Hungary finished 4th on the medal table of the European Swimming Championship

The Hungarian national swimming team achieved great success at the 2018 European Aquatics Championship in Glasgow, 24.hu reports. With a total of nine medals we finished fourth on the table of the swimming championship, and at the moment we rank fifth on the overall list.

Just days after Laura Horváth came in second at the 2018 CrossFit Games, and Boglárka Dévai has become the first Hungarian woman to win in gymnastics at the European Championships in 20 years, came the wonderful results of the Hungarian swimmers.

Together they received four gold, three silver, and two bronze medals.

Csaba Sós, the coach of the national team expected ten medals with at least two golds before the championship, so his goals were met by the swimmers. Nevertheless, Sós remained realistic after the great success and believes that this will not be enough to triumph at next year’s World Championship or in Tokyo in 2020. But let’s worry about the future after we celebrated our great swimmers properly.

Gold medalists

Boglárka Kapás won the 200 m butterfly swimming personal best. She performed amazingly on the last 50 metres and finished at 2:07.13. However, she was not completely satisfied with her time. “I won’t rest until I get 2:06” she promised.

Boglárka Kapás after winning 200 m butterfly in Glasgow. Photo: MTI/AP/Darko Bandic

Katinka Hosszú came home from the 2017 European Short Course Swimming Championships with three gold medals (100, 200 and 400 m) and won 200 m and 400 m in the 2016 European Championship.

This year the Iron Lady finished first in 200 m medley so she successfully held her title.

Katinka Hosszú, winner in 200 m medley. Photo: MTI/EPA/Patrick B. Krämer

Kristóf Milák got the gold in 200 m butterfly. The young swimmer was unstoppable and behind him finished Tamás Kenderesi, so Hungary actually gained a double victory. After the race, Milák said that he started out too fast because he planned to beat László Cseh’s 1:52.70 European record, and thus he did not have enough energy left for the end.

Double Hungarian victory in 200 m butterfly. Left to right: Tamás Kenderesi and Kristóf Milák. Photo: MTI/EPA/Patrick B. Krämer

Last but not least, Dávid Verrasztó won the very close race in 400 m medley. He managed to put on a final spurt and thus beat the British Max Litchfield.

Dávid Verrasztó celebrating his 400 m medley victory. Photo: MTI/AP/Darko Bandic

Silver medalists

Ajna Késely is only 16 years old but got two silver medals in 800 m freestyle and 400 m freestyle. The latter with European junior record time!

Ajna Késely on the left after the 400 m freestyle ceremony. This is her second silver medal here in addition to a bronze. Photo: MTI/AP/Darko Bandic

As we mentioned before, Tamás Kenderesi finished second in 200 m butterfly after his fellow countryman. Luckily, Kenderesi was not disappointed. “My time was good and finally I got a different-coloured medal. I was expecting a result like this and from now on I am preparing for the World Championship next year.”

Bronz medalists

Kata Burján got third place in 200 m backstroke, which is the best result of her career and she also swam her personal best time. She told the reporters that she had imagined what she would say after such success many times, but now she felt speechless and just wanted to express her gratitude.

Kata Burján on the right, finishing third in 200 m backstrokes. Photo: MTI/AP/Darko Bandic

Ajna Késely also finished third in 1500 m freestyle.

A few statistics

So far Hungary has 94 gold medals in European Swimming Championships. The most fruitful year so far was 2016 with 10 victories. László Cseh is the most successful with 14 golds in total. This year he made it into the 100 m butterfly final with the best time but only finished 8^th there. Second is Katinka Hosszú with 12 and third Krisztina Egerszegi with 9 victories.

24.hu also emphasises that Hungarians were writing history this year. Dávid Verrasztó won his consequent third gold medal in 400 m medley (2014, 2016, 2018) and if we remember that between 2004-12 László Cseh was the champion then it is easy to see that:

Ajna Késely with her 800 m freestyle silver medal. Photo: MTI/EPA/Patrick B. Krämer

During the past eight European Championships in 400 m medley, the winner was always Hungarian. This is a series unprecedented by any other nations in any lengths.

Moreover, the soon 30-year-old swimmer, Verrasztó is also the oldest winner of the 400 m medley now. On the other hand, the young Ajna Késely (16) was the most successful this year with a total of three medals.

Right now it is still undecided whether Kristóf Rasovszky has a silver or a gold medal in the 10 km open water swim but he has definitely won on 5km, making him the first Hungarian to win two medals in individual open water events.

All in all, these are quite the results we should be proud of!

Featured image: MTI Fotó: Szigetváry Zsolt (the Hungarian team before leaving for the championship)

Source: 24.hu