Felix Auboeck Hits His 2nd Best 400 Free Ever At 4 Nations Meet

4 NATIONS MEET

• Friday, July 24th – Sunday, July 26th
• Széchy Swimming Arena, Budapest
• 50m (LCM)
• Entries
• Day 1 Prelims/Day 1 Finals
• Results

Austria’s Felix Auboeck kicked off his 2020/21 racing season with a big-time 200m free outing of 1:46.64 last night at this 4 Nations Meet in Hungary. That checked in as a new national record, but the former Michigan Wolverine wasn’t done yet.

The NCAA champion was back in action in the 40om free this evening in Budapest, clinching his 2nd gold in nearly another national record. The 23-year-old produced a winning 400m free time of 3:45.00 to top the podium by nearly 4 seconds, falling less than a second off of his own Austrian standard of 3:44.19. That mark he put up at the 2017 FINA World Aquatic Championships.

Splits for Auboeck tonight included 55.64/57.58/56.81/54.97 to give him his 2nd fastest performance ever. Last year in Gwangju, Auboeck notched a 400m free time of 3:47.78 to finish 13th. His 3:45.00 here tonight would have placed 6th in that Worlds final, for perspective.

Also in the water taking another win was world champion Boglarka Kapas, with the woman following up her 200m free victory from night 1 with a solid sub-2:10 200m fly this evening. Stopping the clock in a time of 2:08.62, Kapas beat the field by well over 2 seconds, splitting 1:02.65/1:05.97.

Kapas took the 200m fly gold in Gwangju last year, hitting a monster mark of 2:06.78, the fastest of 27-year-old’s career. She was one of 9 Hungarian swimmers who tested positive for coronavirus earlier this year, although she was symptom-free and has since tested negative.

20-year-old world record holder Kristof Milak took the men’s 200m fly in a time of 1:55.01. You can read more about his victorious swim here.

18-year-old Ajna Kesely managed to hold off Austria’s Marlene Kahler in a women’s 400m free battle to the finish. Hungary’s Kesely touched in 4:10.31 while Kahler was just behind in 4:10.79.

Kahler’s time was within striking distance of the Austrian national record, a mark which stands at the 4:09.30 Jordis Steinegger put up at the 2009 World Championships. But Kahler knows what this proximity feels like, having been as fast as 4:09.73 at the pre-coronavirus-pandemic Berlin Open in February of this year.

As for Kesely, she produced a Hungarian national record of 4:01.31 at last year’s World Championships, finishing in a painstaking 4th place, only .02 outside of the bronze medal.

Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu won the women’s 400m IM last night, but was not swimming today. She will take on the 200m IM tomorrow.

Additional Day 2 Notes:

• After seeing teammate Valentin Bayer take the 100m breast victory in a new Austrian national record last night, Christopher Rothbauer got his revenge this evening in the 200m breast. Rothbauer owns the Austrian national record in a time of 2:09.88, but tonight it took just 2:11.43 to top the podium. Bayer finished with the silver well behind in 2:13.41.
• Katalin Burian won the women’s 100m back in 1:00.69 over Austrian teen Lena Grabowski‘s silver medal-worthy effort of 1:01.60.
• Hungary’s Adam Telegdy doubled up on the back wins for Hungary, snagging the men’s edition of the 100m back in 54.75, just .12 ahead of Poland’s Kacper Stokowski. Austrian Bernhard Reitshammer was also in the mix, hitting the wall in 54.97 to round out the top 3.
• Jakob Kraska got it done for gold int he men’s 50m free, touching in 22.40 to give Poland the gold.