Biggest Surprises of 2023 (Men’s): Sam Short, Hubert Kos Break Out With World Titles
Prior to 2023, Sam Short of Australia and Hubert Kos of Hungary had each achieved some success internationally as teenagers. Short debuted on the major level in 2022, winning a relay medal at the World Championships before winning Commonwealth Games gold in the 1500 freestyle and silver in the 400 freestyle. Kos, meanwhile, was just 18 when he swam in his first Olympics in 2021. He did not advance out of the heats in Tokyo, but one year later, he was a European champion and World Championships finalist in the 200 IM.
Now, both are world champions, entering the Olympic year as favorites to win individual Olympic gold.
Short arrived in Fukuoka this year as Australia’s leading hope in the 800 and 1500 free, events long dominated by the likes of Kieran Perkins and Grant Hackett but void of much Aussie success in the decade-and-a-half since Hackett’s retirement. Over 400 meters, Short was considered a medal contender but not the top force from his country after Elijah Winnington had blazed his way to a world title one year earlier.
But right away, the 19-year-old Short made his presence felt by swimming a best time in prelims to lead the field by a whopping 1.70 seconds. That evening, in the first medal race of the meet, Short took control right away. Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, the surprising Olympic champion two years earlier, closed the gap on the Australian through the middle portion of the race and pulled slightly ahead with 50 meters remaining, but Short fought back. Stroke for stroke down the stretch, Short got to the wall in 3:40.68, two hundredths ahead of Hafnaoui and good enough for a world title.
Suddenly, Short was in range of the world record, coming in only six tenths off the world record Paul Biedermann set in 2009, and he moved ahead of Winnington and 2016 Olympic champion Mack Horton as the second-fastest Australian ever. Short went on to put together the most successful meet for an Australian freestyler since 2005 as he won medals in the 800 (silver) and 1500 (bronze) in addition to his eight-lap triumph.
Hubert Kos — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Five days later, Kos won a title even more unexpected than Short’s. In his first few months training in the United States at Arizona State University, Kos had suddenly emerged as not just a medley specialist but an elite backstroker. In Fukuoka, he qualified for the 100 back final and specifically targeted the 200 back, choosing to forgo his former specialty event to focus on the next day’s backstroke race.
Kos got himself into the 200 back final and into a race with American Ryan Murphy, the defending world champion and the winner of gold or silver at every major meet since the 2016 Olympics. Kos owned a best time of 1:55.95 while Murphy was one of only eight men in history to break 1:54. With Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov banned from the meet along with all Russian swimmers and British veteran Luke Greenbank also absent, Murphy was the only swimmer in the field who had ever won an individual medal at an Olympics or World Championships.
But that did not stop Kos. Murphy built an early lead, but Kos never let him break away. On the third 50, the 20-year-old Hungarian split 29.06 to take over the lead, and then he pulled away with a final split a half-second clear of the American’s. Kos touched in 1:54.14 for his first world title.
Along with Lithuanian breaststroker Ruta Meilutyte, who returned to the top of the podium in the women’s 100 breaststroke after 10 years, these men provided the most surprising performances of 2023, poised for an Olympic season with the sport’s greatest honor on the line.