Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who recently tore apart the USA-Swimming Short Course National Championships, will be travelling to Dubai to participate in the 2010 Short Course World Championships. If her performance in Columbus is any indicator, she has the potential to post some fantastic times, and win a slew of medals, at Worlds.
In addition to her individual events, she makes the Hungary 800 free relay deadly. In the long course season, they were ranked third in the world (7:52.49), and if Hosszu’s teammates all attend as well (no word on whether they will or not, though it seems likely they will be there) the Hungarians have one of the best opportunities at upsetting a full-strength American relay. Her teammates Evelyn Verraszto and and Agnes Mutina both scored medals in the 200 free at Euro’s in November, and are the best 1-2 combination in the country: both ranked in the top 9 in the world.
Several Hungarian-language newspapers are reporting that Hosszu will make the 18-hour journey from Los Angeles to Dubai and arrive the day before the meet kicks off on December 15th. This will be a grueling flight for her, and this is the only thing I can see coming between her and an outstanding performance at the meet.
Her college coach at USC, Dave Salo, will also be in Dubai serving as an assistant women’s coach for USA-Swimming.
