Thanks to her amazing finish, Boglárka Kapás won the women’s 200m butterfly at the 18th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, bringing the Hungarian team its fourth gold medal.
At the halfway point, the Hungarian swimmer was last, but she hit the finish line first with 2:06.78 minutes, followed by Hall Flickinger and Katie Drabot (both US). In the same race, Liliána Szilágyi came in sixth.
“First I wasn’t aware if I finished first or fourth. It is unbelievable that this actually happened to me,” she told public channel M4 after the race. “I’m glad that I finally came in under 2:07. The race was still quite slow. But I’m very happy, it went exactly as I planned. I pushed as much as I could”.
Kapás with Hali Flickinger (l) and Katie Drabot (r). Image by MTI/Tamás Kovács
This is the second time, Kapás, aged 26, is able to stand up on the World Championships’ podium in her career. Four years ago in Kazan she came in third in the 1500m freestyle. Besides a number of European Championships medals, she won bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in the 800m freestyle.
With this last gold, Hungary stands fifth at the medal table, for the moment.
featured image by MTI/Tamás Kovács