{"id":473259,"date":"2021-05-17T09:54:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T16:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=473259"},"modified":"2021-05-17T18:44:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T01:44:07","slug":"european-championships-day-1-finals-hosszu-wins-15th-european-title-400-free-to-malyutin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/european-championships-day-1-finals-hosszu-wins-15th-european-title-400-free-to-malyutin\/","title":{"rendered":"European Championships, Day 1 Finals: Katinka Hosszu Wins 15th European Title; 400 Free To Martin Malyutin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katinka Hosszu<\/strong> claimed her fourth 400IM title and 15th overall and Martin Malyutin<\/strong> won a shock 400 free gold from lane seven on the first night of finals at the European Championships<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old led throughout to touch in 4:34.76 with Britain’s Aimee Willmott<\/strong> and Hungarian 17-year-old Viktoria Mihalyuari <\/strong>tying for second in 4:36.81.<\/p>\n

Malyutin took over on the penultimate length to spring a surprise in 3:44.18 ahead of Felix Auboeck<\/strong> (3:44.63) and Danys Rapsys<\/strong> (3:45.39).<\/p>\n

Great Britain<\/strong> won the women’s 4×100 free in a British record of 3:34.17 despite Femke Heemskerk<\/strong>‘s 51.99 blast for the Netherlands<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong> returned from setting a new 50 back world record of 23.93 to anchor the Russian<\/strong> quartet to victory in the men’s equivalent in a championship record of 3:10.41 with Alessandro Miressi<\/strong> setting an Italian record of 47.74 on the lead-off.<\/p>\n

Link to results<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to live stream<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Katinka

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Hosszu won the first of her titles in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2012 and mounted a successful defence in the subsequent editions in Berlin in 2014 and London two years later before going on to win the Olympic crown in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

Hosszu qualified fastest from the morning heats in 4:37.42 ahead of Mihalyuari\u00a0who, with the two-per-nation rule, had eclipsed fellow Hungarians Boglarka Kapas<\/strong> and Zsuzsanna Jakabos<\/strong>, who was fifth at Glasgow 2018.<\/p>\n

Out in 29.32 for the first 50, Hosszu was never seriously challenged and went into the freestyle leg in with a 2.46sec lead over Willmott who had occupied second spot throughout.<\/p>\n

Hosszu came home for a dominant victory in the fastest time in the world this year as behind her a battle royale unfolded.<\/p>\n

Splits: 1:02.43\/2:13.11\/3:30.99\/4:34.76<\/p>\n

Willmott, who had been in second spot throughout, held a lead of 0.79 over Mihalyuari going into the final turn but the Hungarian unleashed a final 50 of 30.74 to stop the clock with the Briton.<\/p>\n

Hosszu said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I needed these championships and all the other coming competitions in order to be in top shape for the Olympics.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m working like this, I need races, races, races to be on top.<\/p>\n

“This swim was painful but it had to be. Before the event I told everyone, there was a time in my head which I had to achieve in order to be content with myself.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you now that it was under 4:35 \u2013 so it\u2019s a calming win.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n