Katinka Hosszú has successfully defended her 400m individual medley world title at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Hosszú finished first in a time of 4:30.39, beating Ye Shiwen of China by 1.68. Yui Ohashi of Japan, who gave her a good battle through the first 200m, finished third with 4:32.33.
“This 400 medley was very ‘me’ and to this day I still adore racing,” Hosszú said after her victory. “This was a strange world championship as somehow I didn’t feel the same adrenaline as for example at the Budapest world event or the last Olympics. I was a little scared at first, but it eventually worked to my advantage as I was able to get into the races with a cool head.”
Hosszú is the world record holder in 100m individual medley, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke. She was the first swimmer to hold world records in all five individual medley events at the same time.
Hosszú was named FINA Swimmer of the Year in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and won SwimSwam's Swammy Award for Female Swimmer of the Year in 2013.
Photo credit: MTI