A new star emerged in the Hungarian swimming scene - 15-year-old Vivien Jackl broke into the 400m IM elite in Duna Arena with the second-best time of the year.

During the four-day Hungarian National Championships, the best Hungarian swimmers had the chance to swim in one of, if not the best, pool in the world, in the Duna Arena. This year's national championships promised to be the most exciting in recent years, not only because it was the pre-Olympic championships, but also because we could see Milak, Hosszu and Boglarka Kapas swimming.

It is important to clarify that the Hungarian National Championships are not Olympic qualifiers, as the Hungarian Federation nominates swimmers for the Olympics based on the Olympic Qualification Times set by World Aquatics. However, the competition is fierce, as those who make it to the qualifying level by 23 June, the end of the qualifying period, will be eligible to go to the Olympics. This competition was the perfect venue for the Hungarians (and swimmers all around the world too, with nearly 20 countries competing in the Duna Arena) to swim Olympic qualification times.

Kristof Milak is Back | 48.38 in the 100m Free 

Before the national championships, everyone was wondering about the situation of Kristof Milak - in the last week of February the news arrived that Milak was back in training after a long time, and the entry list was received with doubt by the public - the Olympic champion entered in 6 events, 50-100-200m freestyle and butterfly respectively. But he shocked everyone in the first morning, coming in 49.02 in the 100m freestyle prelim, and then proved he was a force to be reckoned with in the afternoon, winning the event in 48.38 ahead of world bronze medalist Nandor Nemeth.

Kristof Milak also shocked the crowd in the 200 butterfly - he swam 1:55.43 in the morning, then half an hour later he swam 22.29 in the 50m freestyle preliminaries. In the afternoon, he continued the streak, swimming 1:54.90 in the 200m butterfly, with Richard Marton finishing second in 1:56.32. Just to be clarify - this time would have put him third in Doha, but we haven't seen such a slow time from him in the afternoon since 2018, with his slowest ever Hungarian Championships winning time being 1:53.6. However, he smashed the 50m freestyle - Milak came in 21.89, so he only had 25 minutes to rest after the 200m butterfly, with the medal ceremony.

Milak swam the 200m freestyle in 1:48.15, in the 50m butterfly he could not beat the European champion Szebasztian Szabo, but in the 100m butterfly he easily won (50.99).

Katinka Hosszu Returns as a Mother

Katinka Hosszu jumped back into the pool after giving birth - we've seen something like this before, Dana Vollmer when she was pregnant, she realized she wasn't done. Katinka gave birth to her daughter on 6 August 2023 and a few months later she returned at the Hungarian National Championships, swimming the 200m and 400m medley and the 100m butterfly, but failed to make the podium in either event.

However, Katinka was very cheerful, saying that on the one hand she still loves swimming, but on the other hand it is a very unusual feeling to have her daughter Kamilla in the pool and when she comes out of the water, she can't wait to see her daughter again.

Husband And Wife are Going to the Olympics Together

Boglarka Kapas, the World Champion of Gwangju, qualified for the Olympics at the age of 30. sShe has been chasing the Olympic level for almost a year now; she was only 4 hundredths of a second away from qualifying at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, but now she has left no questions unanswered, her time of 2:08.15 is well within the standard.

Kapas was overjoyed, and two days later her husband Adam Telegdy was equally delighted, as Telegdy swam the 3rd best time in the world rankings, 1:55.57, more than a second better than in Doha.

Snap, Jackl, Pop | New 400IM Start Burst Onto the Scene

However, the biggest surprise of the Hungarian National Championships was not Milak, Hosszu or Kapas, but 15-year-old Vivien Jackl. Last year, at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade, she won the 400m IM (4:40.66) at the age of 14, the youngest competitor in the field. Now, at the age of 15, she has dazzled everyone in the Duna Arena - she won the 400m medley with a time of 4:34.96, the second fastest in the world, which means that in less than a year she dropped 6 seconds. It’s unbelievable that her second fifth in the backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle was faster than her first. The backstroke splits were 33.82/33.29, the breaststroke splits were 41.42/41.09, the freestyle splits were 31.80/30.56. After her swim, Jackl pointed out that the breaststroke was her weakest leg, so her coach said she still had at least 2 seconds left in that.

World junior champion Gabor Zombori hasn't performed outstandingly in recent years, but in the 200m IM he swam within six hundredths of the Olympic qualifying time, 1:57.88. This was a surprise for him, as he originally prefers the longer events, and had planned to swim the 400m IM, but he was a bit weakened by illness on the third day of the Nationals, so he just missed the qualification time, stopped the clock at 04:12.70.

There is a new swimmer among the Hungarians - Henrietta Fangli, who has only been a champion in the US, representing Hungary after switching from Romania. She broke the national record of Agnes Kovacs in 2000, which has been untouched since the Sydney Olympics, with 1:07.50.