Hubert Kos powered to gold in the men’s 200m backstroke on Thursday, touching in 1min 54.26sec to deliver Hungary’s first gold of the Paris Olympics.
Greece’s Apostolos Christou, who had led until the final turn, took the silver medal, finishing 0.56sec behind Kos, while Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov won bronze.
Kos came into the race as the favourite, after American Ryan Murphy, gold medallist in Rio and silver in Tokyo, surprisingly failed to qualify for the final.
But he still had plenty of work to do on the final lap after Christou’s impressive showing.
“I knew I had to go fast so I didn’t really know where anybody else was. I just kept swimming and swimming. I was happy to get my hand on the wall first,” said Kos.
“I feel really sick right now. I haven’t really processed this. I need a little time. I am over the moon. I knew I had to have speed coming back. It doesn’t matter how I got there, it matters that I got there,” he added.
Christou said he had not expected to medal in the 200 having focused on the 100 backstroke and he was delighted to have surprised himself.
“It’s the best achievement in my career. I’m really happy. The best day of my life, so I’m really glad, blessed, and very, very satisfied with my results,” he said.
Kos, the 2023 world champion, who is trained by Michael Phelps’s former coach Bob Bowman, produced a devastating final 25 metres to leave the Greek in his wake and finish a comfortable winner in the end.
It continues an impressive Olympics for Bowman’s swimmers, with French favourite Leon Marchand having already claimed three gold medals.
“Without him I’d probably be like 15th in the 2IM (200m individual medley) right now. It’s been an incredible journey with him, and I’m just to happy be part of a team like that,” he said.
“The magic touch is the work. He doesn’t let us be second best. He doesn’t let us stoop down to a level he doesn’t want from us. That brings out the best in us,” he added.
Kos, who swims at Arizona State University, is the first Hungarian to win the event since Sandor Wladar in Moscow in 1980.
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