{"id":511240,"date":"2022-08-13T11:01:36","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T18:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=511240"},"modified":"2022-08-13T12:10:32","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T19:10:32","slug":"european-championships-viktoria-mihalyvari-farkas-blasts-back-half-for-400-im-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/european-championships-viktoria-mihalyvari-farkas-blasts-back-half-for-400-im-title\/","title":{"rendered":"European Championships: Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas Blasts Back Half for 400 IM Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Championships: Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas Blasts Back Half for 400 IM Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier in the day,\u00a0Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas<\/strong> had beaten two of the most decorated swimmers in her country’s history for the top seed in the women’s 400 individual medley final at the European Championships. The 18-year-old Mihalyvari-Farkas had come in ahead of 33-year-old\u00a0Zsuzsanna Jakobos<\/strong>, a three-time medalist in the event at the continental meet, and 33-year-old\u00a0Katinka Hosszu<\/strong>, a five-time world champion and the world-record holder in the discipline.<\/p>\n

Hours later, the teenager stepped up in the final to secure her first international gold medal. Jakobos led after the butterfly, and Great Britain’s\u00a0Freya Colbert<\/strong> went ahead of the field on the backstroke leg, but Mihalyvari-Farkas quickly took command on the breaststroke as she established a lead of more than a second after 50 meters. By the end of the breaststroke leg, the margin was greater than two seconds over Colbert and then\u00a0Sara Franceschi<\/strong> of Italy. No one could close the gap on Mihalyvari-Farkas over the final 100 meters as she came into the wall at 4:37.56 for gold.<\/p>\n

Previously, Mihalyvari-Farkas was the co-silver medalist in the event at last year’s European Champs along with\u00a0Aimee Willmott<\/strong> as Hosszu cruised to the title. Mihalyvari-Farkas then placed sixth in the event at the Tokyo Olympics before missing out on the final at this year’s World Championships by just one spot and less than a half-second (a final that Hosszu was the only European swimmer to qualify for). This time leaves her just outside the top-10 in the world for 2022, and she was actually quicker in her silver-medal-winning effort a year ago, but here, it was good enough for gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year after the medal ceremony I told the media that I felt that the anthem was played a bit for me too, but in reality it was for Katinka,” Mihalyvari-Farkas said. \u201cNow it\u2019s going to be played for me, and I cannot describe how happy I am. After the disappointing World Championships [where] I had a small setback, with the support of my coach, I got into a really great shape. The two swims were really amazing in this pool. It was an experience of a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jakobos blitzed the last 100 meters of freestyle with a 1:02.14 split, and she claimed silver in 4:39.79 for the 12th long course European medal of her career. \u201cHonestly, I clocked a couple of better times at Sette Collis here but who cares? It is the silver medal which counts, isn\u2019t?\u201d Jakobos said. \u201cI have learned that I don\u2019t have to conquer the world in breaststroke, just complete it and reserve enough for the free \u2013 and this worked really well today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colbert won bronze in 4:40.06, while Franceschi faded to fourth on the last 50 meters (4:40.91).<\/p>\n

\"w400im-euro,<\/p>\n