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European Swimming Championships, Budapest, Day 3 Heats: Laszlo Cseh, 36, Sees Off Kos, Sos & Hollo In Magyar Medley Mash For Record 10th Campaign Since 2002

Craig Lord 2021-05-19 Reading Time: 5 minutes

Laszlo Cseh, the Hungarian legend, now 36 and at his 10th European Championships - Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer / MAGICPBK)

May 19 – Day 3 action from the pool at the European Swimming Championships witnessed the start of solo campaigns for big names and defenders such as Federica Pellegrini, Charlotte Bonnet, Jeremy Desplanches and Anton Chupkov but one name topped the lot when it came to records this morning: Laszlo Cseh.

When he took to the waters of the Duna Arena in the 200m medley and saw off much younger opponents to seal the first of Hungary’s two berths in the semis, Cseh set a record as the first swimmer ever to compete at 10 European Championships. His first race was back in 2002 in Berlin: he finished 11th in the 400m medley in 4:24.58.

Laszlo Cseh at the 2021 Championships – photo by DeepBlueMedia -courtesy of LEN

Since then, he’s notched up 23 European long-course podiums, including 14 golds, 25 European s/c medals, including 19 golds, as well as 2 golds and 15 other medals at global level, all capped by four Olympic silvers and two bronzes. At Beijing 2008, he jested that he had won three silvers (which he had, and in fine style, too) behind “The Alien”, AKA Michael Phelps in a week when he topped Mark Spitz’s 7-gold record from Munich 1972 with am 8-gold tally that will be hellishly hard to match even with a flood of new events having been added to the program since Rio 2016.

Cseh, 36, progressed to the 200IM semis fourth fastest and top of the Hungarian challengers (see potted reports and qualifiers below). He was one of several swimmers familiar with gold to make it through to the next round.

Arno Kamminga Fires A 2:07 Morning After 58.1 Silver

Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands – photo by Patrick B. Kraemer

If Cseh provided the big-10 line, the big swim of the morning came from Arno Kamminga, the Dutchman who had never come close to a big podium before but after silver in the 100m breaststroke behind Adam Peaty yesterday, rattled out a 2:07.39 in the 200m heats to rocket through to semis at the helm of pace as others kept their powder dry. A second career sub-2:07 and a place on the podium are calling Kamminga, who faces Anton Chupkov as defender. Kamminga’s time would have won the 2016 Olympic title but the pace has moved on since then and contenders have their eye on bursting the 2:06 dam sometime when.

Pellegrini, Bonnet, Desplanches, Cseh, Chupkov, Kolesnikov Cruise Into Semis

All big names sailed through the qualification test, including the four-into-two-per-nation rule, this morning, having won four straight European 200m titles in her career (2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016), Pellegrini bypassed the Glasgow 2018 200m in between her 7th and 8th World-Championships podiums over four lengths freestyle, those last two resulting in more gold for a golden treasury. In her absence, French challenger Charlotte Bonnet lifted the European crown, in 1:54.95, faster than any of Pellegrini’s wins. As Pellegrini has proven on many occasions, however: it’s down to the racing on the day. Both sailed through.

Other title holders from previous years setting out on the hunt this morning were World champion Anton Chupkov (2018) and Ross Murdoch (2016) in the 200m breaststroke; Jeremy Desplanches (2018), Andreas Vazaios (2016) and Laszlo Cseh (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) in the 200m medley, his task to get the better of teammates Kos, Sos & Hollo for one of two Hungarian slots past heats accomplished in fine style; World champion Boglarka Kapas (2018) and Katinka Hosszu (2010, 2012) in the 200m butterfly (both passed the test of fending off two other Hungarians in heats); Kliment Kolesnikov (2018) and teammate Evgeny Rylov in the 100m backstroke a day after Kolesnikov’s 23.80 World-record blast in the dash (both through); and the Great Britain men began the defence of the 4x200m crown.

The quartet of Max Litchfield (1:47.70), Calum Jarvis (1:48.47), Matt Richards (1:46.69) and James Guy (1:45.72) punched a strong 7:08.58 ticket to lane 4 for the defence of the crown, Duncan Scott in the wings after his 200m medley semi. Italy and Switzerland were next through, on 7:10.26 and 7:11.15, before Russia clocked 7:09.68 in the next and last heat ahead of a 7:10.44 from France.

