World Championships: Hugo Gonzalez Wins 200 Backstroke Gold With Late Surge
It came down to a tenth of a second, but by that slim margin, Hugo Gonzalez is a world champion.
Gonzalez, of Spain, won the gold medal in the men’s 200 backstroke in 1:55.30 to hold off Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov (1:55.40).
It was the first world championship for Gonzalez, who was an NCAA champion at Cal. Gonzalez won the silver medal in the 100 backstroke earlier at the World Championships.
Mityukov was first at the 50, 100 and 150 before Gonzalez surged past him.
Gonzalez was sixth at the 50, second at the 100, third at the 150 and then threw down a 28.98 final split to take the gold medal. He was the only swimmer to break 29 seconds on the final split.
South Africa’s Pieter Coetze took the bronze medal in 1:55.99 as just three swimmers broke the 1:56 mark during the race.
USA’s Jack Aikins was fourth at Worlds in 1:56.21, followed by South Korea’s Juho Lee (1:56.38), Greece’s Apostolos Siskos (1:56.64), Hungary’s Adam Telegdy (1:56.66) and Kai van Westering of the Netherlands, who finished in 1:57.19.
