Hubert Kos Notches 1:56.40 200 IM, Lowers Newly-Minted 50 Back HUN Record To 24.62

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2025 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 9th – Saturday, April 12th
• Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/Finals at 5pm local (11am ET)
• Csik Ferenc Swimming Pool, Kaposvar, Hungary
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Entries/Live Results
• Livestream (Prelims Only)

Despite world record holder Kristof Milak kicking off his campaign today, it was 22-year-old Hubert Kos who stole the show on day one of the 2025 Hungarian National Swimming Championships.

The University of Texas superstar busted out lifetime bests in both the men’s 200m IM and 50m back to make his presence known in Kaposvar.

First, in the 200m IM, Kos cranked out a time of 1:56.40 to handily take the gold, defeating the field by over 2 seconds.

Next to the wall was Gabor Zambori who touched in 1:58.82 while Dominik Torok rounded out the podium in 1:58.92.

Entering this competition, Kos’ career-swiftest 2IM outing rested at the 1:56.99 clocked at the 2021 European Championships so the Longhorn sliced over half a second off that mark to establish the new PB.

Splits for Kos tonight included 25.30/29.44 (54.74)/33.30/28.36 to get the job done and maintain his slot as the 2nd-best Hungarian in history. He continues to creep up on Olympian Laszlo Cseh‘s national record of 1:55.18 from 2009.

Kos ranks #2 in the world this season while both he and Zambori qualify for the event for this summer’s World Championships.

The 50m back also fell victim to Kos, as he lowered his newly-minted national record by .01.

This morning he posted a PB of 24.63 to claim the top seed while tonight he checked in at 24.62 to take the gold.

Kos’ time overtook the longstanding Hungarian benchmark of 24.76 Richard Bohus put on the books at the 2018 Gyor Open.

25-year-old Milak was indeed in the water, racing his way to gold in the men’s 100m free.

Milak punched a result of 48.76 (23.52/25.24) to score the sole time of the field under the 49-second barrier.

Behind him was Adam Jaszo who secured silver in 49.11 and Daniel Meszaros bagged bronze in 49.43.

Milak’s best-ever performance remains at the 47.47 national record he established in 2022.

Finally, national record older David Betlehem put on a show in the men’s 1500m free, firing off a season-best of 14:48.73.

Also under the 15-minute mark was open water ace Kristof Rasovszky who also cleared the World Championships ‘A’ cut with a silver medal-garnering 14:52.82.

Fresh off his NCAA Championships title in the 1650y free, Indiana’s Zalan Sarkany rounded out the top 3 performers in 15:03.26.

Betlehem now dethrones Japanese 17-year-old Kazushi Imafuku to rank #1 in the world this season and Rasovszky takes over the #4 position.

Additional Notes

• Henrietta Fangli lowered her Hungarian national record to 1:06.87 in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Look for a follow-up post on this performance.
• Dalma Sebestyen hit a time of 2:16.53 to win the women’s 200m IM by over 3 seconds, although she was well outside the 2:12.83 World Aquatics ‘A’ standard needed for Singapore.
• The women’s 100m free saw Nikolett Padar beat her competitors with a gold medal-worthy 55.06.
• Visiting Austrian Valentin Bayer was the top 100m breast racer, logging 1:00.17 for the victory.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Hubert Kos Notches 1:56.40 200 IM, Lowers Newly-Minted 50 Back HUN Record To 24.62