The men's relay failed to pull off a miracle, with Nandor Nemeth, Sebastian Szabo, Adam Gazo and Hubert Kuss finishing eighth. The lesson is the same as always: in this sport, it's particularly hard to get past the facts.
The morning races weren't exactly slow either, but the field accelerated brutally in the evening final. At the start, Nándor Németh had a stunning start, with 47.76, which Sebasztián Szabó started from third, but the others were very close behind him, and Szebi was unable to repeat his morning advantage, 48.0 (48.46). Adam Gazzo, on the other hand, spun very hard, improving by five tenths (48.38), while Hubert Kus, on the other hand, was now on the far side, in the waves, and couldn't perform a miracle – he also fell a little lower than his breakfast (48.51), which left him in eighth place. But it actually looks like if Szebi and Szebi improve their qualifying times, they could get… seventh place (by the way, they were 15 hundredths slower in total). With the national record in Tokyo (3:11.06), we would have finished fourth, but then four full runners swept the pool, plus Nandi, Zippi, Bohus-Richard and Christophe Milak who rose to the top). Don't worry, the guys have the same opinion: you have to stay grounded – in this lineup, sixth to eighth. Place can only be the goal; it's already great that we've made it to the Olympic final. For the better, the two sets went 46-47, and in the end the Americans beat the Australians and the Italians.
There were no surprises in the 400m final. Lucas Mertens, who has been in incredible form this year – swimming the fourth-fastest time ever at the German championships with a time of 3:40.33 – virtually won from start to finish. In fact, the question was whether he could break one of the last cosmic world records set since the shark suit craze of 2009. At half-distance, his great predecessor, Paul Biedermann, was “ahead” by two seconds, shifting to the last hundred, by 0.77, but as has often been the case in past trials, the line that had been 15 years before the current champion was left behind. In the end, the German won convincingly in a time of 3:41.78, arguably comfortable compared to the race in April – and the Korean Kim and the Australian Wellington, who had been pushing on the individual track, were equally happy to have won the medal. When the results were announced.
For the women, the battle of the three giants was preceded by great anticipation, but for a moment there was no doubt that the title would be defended over the distance for the first time in nearly a hundred years: Australian Ariarne, like Titmus Mertens, won from start to finish. The young Canadian genius Summer McIntosh tried to pressure him, but really had no chance, Titmus won by 88 centuries. The fact that Katie Ledecky couldn’t even beat them was not a surprise based on the years that had passed – after all, no one had beaten Titmus over this distance since 2019 – but rather how far behind she was (by 3.37 seconds from Titmus, to be exact), and that New Zealand almost caught up to Fairweather at the end (25 centuries remained of the American advantage).
In the women's relay, the first three quartets produced brutal speed, and the Australians eventually won by a clear margin of 1.28, a new Olympic record, but the Americans and Chinese also broke their continental record. In any case, the Australians lead 2-1 after the first day in the special competition with the Americans.
Formulations
Nandor Nemeth
“Of course, we thought if that’s the case, what will happen – but we have to stay grounded. Since we know we’re swimming in this formation, even the final was considered an achievement for us, I think it’s great that we’ve gone in. We also knew that even if everyone did their best, sixth to eighth place is the reality – now we’re eighth, but that’s perfectly fine. For me, swimming twice is a good sign before the 100m final; the field looks incredibly strong, and I have to do everything I can to be in the final again. However, I feel good, and I’m ready for it.”
Sebastian Szabo
“You can't detect such a difference in speed in the water, I went a little bit faster in the morning. To be honest, if the final was tomorrow, I think it could have been much better, because I could have rested a little bit, because we didn't train much for the 100m, only the 50m.”
Adam Gazoo
“But getting into this pool in the morning, in front of so many people, at the Olympics… Well, I was a bit nervous in the morning… However, by the evening I was able to dismiss that, and I’m very happy that we swam in the final and that I was able to improve a lot – that’s why the focus helped me a lot. I’ll try to rest until tomorrow and swim the 100m backstroke.”
Hubert Coss
“There wasn’t much, I couldn’t even feel my legs anymore, which always happens to me at 100. In the morning I felt worse afterwards than now, which is good. Anyway, I was able to swim my first Olympic final, and I think we can be proud of ourselves after qualifying. It’s 100 tomorrow, everything depends on me there, I can’t wait.”
Hungarian competitors results – Day 1, Finals
men
4 x 100 m relay: 8. Hungary (Nandor Nemeth, Sebastian Szabó, Adam Gazo, Hubert Kos) 3:13.11
