Ostrava Grand Prix – Round 1
- Friday, May 3rd – Sunday, May 5th
- Ostrava, Czech Republic
- Results
The Ostrava Grand Prix took place this weekend in Czech Republic, but several other international stars made their way to the city to compete.
Hungarian Evelyn Verraszto was one such racer, who took on the home Czech swimmers in the women’s 50m fly, 200m free, 100m free and 100m fly events, where she took gold in all but one. Verraszto put down a winning effort of 2:04.21 in the 200m free, 57.83 in the 100m free, as well as 1:01.29 in the 100m fly to haul away 3 golds.
The latter of those 3 races saw the 29-year-old beat out teammate Liliana Szilagyi, who touched in 1:01.70 for 100m fly silver. Verraszto fell just .02 shy of another gold in the women’s 50m fly, instead settling for silver behind Zuzana Volovecka. Volovecka of Czech threw down her 2nd fastest time ever, clocking 28.06 for 50m fly gold.
Szilagyi got her hands on the wall first in the women’s 200m fly, however, crushing the field by almost 5 seconds with her winning effort of 2:13.80. Szilagyi raced her way to World Championships roster spots this past March at Hungarian Nationals, earning berths in the 100m fly and 200m fly with respective efforts of 59.07 and 2:07.67.
Evelyn’s brother, David Verraszto, was also in the Ostrava pool, establishing himself as the top dog in the 200m breast. Verraszto touched in 2:16.49 to Tomas Klobucnik‘s time of 2:16.58.
Bence Biczo, also of Hungary, powered his way to the 200m fly win for the men, representing the only racer of the field under 2:00 in 1:59.66. The 26-year-old also took the men’s 200m free, albeit in a 1:53.94.
Another Hungarian, Gabor Balog, successfully swept the men’s backstroke events, wining the 50m sprint in 26.14, the 100m distance in 55.81 and the 200m back event in 2:03.64.
For the Czechs, however, World Championships-bound Simona Kubova hit the wall first in the 50m back, taking the top prize in 28.44. She also won the 200m back in 2:12.22.
