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As World Championships Near, Katinka Hosszu Lurking As a Medal Contender in 400 Medley
With a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter individual medley at last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Hungarian star Katinka Hosszu saw her dominance in the event end. Heading into the Games, Hosszu was the reigning Olympic titlist and had won four consecutive gold medals at the World Championships. But she was far from in peak form in Japan, and her performances suggested podium finishes in international competition might be a thing of the past.
However, a few weeks shy of this summer’s World Championships on home soil in Budapest, Hosszu is positioning herself for a medal surge. During Thursday’s action at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum Series, Hosszu won the 400 medley in 4:37.04. It was a strong effort for the Hungarian, who could peak at the perfect time.
From the time she won the world title in 2013 in Barcelona through her global crown in the 400 IM at the 2019 World Champs in South Korea, Hosszu owned the event. The highlight of that stretch was an Olympic gold medal in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, a world-record performance of 4:26.36 almost unfathomable. Now 33 years old, Hosszu’s prime days are behind her, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be a factor in a few weeks.
While Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh is the favorite for gold, having gone sub-4:30 earlier this year, the event is otherwise wide open. Australian Kaylee McKeown has announced she will bypass the discipline at Worlds, and Olympic champ Yui Ohashi of Japan has yet to fire this year. Meanwhile, Americans Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant, the Olympic silver medalist, have been 4:36.17 and 4:37.72, respectively.
Obviously, times will come down when action gets underway at the Duna Arena, but with her 4:37-flat performance in Barcelona, Hosszu provided a positive sign for the World Championships.
She will definitely gets the biggest cheer from the crowd – no matter her results 🙂
I hope she does win. The women’s 400 IM is getting like the 200 fly. Go back to Hoff, Beisel, Klochkova, Evans, Egerzecki, Miley, Sandeno and tons of others – even Caulkins with a new suit – and they would all be one of the favourites today if McIntosh was not there. Not the progress one sees in other events.