For many national also doubles as a qualifying event for the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The venue: the Duna Arena, scene of the 2017 World Championships and the 2020 International Swimming League Bubble of Budapest. Milák is already on the team for Tokyo.

The swim meet stretches across seven days in traditional format of morning heats, from 10am local time each day, and evening finals, from 6pm local time each day.

Day 3 Heats: Men’s 200m Medley; Women’s 200m Butterfly; Men’s 100m Backstroke; Women’s 200m Freestyle; Men’s 200m Breaststroke; Men’s 4x200m Freestyle

Results / Livestream / LEN Championship website/ Tokyo 2020 Table of Target Times below qualifiers

Day 2 Coverage:

Qualifiers For Day 3 Finals

Men’s 1500m freestyle: heats were held yesterday …

Men’s 4x200m Freestyle:

James Guy, photo by Georgie Kerr, courtesy of British Swimming

Great Britain – 7:08.58
Russia – 7:09.68
Italy – 7:10.26
France – 7:10.44
Switzerland – 7:11.15
Ireland – 7:12.73
Spain – 7:13.08
Belgium – 7:13.19

Qualifiers for Day 3 Semi-Finals, Cseh & Co To The Fore

Men’s 200m Medley: defending champion Jeremy Desplanches, of Switzerland, got his hand to the wall in 1:58.10, just ahead of the elder of the British Litchfield brothers, Max, on 1:58.12 in heat 4. In the last heat of 5 heats, Britain’s Duncan Scott came home first in 1:58.14, with Hungarian legend Laszlo Cseh, 36 and 13 years beyond claiming three silvers behind Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympic Games and by 2015 was to be found winning the 200m butterfly title, seeing off the domestic competition of four racing in heats for two slots in further rounds, in 1:58.46. The same four-boiled-down-to-two rules saw the close of 200IM business for Britain’s Joe Litchfield, fifth overall on 1:58.79 at the helm of in heat 3 before he sped off to get set for the heats of the 100m backstroke.

The Race That Made Laszlo Cseh The First Swimmer To Race At 10 European Championships:

Women’s 200m Butterfly: The heats eliminated two Hungarians and two Brits from further contention, the berths in semis for those countries going to defending European and reigning World champion Boglarka Kapas and triple Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu, for Hungary, and Laura Stephens and Keanna MacInnes, for Britain. Like Cseh, Hosszu and Kapas have a strong of European Championships in their treasury.

Men’s 100m Backstroke:

Women’s 200m Freestyle:

Men’s 200m Breaststroke: All big contenders sailed through, Arno Kamminga shucking a 2:07.39 gauntlet, Olympic champion and defending European title holders Anton Chupkov through in fourth:

