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Pre-coverage of the World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Each week until the start of the swimming competition at the world championships, Swimming World will look back at a previous performance at the world championships that still carries significance.
By Jeff Commings, Swimming World Senior Writer
One of swimming’s great rivalries began in 1989, when Hungary’s Tamas Darnyi and American Dave Wharton battled for supremacy in the 200 individual medley. Wharton fired the first shot, breaking Darnyi’s world record of 2:00.17 with a 2:00.11 at the Pan Pacific championships in Tokyo. Darnyi, the undisputed king of the 200 IM since 1987, could only muster a 2:01.03 and ended the year ranked second for the first time in three years.
With Wharton giving the two-minute barrier a scare, many wondered when the world would see the first swimmer under 2:00 in the 200 IM. It didn’t happen in 1990, as the best in the world did not have a major international competition. That was because the FINA world championships, which would have normally taken place in the summer of 1990, was moved to January 1991 during the summer season in Perth, Australia. This would be the first time Darnyi and Wharton would race in the same pool since the 1988 Olympics, and many thought both would break the magic barrier.
But it was not to be. Wharton was having difficulties at the world championships, finishing in a tie for fifth in the 400 IM on the first day of the meet and not making the championship final in the 200 IM. That left the door open for Darnyi to dominate the shorter IM race after an astounding world record of 4:12.36 in the 400 IM five days earlier.
Photo Courtesy: Wylas Timing
It was clear after the butterfly leg that Darnyi would win gold. After cruising through the butterfly and letting Sweden’s Jan Bidrman take the lead, Darnyi surged ahead in backstroke and got four tenths of a second under Wharton’s record split. The closest competitor was American Erik Namesnik, who spent more than four minutes chasing Darnyi in the 400 IM and notched an American record in that event.
As good of a breaststroker as Namesnik was that day, Darnyi was better. He split 34.85 on breaststroke to get six tenths under Wharton’s pace, and everyone in the facility was certain that a 1:59 would show on the scoreboard. But how far under would he go?
Darnyi powered through the freestyle leg, using his legs like a motorboard like a sprinter finishing a 100 freestyle instead of having completed 150 meters. Keeping watch over Namesnik the entire way, Darnyi lengthened his lead to a full body length to post a 1:59.36.
The crowd gave Darnyi a well-deserved ovation, knowing they had witnessed one of the greatest swims in history. Namesnik followed with a solid 2:01.87 for the silver medal, while Christian Gessner of Germany took bronze with a 2:02.36.
Tamas Darnyi’s 1:59.36 200 IM
As excited as he was to break the barrier, Darnyi was already looking ahead to the future.
“I think I’ll be able to break 1:59,” he told reporters after the race.
But it never happened. Darnyi closed out his career with another IM double at the 1992 Olympics, but did not break his world records. His standards in both IMs would last until the 1994 world championships, where a new generation made its presence known. Tom Dolan of the United States broke the 400 IM world record with a 4:12.30, and Finland’s Jani Sievinen smashed the 200 IM mark with a 1:58.16.
Darnyi’s legacy in the sport lasts through his unparalleled dominance in the IM races. He only lost one major IM race in a seven-year elite career (400 IM at the 1985 Europeans), something even Michael Phelps cannot boast.
Previous world championships retrospectives:
Ian Crocker’s Beamonesque 100 fly at 2005 worlds
Cynthia Woodhead blazes trail with 200 free victory in 1978
The first 50 freestyle at the world championships
Petra Schneider sets 400 IM world record in 1982
Ryan Lochte-Michael Phelps 200 IM from 2011
Le Jingyi and the Chinese women at the 1994 world championships
Ein grossartiger Sportler !!!
Awesome to watch Erik Namesnik swim again! Rest in peace, good man!
Darnyi would have won even with Wharton in the field – I think it is a bit of an insult to Darnyi to compare him with Wharton or any a swimmer at his time. Darnyi was in his on league!