European Championships: Hubert Kós – Texas Superhero Squad is “Better than the Avengers”
Hubert Kós describes his elite Texas training group of Olympic and world champions as a superhero squad that eclipses the Avengers.
Kós was speaking on the eve of the European Championships in Paris where he’s set to take on a programme that encompasses the 50/100/200 back, 200IM and 100/200 fly.
Shaine Casas, Leon Marchand, Hubert Kós: Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
The Hungarian will meet Leon Marchand amongst others in the 200 fly with the Olympic champion restricted to two individual events because of injury.
The pair are members of Bob Bowman’s training stable in Texas along with triple Olympic champion and eight-time world gold medallist Summer McIntosh.
Shaine Casas, Carson Foster and Luke Hobson also feature with Regan Smith and Simone Manuel among the women’s ranks. Marchand led home Casas and Kós for a Texas sweep of the 200IM medals at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore.
It is the crème de la crème of swimming and an assembly of titans.
Kós said: “Honestly, it’s better than the Avengers. Like this sort of group has never been assembled before in the history of swimming. You had amazing swimmers in the past that Bob’s trained, like Michael Phelps obviously, but it’s the amount of swimmers that are really good.
“You know, you could put up 10 swimmers in a heat and they’d all have Olympic golds or world championship golds or all Olympic medals. It’s incredible. And we’ve got young guys coming up and one day they might become Olympic medallists. So, it’s very cool to see that. And some days you have to fight for your life in there and nothing’s a given in that group.”
Bowman, McIntosh & The Pull and Push
McIntosh moved to Texas following last year’s World Championships in Singapore where the Canadian won four golds and a bronze.
Bowman recognised her unwavering laser focus and fierce work ethic in an interview with CBC Olympics last month, saying: “She’s very serious about the work, probably too serious. She’s more serious than I am about the work.”
Summer McIntosh & Leon Marchand Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
When asked about the balance of pull and push in the group, Kós said: “It depends on who it is. So Summer, he doesn’t have to push Summer at all, sometimes he has to pull Summer back.
“Right after training camp, Summer just does fly on her own whenever she feels like she needs fly. Like we’re doing some easy swimming, she’ll just do a fly. And, you know, she’s trying the world record afterwards. So, she really knows what she’s doing and in swimming, that’s very tough to do because it’s such a monotone sport. But to be able to find the energy to then do something that difficult at the end of a practice, it’s very special.
“And it’s great to have her there, great to see the best male swimmer and the best female swimmer in the world, same team, same lane. It’s awesome. And for me, obviously Bob knows how I work. I have a different dynamic with Bob. He understood that when I came to him for the first time, he really needed to help me with the mental side of things – how to calm down before a race, what to focus on, the process.”
Fly Prospects As Marchand Awaits
Marchand’s rollcall in the 200 fly includes the Paris 2024 Olympic title and 2023 world gold, a year after silver more than three seconds behind Kós’ Hungary teammate Kristof Milak as he demolished the WR in 1:50.34.
He’s the only man to break 1:54 this year in 1:53.08 in April and his Olympic-winning time of 1:51.21 is fourth all-time, behind Milak’s three best efforts.
Kós’ PB stands at 1:56.01 from the American Championships in December 2025 and he has little illusion as to the size of the task ahead of him to keep Marchand within his vision.
“It’s going to be almost impossible to beat him in that,” said Kós. “He’s so good in that event. But I hope I can just improve. That’s obviously the main goal, hopefully fight for a medal. It’d be great to share a podium with Leon again in an event, which won’t be the 200IM this year, but last year (at the World Championships) was the 200IM, so it’d be pretty cool to do that, pretty awesome.
“And you know, I’m still at the point where I could scratch on the day, like I’ll try it out, but if it doesn’t go well, it might not be the event for me. We’ll see. It’s sort of an exciting proposition.”
Laszlo Cseh & European Significance
The Hungarian started his European medal collection back at Roma 2022 where he won the 200IM, a title he retained two years later in Belgrade. He won a further four medals including mixed relay gold in 2024, weeks before the Olympics in Paris.
Despite having won Olympic and world titles, Kós in no way plays down the significance of European honours but instead looks to the likes of fellow Hungarian Laszlo Cseh who won 14 golds among 23 continental medals during a career of astonishing longevity.
Laszlo Cseh: Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya
“It’s awesome,” he said. “My heroes were always really good at European Championships, like Laszlo Cseh, and he has so many. So, hopefully one day I can catch him.”
Kós won the 200m backstroke title at Paris 2024 and the City of Light has occupied a special place in his heart ever since.
“I achieved my dream here and it was everything that I’ve ever, ever dreamed of. And I went out into the city a little bit yesterday for lunch and all the memories came back of the week after I won. Being out with my friends and just seeing the city and how beautiful it is. So, it’s like I never left in a way. It was two years ago, which is a long time, but when I came back it was just like yesterday that I won it. So, you know, I’m really excited and this time I’m going to be swimming a lot more than at the Olympics, but hopefully it goes well and I’m excited.”