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	R	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	2	4	UKR	ROMANCHUK Mykhaylo	07 AUG 1996	0.74	14:52.07		q
2	2	7	FRA	JOLY Damien	04 JUN 1992	0.69	14:56.09	4.02	q
3	2	6	ITA	ACERENZA Domenico	19 JAN 1995	0.71	14:59.47	7.40	q
4	3	2	HUN	KALMAR Akos	11 JAN 2000	0.72	15:02.97	10.90	q
5	3	3	GBR	JERVIS Daniel O	09 JUN 1996	0.68	15:07.54	15.47	q
6	2	5	NOR	CHRISTIANSEN Henrik	09 OCT 1996	0.72	15:08.28	16.21	q
7	3	4	ITA	PALTRINIERI Gregorio	05 SEP 1994	0.76	15:08.84	16.77	q
8	3	1	RUS	EGOROV Aleksandr	19 AUG 2001	0.79	15:09.95	17.88	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	4	4	SUI	DESPLANCHES Jeremy	07 AUG 1994	0.63	1:58.10		q
2	4	6	GBR	LITCHFIELD Max	04 MAR 1995	0.61	1:58.12	0.02	q
3	5	4	GBR	SCOTT Duncan W	06 MAY 1997	0.66	1:58.14	0.04	q
4	5	3	HUN	CSEH Laszlo	03 DEC 1985	0.71	1:58.46	0.36	q
5	3	5	GBR	LITCHFIELD Joe	08 JUL 1998	0.59	1:58.79	0.69
6	4	5	HUN	KOS Hubert	28 MAR 2003	0.58	1:58.87	0.77	q
7	3	4	ITA	RAZZETTI Alberto	02 JUN 1999	0.65	1:58.90	0.80	q
8	3	6	ESP	GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H.	19 FEB 1999	0.67	1:58.99	0.89	q
9	5	5	RUS	ZHILKIN Andrey	09 MAR 1995	0.69	1:59.31	1.21	q
10	5	2	GBR	MCFADZEN James	01 JAN 1999	0.77	1:59.34	1.24
11	5	0	RUS	STUPIN Maxim	11 MAY 2000	0.67	1:59.84	1.74	q
12	3	2	ISR	TOUMARKIN Yakov Yan	15 FEB 1992	0.73	1:59.85	1.75	q
13	3	3	POR	SANTOS Alexis Manacas	23 MAR 1992	0.68	2:00.01	1.91	q
14	5	7	AUT	REITSHAMMER Bernhard	17 JUN 1994	0.70	2:00.14	2.04	q
15	4	3	RUS	BORODIN Ilya	14 FEB 2003	0.70	2:00.23	2.13
16	5	6	GRE	VAZAIOS Andreas	09 MAY 1994	0.62	2:00.26	2.16	q
17	4	1	NOR	ZENIMOTO HVAS Tomoe	01 JUN 2000	0.67	2:00.32	2.22	q
18	3	8	NED	KNIPPING Arjan	01 AUG 1994	0.71	2:00.35	2.25	q
19	4	8	HUN	SOS Daniel	10 AUG 1998	0.68	2:00.54	2.44
20	2	3	SWE	TOERNQVIST Samuel	04 NOV 1997	0.71	2:00.68	2.58	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	2	4	HUN	KAPAS Boglarka	22 APR 1993	0.67	2:07.61		q
2	3	4	HUN	HOSSZU Katinka	03 MAY 1989	0.70	2:08.36	0.75	q
3	2	5	GBR	STEPHENS Laura Kathleen	02 JUN 1999	0.68	2:09.15	1.54	q
4	3	5	HUN	JAKABOS Zsuzsanna	03 APR 1989	0.71	2:09.35	1.74
5	3	6	DEN	BACH Helena Rosendahl	12 JUN 2000	0.80	2:09.42	1.81	q
6	1	5	RUS	CHIMROVA Svetlana	15 APR 1996	0.69	2:09.48	1.87	q
7	1	3	GBR	MACINNES Keanna	19 AUG 2001	0.70	2:09.82	2.21	q
8	2	6	ITA	CUSINATO Ilaria	05 OCT 1999	0.70	2:10.18	2.57	q
9	2	3	POR	MONTEIRO Ana Catarina	14 AUG 1993	0.68	2:10.73	3.12	q
10	2	7	HUN	HATHAZI Dora	16 DEC 2003	0.68	2:10.75	3.14
11	1	2	GER	DEMLER Kathrin	12 JUN 1996	0.82	2:10.84	3.23	q
12	1	7	TUR	USTUNDAG Nida Eliz	21 OCT 1996	0.71	2:11.02	3.41	q
