"I'll retire one day, and there's a lot less time in front of me than there is behind me in swimming for sure," the Hungarian swimming star said, adding that she has set a new goal to reach.Continue reading
The international aquatics federation FINA announced Monday that the 2022 World Championships will take place after all, but not at the originally planned venue in Fukuoka, Japan, but in Budapest. The Hungarian capital will host the 2022 World Aquatics Championships between June 18 and July 3.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
Six days ago, FINA announced that the World Aquatics Championships, which were postponed a year earlier because of the coronavirus epidemic, would be further postponed until 2023. However, the international aquatics federation changed its decision and announced on Monday morning that the world championships will also be held this year, but not in Fukuoka, but in Budapest.
The international federation justified the decision to hold the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, saying it would give athletes the opportunity to participate in a world event again this summer.
“As an aquatics community, we are finding solutions around the pandemic and today’s announcement is an important step in this process,” FINA President Husain Al-Musallam said. “We know we need to be imaginative in our approach in navigating through the current health crisis for our athletes. Today’s agreement is a testament to this work. FINA also recognizes that the pandemic is evolving differently according to time and place. We are extremely fortunate to have event hosts that share our passion for aquatics and have the willingness, capability, and flexibility to organize FINA’s most prestigious event. We are deeply grateful to all our hosts and know that aquatics athletes feel the same way.”
Sándor Wladár, head of the Hungarian Swimming Association and leader of the organizing committee, told a press conference that the event would use already existing facilities only, therefore, the high-diving event will not be included.
Events of the championships will be held in Budapest, Sopron, Debrecen, and Szeged.
Swimmers have a busy schedule this year. The European Championships will be held in Rome in August. Hungary’s world-renowned and one of the most successful swimmers, Katinka Hosszú announced in January that she wants to win a total of 100 medals at world championships and could become the first swimmer in the world to achieve this. At the moment she has 96.
Source: Nemzeti Sport
Featured image: Katinka Hosszú after the women’s 200m medley preliminaries at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, postponed to 2021 due to the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus, at the Tokyo Aquatic Center on July 26, 2021. Photo by Tamás Kovács/MTI