At the closing day of the international short course swimming championships held in the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion between 28 and 30 December, Hungary’s swimming legend Katinka Hosszú came first in all six events she participated at, setting a new national record in three of them.
With her 1:05.60 minute performance on 100 breaststroke, World and European champion Ms. Hosszú – who has voted sports ace of the year in Hungary and best female swimmer by the International Swimming Federation – broke the longest-standing Hungarian record, 1:07.06 minutes, set by Ágnes Kovács on 4 March 1999. On 100 freestyle, she beat Evelyn Verrasztó’s record on 52.90 secords with an 52.37 second time, and improved her own best of 25.92 seconds, set this yar, on 50 butterfly to 25.64 seconds.
Her performance during the last three days in La Réunion makes her the holder of 16 out of 18 female Hungarian records, sporting the best time in all but two events, 400 and 1500 metre freestyle.
Beside her above victories, she came first on 800 freestyle with a time of 8:26.46, on 200 medley with a time of 2:07.45 and finally on 200 metre backstroke, with a time of 2:06.39. In the latter two events, fellow Hungarian Evelyn Verrasztó came second to the Hungarian swimmer, who was named among the year’s 10 top sports aces in a poll held by European news agencies.
The swimming championship was organised on the island of La Réunion for the twenty-sixth time this year. Hungary’s European and World Champion gained five golds on the opening day on Sunday, followed by a further five first places and two silvers on Monday.
via mno.hu
photo: Europress/AFP