2018 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, March 28th – Saturday, March 31st
- Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen, Hungary
- LCM
- Start Lists
- Results (look for link)
Although this year’s Hungarian Nationals are without mega star Katinka Hosszu, who is still on a competition hiatus, as well as the newly-retired Daniel Gyurta, the lanes were filled with both emerging and veteran talent in Debrecen tonight.
We reported earlier how the race of the evening went to 18-year-old Kristof Milak, who blasted a new personal best and near-Hungarian national record in the men’s 200m butterfly. His winning time of 1:52.71 held off Olympians Tamas Kenderesi and Laszlo Cseh, who finished with silver and bronze in times of 1:54.14 and 1:56.45, respectively. But, Milak’s performance also ranks him among the world’s best-ever, as the 3rd fastest performer of all-time.
Also making waves tonight was Olympic medalist Boglarka Kapas, who took home 2 pieces of hardware in the first finals session of the meet. Kapas clinched the women’s 200m butterfly victory in 2:09.39, the only sub-2:10 mark of the field, while also battling with 16-year-old Ajna Kesely in the women’s 800m freestyle.
Kapas took the lead from the get-go and held it, although Kesely kept pace and was within a second of her elder teammate for the duration. Ultimately, Kapas touched in 8:24.39, while Kesely earned a time of 8:25.82, with both women beating the field by almost 20 seconds.
Although a solid swim for Kapas, Kesely’s ability to dip under the 8:30 mark is big-time, as the teen’s personal best headed into this meet was the 8:30.62 put up to earn silver at last year’s World Junior Championships. Kesely did major damage at last year’s European Junior Championships, where she swept the women’s 200m/400m/800m/1500m freestyle events, winning the 800m in 8:31.81.
Additional Winners on the Day:
- The men’s 50m freestyle saw Maxim Lobanovszkij take the win in 22.32, while Petra Senansky was the women’s winner in 25.62, the only contestant under 26 seconds.
- Peter Bernek took the men’s 100m backstroke in 54.83, while Benedek Kovacs was also under the 55-second barrier in 54.99.
- The men’s 100m breaststroke saw Csaba Szilagyi make a move to the top of the podium in 59.75, the only sub-minute swimmer among the men.
- Anna Sztankovics took the women’s 100m breaststroke in 1:08.83, while Katalin Burian was tonight’s 100m backstroke winner in 1:00.55.
Loretta, Petra Senanszky is a finswimmer, perhaps the the best in the world, as we see she can swim without fin, too.
Nice to see Boglarka Kapas in action again. Her results in 400 and especially in 200 free events will be a good litmus test of what’s going on with her form after Olympics.