Hubert Kos Narrowly Misses World Record, Breaks Lochte’s Champ Record With 1:45.65 200 Back

2024 SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 10-15, 2024
• Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Roster Index
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Pick’em
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
• Finals Live Recap: Day 1  | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6

Men’s 200 Backstroke — Final

• World Record: 1:45.63 — Mitch Larkin, AUS (2015)
• World Junior Record: 1:48.02 — Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2017)
• Championship Record: 1:46.68 — Ryan Lochte, USA (2010)
• 2022 Champion: Ryan Murphy, USA — 1:47.41

Final:

1. Hubert Kos (HUN) — 1:45.65 ***CHAMPIONSHIP, EUROPEAN RECORD***
2. Lorenzo Mora (ITA) — 1:48.96
3. Mewen Tomac (FRA) — 1:49.93
4. Daiki Yanagawa (JPN) — 1:50.28
5. Jack Aikins (USA) — 1:50.60
6. Tao Guannan (CHN) — 1:51.04
7. Dmitrii Savenko (NAB) — 1:51.27
8. Jan Cejka (CZE) — 1:51.81

Hubert Kos of Hungary broke the 200 backstroke Championship Record previously held by Ryan Lochte. Kos swam to a 1:45.65 to get under the old record of a 1:46.68 that Lochte swam in 2010.

Kos also narrowly missed the World Record of a 1:45.65 that Mitch Larkin swam at the 2015 Australian Championships.

Split Comparison

Kos had a huge final 50 as his split was over a second and a half faster than his prelims split. It also was almost a second faster than Lochte’s final 50 and over a second faster than Larkin’s final 50. Kos split the event 52.75 on the first 100 and a 52.90 on the second 100, much different from Larkin’s 51.35 and 54.28.

Kos earned Hungary their 2nd gold of the meet as Zalan Sarkany won the 800 freestyle in front of the home crowd as well. Kos notably won gold in the 200 back at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Kos trains under Bob Bowman at Texas, alongside fellow 200 backstroke winner Regan Smith who set a new World Record in the women’s race tonight.