Tamas Kenderesi held off fast-finishing world record-holder Kristof Milak in the 200 fly as the first titles of the Hungarian Championships were decided on Wednesday morning.
The schedule at the five-day event in Kaposvar is mirroring the Olympic timetable in Tokyo next July with heats in the evening and finals in the morning.
Kenderesi – who won bronze at Rio 2016 – posted 1:55.86 to Milak’s 1:57.67 in Tuesday evening’s prelims.
Tamas Kenderesi: Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA
On Wednesday morning he reached halfway in 55.44 and was 0.94 ahead of Milak at the final turn and although the world champion came back on the final 50, Kenderesi touched the wall first in 1:54.64.
Milak – who missed the ISL in Budapest as he recovered from Covid-19 – stopped the clock at 1:54.98 with David Verraszto rounding out the podium in 1:58.43.
Kenderesi and Milak both easily dipped inside the qualification times for Tokyo but Laszlo Cseh – the 2008 Olympic silver medallist – was notable by his absence from the final after qualifying seventh from prelims.
Splits:
Kenderesi: 26.01/55.44/1:24.99/1:54.64
Milak: 26.32/56.25/1:25.93/1:54.98
Following the final, Kenderesi told musz.hu:
“Whoever has a good time in them, it doesn’t matter if he has to go in the evening or in the morning, he can produce it.
“I am also happy with 1:54 and the victory, I think this is a good feedback that we are on the right track.
“I know I still have something to improve on, these are mostly things outside the pool, because I always try to go to the maximum in training.”
Milak was more than satisfied with his performance given the effect of coronavirus on his health and training.
Kristof Milak celebrates victory in Gwangju in world-record time. Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
He said:
“It is absolutely good now, 1: 54.9, I did not even think that so much could come together after illness.
“I knew Tomi was going to go from the beginning, as always, so I let go, I thought maybe I could catch him in the last fifty, I ended up pretty close to him after all.
“As I am, the time under 1:55 is absolutely okay, the fact that I was second is not interesting at all at the moment. ”
There was some disruption minutes before the women’s 200 fly when world champion Boglarka Kapas withdrew after suddenly feeling unwell.
Following consultation with her coaches and input from Hungarian national team coach Csaba Sós, the six-time European champion pulled out of the final.
The 27-year-old – who tested positive for the coronavirus in March – had been feeling unwell for a week and a half and is awaiting test results.
In her absence and with Katinka Hosszu also not competing, the final was won by Zsuzsanna Jakabos in 2:10.06.
Kapas explained:
Boglarka Kapas: Photo Courtesy: LEN
“Unfortunately, I got sick shortly before the race started. This condition has lasted for a week and a half, sometimes it is dizziness, nausea, and then again everything returns to normal.
“I went for tests and we are waiting for the results for the time being…
“Anyway, the warm-up was absolutely good even now, I was preparing to start my time with 2:06, and then suddenly I felt bad again.
“I think I could have swim in the final anyway, maybe I would win by 2:09, but it is not known if I would have been any worse after that.
“My coaches discouraged me from taking risks, Csaba Sós also advised me not to leave.
“I am terribly sorry because I wanted to swim very well… I hope this will not be a problem in the coming days and I may try again. ”
Kapas’ fiance Adam Telegdy had been expecting to see her swim following his own efforts in the 100 backstroke.
The Rio Olympian had scorched to a PB of 53.72 in Tuesday’s heats, 0.32 outside Cseh’s Hungarian record from the 2012 Olympics.
However, he couldn’t replicate such a performance on Wednesday morning and his time of 54.30 was 0.45 outside the Tokyo qualification time.
Gerda Szilagyi won the women’s event in 1:01.09 ahead of Katalin Burian (1:01.13), the latter having been just 0.04secs outside the Olympic qualifying time of 1:00.25 in Tuesday’s heats.
Maxim Lobanovszkij won the men’s 50 free in 21.84 ahead of Nandor Nemeth (22.36) and Szebasztian Szabo (22.39) with visiting Austrian Nina Gangl taking the women’s title in 25.59.
Gergely Gyurta and Akos Kulmar fought out a 1500 free duel which saw the former take the lead in the penultimate 50 to win in 15:08.50 to 15:08.63.
Ajna Kesely won the 800 free in 8:37.45.
Csaba Szilagyi won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 59.99 – the only sub-minute performance – with Petra Halmai twice lowering her PB to win the women’s event in 1:08.02.
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