World Championships: How Hubert Kos Went from 2:03 to Gold in Men’s 200 Back

Hubert Kos of Hungary shows the gold medal after competing in the 200m Backstroke Men Final during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 28th, 2023.

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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Worlds: How Hubert Kos Went from 2:03 to Gold in Men’s 200 Back

The 200 backstroke had become something of a forgotten event for Hubert Kos.

The Hungarian had shown early promise in the event, even if a 2:02.58 at age 16 at the 2019 World Junior Championships didn’t exactly portend greatness. In the 2020 season abbreviated by COVID-19, his best time hovered at 2:05.58.

Three and a half years later and more than nine seconds faster, Kos is a world champion.

Kos’ journey is a remarkable instance of sticking with an event. It’s also a testament to his training, both in Hungary and in his six-month crash course since joining Bob Bowman’s group at Arizona State.

Even then, though, Kos said that the focus was on his individual medley, until a serendipitous swim in April at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Westmont brought a time of 1:55.95 and a renewed focus.

“I went out to Arizona State to focus on my IM because the IM group there is kind of good,” Kos said Friday night, a tinge of sarcasm on the end. “When I got there, we were getting ready for the 2IM, and it was really good working with Leon (Marchand), working with Chase (Kalisz) on that and I felt like I was getting really good on that. But leading up to one of the TYR Pro Series at Westmont, Bob said, let’s try the 2-back, let’s try to qualify for that. And I swam a really good time in that.

“That’s the time that was the best time in the world, (1:)55.9. That was a really good swim, I thought. There was a couple of mistakes in there that I knew I could fix, but I think that was the moment that I knew that I was going to swim it at Worlds and really focus on it.”

It shouldn’t have come out of nowhere. Kos is cut from the same mold as past Hungarian stars like Katinka Hosszu and Laszlo Cseh, consummate IMers with versatility in the 200 strokes, particularly back and fly. He swam both IMs at NCAAs for the Sun Devils, finishing 11th in a disappointing 200 but recovering for fourth in the 400 IM before garnering bronze in the 200 back.

That led into the Westmont swim, which fueled a focus on backstroke training to achieve Friday’s gold.

“I think after Westmont, after I swam the top time in the world, I was like, OK, there’s a realistic possibility if I really train well,” Kos said. “And I hadn’t been focusing on the backstroke too much in practices leading up to that point. But after that, I just grabbed a little bit of extra motivation and put that into my training and really went for the backstrokes when I could. I think maybe three or four months before Worlds is when I thought I had a realistic possibility, and here I am.”

Kos speaks glowingly of his training environment in Tempe, surrounded by an Olympic champion in Chase Kalisz and Leon Marchand, the three-time champ at these Worlds, including the IM double. He called the work with Bowman “magic,” and cited the dynamic in the group as vital in pushing each other forward.

He and Bowman narrowed down a race plan that Kos executed, by his estimation, “perfectly” in finals. He seems adept at taking on feedback and correcting his mistakes from one swim to the next.

He went out in 27.04, third in the field, but worked the middle two hard. His 27.78 in the second 50 trailed only Ryan Murphy, and just by .03, then he went 29.05 to seize the lead on the third 50. Murphy had the superior wall coming home, but Kos outswam him by .5 over the last 50 meters in 29.27 to the 100 back champ’s 29.77.

“I split the same first 50 last night and I wrote it down on my 50 and said, I have to go out the same exact time with the same amount of strokes to control it a little bit, and then go for it from there,” Kos said. “I kind of almost fell asleep last night in the third 50, and I fell asleep in the second 50 in the morning, so I managed not to fall asleep tonight. … Yesterday, when I had a 30-plus split on my third 50, he was like, don’t ever try that again. I was like, OK boss. I didn’t tonight, and here we are now with a gold medal on my neck.”

Kos finished seventh in the 100 back in Fukuoka this week. He scratched the 200 IM to focus on the 200 back. He says he’s got “another trick up my sleeve” of a different event he can go with in Paris.

In addition to the speed, Kos showed a little feistiness this week. The Hungarian team that was missing Kristof Milak was underestimated. While Kos took that personally, they were on track to miss the medals altogether if not for his star turn. Even in Budapest last year at Worlds, Milak’s butterfly double accounted for the nation’s only medals.

With Kos and Milak, the Hungarians head for Paris with a pair of bona fide, young stars.

“Coming into this World Championships, we were kind of written down without the likes of Milak, Laszlo, Katinka – names who’ve been there for years and years and have done so well,” Kos said. “Coming into this Worlds, somebody said this is one of the worst teams we’ve ever had, and I was like, OK we’re not going to talk about the Hungarian team like that. So I kind of stepped up to the plate there, and wanted to prove that without them, we still have swimmers, we still have people who can swim and do well.”

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Frank A Wilson

9 months ago

I have watched Kos in meets at ASU and am very happy with is decision to concentrate on the 200 back for the World Championship. I had noticed that he had the smoothest back stroke I have ever seen in twenty years of watching swimmers. Congratulations to Bob Bowman for recognizing his potential and giving his some outstanding coaching.