Hubert Kós clinched victory in the 200-metre backstroke at the Paris Olympics, securing Hungary’s first gold medal in the French capital.
The 21-year-old swimmer triumphed in Thursday’s final with a time of 1:54.26 minutes.
Kós has been training in the United States under the guidance of the legendary coach Bob Bowman since early 2023.
This collaboration led to his gold medal at the Fukuoka World Championships last summer, positioning him as a favourite for Paris.
Kós approached the final with confidence, not only due to his strong semi-final performance—being the only swimmer to clock under 1:56 minutes (1:55.96) despite admitting to making several mistakes—but also because many of his main rivals had been eliminated. Among those who faltered were Ryan Murphy, the four-time Olympic champion who won in Rio and placed second in Tokyo, as well as Thomas Ceccon, the Italian victor in the 100m event in Paris. The defending champion, Russian Evgeny Rylov, did not compete due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
After a strong start, Kós began more slowly than in the semi-finals. The Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou, swimming in lane 2, took an early lead, turning into the last 50 metres with a body-length advantage. However, Kós closed the gap with an impressive turn and underwater work, taking the lead confidently with 15 metres to go.
Kós became the second Hungarian male swimmer to win this event at the Olympics, following Sándor Wladár, the current president of the Hungarian Swimming Federation.
This victory marked Hungary’s 30th Olympic gold in swimming.
Kós’ gold is the Hungarian delegation’s fourth medal in Paris. Last Saturday, fencer Eszter Muhari took third place, and on Wednesday, the men’s sabre team and Kristóf Milák in the 200-metre butterfly both won silver.
Speaking after his victory, the new Olympic champion expressed his disbelief: ‘It feels incredible; I haven’t processed it yet,’ said the 21-year-old swimmer. ‘The great Aaron Peirsol once said that the 200m backstroke should be swum by feel, based on how you feel on the day, and I did just that. Even though I felt a bit tired, I knew I would be strong in the second half because that’s what Bob and I worked on all year. I just wanted to start with a good pace,’ he explained.
Training in the United States under Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps and the current coach of French superstar Léon Marchand, who has won three gold medals in Paris, Kós revealed that he had secretly hoped for this outcome but did not expect to become an Olympic champion so soon.
‘I’ve sacrificed a lot to achieve this, and I’m happy,’ Kós added, quickly leaving to cool down, as he is set to compete in the 100m butterfly on Friday. As for celebrations, he plans to get a good night’s sleep.
Kós received his gold medal from Sándor Wladár and Balázs Fürjes, Hungary’s representative to the International Olympic Committee.
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