{"id":650166,"date":"2026-08-13T05:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=650166"},"modified":"2026-08-13T05:57:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T12:57:06","slug":"approaching-legendary-world-record-elevates-hubert-kos-alongside-marchand-as-worlds-dominant-swimmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/approaching-legendary-world-record-elevates-hubert-kos-alongside-marchand-as-worlds-dominant-swimmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Approaching Legendary World Record Elevates Hubert Kos Alongside Leon Marchand as World’s Dominant Swimmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Approaching Legendary World Record Elevates Hubert Kos Alongside Marchand as World’s Dominant Swimmer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month,\u00a0Summer McIntosh<\/strong> erased the last women’s long course world record surviving from the polyurethane-suit era, her 2:01.65 in the 200 butterfly at Canadian Trials finally beating the 2009 mark set by\u00a0Liu Zige<\/strong><\/a>. That mark had been well ahead of its time, more than three seconds ahead of the winning time from the next two Olympics, and poised to last generations. At least it was, until McIntosh inched her way closer to the record, finally joining Liu in the 2:01s last summer and now claiming the record for her own.<\/p>\n

That left only three men’s world records from that period, all set with now-banned technology at the 2009 World Championships: Paul Biedermann<\/strong> at 1:42.00 in the 200 freestyle,\u00a0Zhang Lin<\/strong> at 7:32.12 in the 800 free and\u00a0Aaron Peirsol<\/strong> at 1:51.92 in the 200 backstroke. As with Liu’s 200 fly mark, no one was coming anywhere close to these records.<\/p>\n

Since the new suit rules took effect on January 1, 2010, the only man to crack 1:43 in the 200 free has been\u00a0David Popovici<\/strong>; the Romanian star remains the world and Olympic champion, but he has not been that fast in four years. In the 800 free, the textile best belongs to\u00a0Sam Short<\/strong> at 7:36.73, still 4.5 seconds behind Zhang.<\/p>\n

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Hubert Kos — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

As for the 200 back, no one swam sub-1:53 for 14 consecutive years after Ryan Lochte<\/strong> won the 2011 world title in 1:52.96. The record seemed extremely safe \u2014 at least until\u00a0Hubert Kos<\/strong> came along. The 23-year-old has been the dominant force in the event for the past four years, and now, he sits on the precipice of history.<\/p>\n

Kos was already undefeated internationally in the 200 back since 2023, when he upset\u00a0Ryan Murphy<\/strong> to win the world title. He added Olympic gold in Paris, and at last year’s World Championships, Kos finished in 1:53.19 to hold young South African\u00a0Pieter Coetze<\/strong> at bay by less than two tenths. In the process, Kos crushed his best time by almost a second and became the fifth-fastest performer in history.<\/p>\n

He made another leap Tuesday in the semifinal round at the European Championships as he blasted the opening portion of the race. Kos flipped at the halfway point in 53.64, more than a second under world-record pace, only to fade down the stretch. Still, Kos clocked 1:52.30 to crush his own European record and swim the second-fastest mark in history<\/a>, within four tenths of the world record. He would return to win the European title Wednesday in 1:53.08<\/a>.<\/p>\n