Overtaking Lotte Friis of Denmark on the final 50 metres, Hungarian female swimmer Boglárka Kapás’s outstanding performance saw the 22-year-old break the national record and win a bronze medal on 1500m freestyle at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, held in Kazan, Russia, yesterday.
Crossing the finish line with a time of 15:47.09 on Tuesday, the Hungarian competitive swimmer improved her previous personal record of 16:02.58, set in Barcelona two years ago, by over fifteen seconds.
“I only strived to get below sixteen minutes to finally break my individual record, sixteen minutes was the threshold of my dreams and I was actually disinterested in the time when the lights shooting up on the starting block signalled that I’m third, an emotional Kapás said following the race, adding that she noticed nearing Danish swimmer Lotte Friis over the final two hundred metres. “I already saw that she’s very near during the final fifty – I didn’t feel anything by then, I just stuck my head in the water and swam, my whole body was aching, but I couldn’t care”, the European Championship gold medallist said.
The triumph marks the first World Championship medal for Kapás and the third medal for Hungary in Kazan following Katinka Hosszú’s victory in 200m individual medley and László Cseh’s third place in 50m butterfly.
The event was won by 18-year-old defending World Champion Katie Ledecky with a new world record of 15:25.48 – further improving her previous best set on Monday -, while Lauren Boyle of New Zealand finished in second place.
via mandiner.hu
photo: vizipolo.hu