Another Hungarian swimmer, Nóra Flück, finished fourth in the final.Continue reading
Defending champion Szebasztián Szabó won the silver medal in the 50m freestyle on Thursday at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania.
The 27-year-old Hungarian finished just two hundredths off his personal best (20.72), with which he won in Kazan, Russia two years ago, tied with France’s Florent Manaudou. Szabó was expecting the only Hungarian final on Thursday with the third best time (20.87); he got off to a good start in the final of the fastest event, but the first half of the distance was not so good for him, and he turned fourth. However, at the end, he managed to finish second with a great chase.
Szebasztián Szabó (C) and Florent Manaudou (L) tied for second place, with winner Benjamin Proud (R). Photo: MTI/Kovács Tamás
British swimmer Benjamin Proud won the event with a European record of 20.18, just two hundredths off the world record of Caeleb Dressel from the U.S.
“The start was not as good as yesterday, so I just closed my eyes and concentrated on technique at the end. This is such a contest, it is full of uncertainty, there are so many of us, there is always someone else who can win,” Szabó told MTI. “I trained with Proud in the last three weeks, it did not look like that there, but hats off to him, he was swimming fantastic, congratulations. I obviously want to compete with him, so I have to train even harder.”
This is the second medal for the Hungarian delegation at the European Championships in Romania, where Ajna Késely won the bronze medal in the 800m freestyle on Wednesday.
Men’s 50 m freestyle results:
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1. Benjamin Proud (Great Britain) 20.18 – European record
2. SZEBASZTIÁN SZABÓ (HUNGARY) and Florent Manaudou (France) 20.74
Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Kovács Tamás