Hungary has some amazing swimmers and these two world-class athletes prove it.
The first is three-time Olympic champion swimmer Katinka Hosszú, who was awarded the “Female Athlete of The Year” distinction on Thursday in Budapest, and thereby equaled the record for winning the award originally set by five-time Olympic champion Krisztina Egerszegi.
Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her tenacity, the 30-year-old Hosszú is the current world record holder in 100-meter individual medley, 200-meter individual medley (long course and short course), 400-meter individual medley (long course) and 200-meter backstroke (short course).
She was the first swimmer, both male or female, to hold world records in all five individual medley events at the same time and holds two-thirds of the Hungarian national records.
Hosszu was named FINA Swimmer of the Year in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018, and won SwimSwam’s Swammy Award for Female Swimmer of the Year in 2013.
In the men’s category, the winner was another swimmer, 19-year-old Kristóf Milák, who broke Michael Phelps’ 10-year-old world record (1:51.51) in the 200-meter butterfly event by 0.78 second, setting a new world record time of 1:50.73 and thereby winning gold at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
Among the swim teams, the winner was the Ferencváros water polo men’s team, winners of the LEN Super Cup in last year as well as in 2018, 1980 and 1978.
Title image: Three-times Olympic champion swimmer Krisztina Egerszegi (source: Hungarian Swimming Federation)