13	3	3	GBR	LARGE Emily	01 FEB 2001	0.66	2:11.08	3.47
14	1	4	GBR	THOMAS Alys	10 OCT 1990	0.70	2:11.51	3.90
15	2	2	ITA	CRISPINO Antonella	17 FEB 2003	0.81	2:11.85	4.24	q
16	3	1	POL	NAZIEBLO Klaudia	03 DEC 1993	0.71	2:12.82	5.21	q
17	3	2	AUT	HUFNAGL Claudia	20 MAY 1996	0.79	2:12.87	5.26	q
18	1	8	ESP	TORRONTEGUI G. Carlota	02 MAY 2003	0.76	2:13.33	5.72	q
19	2	1	GRE	NTOUNTOUNAKI Anna	09 SEP 1995	0.65	2:14.69	7.08	q
20	3	8	BIH	KAJTAZ Amina	31 DEC 1996	0.69	2:14.98	7.37	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	5	4	RUS	KOLESNIKOV Kliment	09 JUL 2000	0.73	52.32		q
2	5	5	FRA	NDOYE BROUARD Yohann	29 NOV 2000	0.72	53.24	0.92	q
3	5	3	ROU	GLINTA Robert-Andrei	18 APR 1997	0.60	53.26	0.94	q
4	5	6	ESP	GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H.	19 FEB 1999	0.57	53.37	1.05	q
4	6	4	RUS	RYLOV Evgeny	23 SEP 1996	0.52	53.37	1.05	q
6	4	4	ITA	CECCON Thomas	27 JAN 2001	0.65	53.43	1.11	q
7	4	5	FRA	TOMAC Mewen	11 SEP 2001	0.57	53.46	1.14	q
8	6	3	GRE	CHRISTOU Apostolos	01 NOV 1996	0.60	53.47	1.15	q
9	6	5	RUS	TARASEVICH Grigory	01 AUG 1995	0.56	53.55	1.23
10	6	1	SUI	MITYUKOV Roman	30 JUL 2000	0.55	53.87	1.55	q
11	5	2	GBR	GREENBANK Luke	17 SEP 1997	0.55	53.92	1.60	q
12	4	6	HUN	BOHUS Richard	09 APR 1993	0.58	54.17	1.85	q
13	5	8	GRE	MAKRYGIANNIS Evangelos	18 JUN 2000	0.62	54.28	1.96	q
14	4	1	HUN	KOVACS Benedek	18 MAY 1998	0.69	54.29	1.97	q
15	5	9	CZE	CEJKA Jan	29 MAY 2001	0.57	54.33	2.01	q
15	4	3	ITA	SABBIONI Simone	03 OCT 1996	0.63	54.33	2.01	q
17	6	8	CZE	FRANTA Tomas	18 APR 1998	0.60	54.45	2.13	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	7	5	CZE	SEEMANOVA Barbora	01 APR 2000	0.63	1:58.25		q
2	5	4	FRA	BONNET Charlotte	14 FEB 1995	0.68	1:58.33	0.08	q
3	7	4	ITA	PELLEGRINI Federica	05 AUG 1988	0.74	1:58.48	0.23	q
4	6	4	GBR	ANDERSON Freya	04 MAR 2001	0.75	1:58.50	0.25	q
5	7	3	ISR	MUREZ Andrea	29 JAN 1992	0.68	1:58.84	0.59	q
6	7	8	SLO	SEGEL Janja	17 JUN 2001	0.74	1:58.95	0.70	q
7	6	6	BEL	DUMONT Valentine	02 JUL 2000	0.68	1:59.09	0.84	q
8	7	2	SLO	FAIN Katja	31 AUG 2001	0.77	1:59.27	1.02	q
9	7	1	GBR	VAN SELM Tamryn	27 JAN 2004	0.68	1:59.52	1.27	q
10	6	5	GBR	HOPE Lucy	30 JAN 1997	0.67	1:59.67	1.42
11	5	2	ITA	PIROZZI Stefania	16 DEC 1993	0.74	1:59.87	1.62	q
12	7	7	HUN	VERES Laura	21 AUG 2005	0.67	2:00.06	1.81	q
13	7	0	POL	KOSSAKOWSKA Dominika	30 JAN 2001	0.60	2:00.12	1.87	q
14	5	1	POL	POLANSKA Aleksandra	24 SEP 2000	0.74	2:00.23	1.98	q
15	7	6	GER	MROZINSKI Julia	16 FEB 2000	0.72	2:00.30	2.05	q
16	5	5	GER	FOOS Reva	15 SEP 1993	0.70	2:00.44	2.19	q
17	5	3	GBR	HIBBOTT Holly	13 DEC 1999	0.79	2:00.52	2.27
18	5	7	HUN	FABIAN Fanni	30 OCT 2002	0.65	2:00.58	2.33	q