimmers competing for their chance to race this summer at the long course World Championships.

Among those qualifying were two Serbians in Sebastian Sabo and Caba Silađi , who won their respective 100m fly and 50m breast events in head-turning fashion, beating out stiff competition in the process.

Along those same fierce lines was Dominik Kozma‘s powerful performance in the men’s 200m freestyle, where the 27-year-old came close to his lifetime best and Hungarian National Record of 1:45.54 with a massive mark of 1:45.77 for gold tonight.

Splitting 51.06/54.71, Kozma shut down both Kristof Milak and Nandor Nemeth, the latter of which crushed a new 48.17 Hungarian National Record last night.

Milak finished over a second later in 1:46.90 after opening in 51.97 and closing in 54.93, while Nemeth settled for bronze in 1:47.80. The FINA A cut of 1:47.40, so both Kozma and Milak easily clear the minimum to represent Hungary in Gwangju this summer.

Kozma slides into the #3 spot among the season world rankings, becoming just the 3rd swimmer to notch a time under the 1:46 mark.

Milak ties Aussie Jack McLoughlin for 6th place in the world standings with his 1:46.90 outing, a time that obliterated his 1:47.73 gold medal-garnering mark from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu was in the water twice tonight, but only came up with a World Championships qualifying time in one of the events. Racing the women’s 200m freestyle, Hosszu collected a winning effort of 1:57.78, beating runner-up Ajna Kesely by over two seconds.

Hosszu’s effort comfortably clears the 1:58.66 FINA A cut and checks the Hungarian in as the 10th fastest swimmer in the world this season. For 17-year-old Kesely, she was faster in Buenos Aires last year with her 1:57.88 time that won gold.

Hosszu’s other event was the 100m fly, where the 29-year-old earned her season-best, but fell short of the Gwangju-qualifying A cut of 58.48. Clocking a time of 58.68 topped the podium in the only sub-59 second outing the field.

Liliana Szilagyi took silver in 59.07, while Zsuzsanna Jakabos rounded out the top 3 in 59.41.

The men’s 800m free saw Akos Kalmar take gold in 7:54.57, while Kesely beat out Olympian Boglarka Kapas, barely, in the women’s 1500m free. The teen touched in 16:22.57 to the veteran’s 16:22.96, with both women crushing the FINA A standard of 16:32.04 in the process.

The 200m backstroke winner here, Katalin Burian, doubled up with the 50m backstroke victory in 28.72, the only sub-29 second time of the field to qualify for Gwangju.

Richard Bohus clocked 24.99 to take the 50m back, while Anna Sztankovics won the women’s 50m breast in 31.47. Just Bohus collected a World Championships qualifying effort with his gold.