On this weekend: FINA Swimming Champions League in Budapest

Ten Hungarians and many famous international star will participate in the FINA Champions Swim Series, which will be held in the Danube Arena in Budapest on the 11th and 12th of May. The competition, dubbed as the “Swimming Champions League”, is an invitation-based tournament. The Hungarian men participating are László Cseh, Kristóf Milák, Péter Bernek, and Dominik Kozma, while Katinka Hosszú, Ajna Késely, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, Katalin Burián, Boglárka Kapás, and Eszter Békesi are the women representing Hungary.

As declared by musz.hu, Hungarians will be participating on the very first day. In the 400m freestyle event current European silver medallist Ajna Késely will try to challenge three-time World Championship medallist Li from China.

László Cseh, who has won a medal at the last eight World Championships – which is a record in itself – will face off against co-patriot Kristof Milák in the 200m butterfly, who leads the European Rankings. This event will also include Olympic champion and two-time World champion Chad Le Clos from South Africa and Olympic silver medallist Masato Sakai from Japan. The two Hungarians will face Le Clos on the 100m butterfly as well on the following day.

European bronze medallist Katalin Burián and Katinka Hosszú will compete in the 200m backstroke. Hosszú has been European champion in this discipline, in addition to coming second in both the World Championships and the Olympics. World champion Emily Seebohm from Australia and European champion Margherita Panziera from Italy will be their most significant challenges to overcome in this race.

Hosszú, known as the Iron Lady in the swimming world, will also race in the 200m butterfly, 100m backstroke events in addition to 200m medley race for insurance; in the latter she is the Olympic, World and European champion and also holds the world record. Zsuzsanna Jakabos will also compete in this event, who has racked up nine European Championship medals over her career.

Eszter Békesi, who at the age of 17 is already a national champion in the 100m and 200 butterfly disciplines, will compete in the 200m butterfly event over the weekend.

Dominik Kozma will face off against Chad Le Clos in the 200m freestyle race on Saturday, while in the 400m version of the event will see Peter Bernek jump in the water. Bernek is the world champion for this event in a short-course pool.

This is the second stage of the FINA Champions Swim Series tour. Tickets can be brought on the following link. Prices range between €3 and €15.

We reported that the European Capitals and Cities of Sport Federation (ACES) awarded Budapest the European Capital of Sport title in 2019.  We also discussed all the sports Hungary is hosting this year.

Featured image: https://www.facebook.com/fina1908/.

Source: musz.hu, uszobajnokok.hu