Kristóf Rasovszky Downs Supersuited 400 Free Record & Hubert Kós Sets 100 Back Mark To Top Rankings
Kristóf Rasovszky consigned the Hungarian super-suited 400 free record to history and Hubert Kós downed the 100 back standard with a rankings-topper on day two of the Hungarian Championships in Kaposvár.
Rasovszky, the Olympic 10k champion, overhauled Zalan Sarkany to go ahead by the 300m mark before pulling away to come home in 3:45.32. With that, he sliced 0.36 from the record of 3:45.68 set by Gergo Kis at the 2009 World Championships in Rome at the peak of the supersuit era.
It leaves three men’s records still standing from the shiny suit era: Krisztián Takács (50m freestyle) and László Cseh (200/400IM).
Sarkany was second in 3:47.73 with David Betlehem adding 400 bronze to his 1500 gold in 3:47.86.
Oliver Klemet, Kristof Razovszky & David Betlehem: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia
Rasovszky has now qualified for the World Championships in Singapore over eight lengths although his place in the 1500 is uncertain despite finishing second on the opening day.
He said through the Hungarian federation: “This was the goal. When I started training again in September, I said to myself that I would like to break the national record of the 400m freestyle in the next year or two. I’m very happy that I managed to do this – if only because this national championship is about the qualification times, as I won’t have much opportunity to qualify in the pool after that. That’s why I arrived here in the best possible condition, and yesterday I surprised myself at 1500, because I went better than I had hoped, and after that I was really looking forward to the 400. I wanted to do a little bit better, 3:44, but I’m still very satisfied.”
Ajna Késely won the women’s title for the eighth time in 4:08.82 with Bettina Fabian posting 4:11.50 for second and Viktória Mihályvári-Farkas third in 4:13.05.
Record-Breaking Kós Rockets To The Top Of The Rankings
Kós has already made two trips to the top of the podium in Kaposvár following victories in the 50 back in a Hungarian record of 24.62 and the 200IM (1:56.40).
Kós headed the 100 back prelims in 52.91, the second-fastest time of his career following his 52.78 Hungarian record as he headed prelims at Paris 2024. Younger brother Oliver qualified third on a morning when the three Kós siblings all took to the water with sister Alison – the youngest of the trio at 14 – going in the women’s 100 back where she finished 31st in 1:10.40.
He returned in the evening to dismantle his national standard, splitting 25.07/27.17 to stop the clock in 52.24 and cut 0.54 from his Paris performance. The Olympic 200 back champion rocketed to the top of the 2025 world rankings where he displaced Britain’s Ollie Morgan and his 52.71 at the BUCS Championships in February.
Hubert Kós: Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Ádám Jászó and Benedek Kovacs replicated their second and third-place finishes of the 50 in 53.92 and 54.09 respectively.
Kós said: “I’m swimming times at this national championship that I didn’t expect. These hundred backstroke (races) have worked out very, very well – I have gone under 53 a total of five times in my entire life, and I have managed to do so three times today. 52.2 is a time that would have made me a medallist at the Olympics – then I couldn’t move on from the semi-finals, but this year I worked on it to make the 100m good, not just the 200m, and I did quite well.”
Kós also led off the BVSC-ZUGLÓ quartet in 52.64 as they won the medley relay in 3:36.74.
Katalin Burián added the 100 back to the 50 title in 1:01.30 ahead of Nika Sharafutdinova of Ukraine (1:01.75) with Dora Molnar the second Hungarian home in 1:01.88.
Milák Flies To 200 Title
Paris silver medallist Kristóf Milák led throughout to win the 200 fly in 1:56.13, 5.79secs slower than his WR set at the 2022 worlds in Budapest. Dominik Torok was second in 1:57.40 with Richard Marton third in 1:57.82.
Laura Ilyés won the women’s equivalent in a PB of 2:10.59 ahead of Dora Hathazi (2:12.42) and Glenda Abonyi-Toth (2:12.96).
Szebasztián Szabó regained the 50 free crown he lost last year as he touched in 22.13 ahead of Luka Cvetko (22.21) and Nandor Nemeth (22.23) as just 0.10 separated the first three men home.
Petra Senánszky won the women’s dash in 25.27, well clear over one length of Beatrix Tanko who edged out Nikolett Padar by 0.01 in 25.58 to 25.59.
UNI Győri Úszó Sportegy won the women’s medley relay in 4:07.45.
