Katinka Hosszu: I put my heart into the race and won it

“I still can’t believe that I broke a world record here in the 200m individual medley. It’s a shame I didn’t manage to break a record in this event, but it means there is still something to spur me on in my training, as there is still something I really want to do. I hope I will bring more trophies to my country’s medal collection. I want to give thumbs up to Team Hungary’s overall performance. We will keep on working hard. Our regime is very tough. I sometimes wake up at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning to start training, but I like it,” said the Hungarian athlete.

Yesterday Katinka set herself a goal to break the world record, but she didn’t manage to do it. Nonetheless, she is not going to give up. Hosszu told that many of the other swimmers she was racing against got off to a quick start, but they fell off the pace after the first turns. But Katinka has a different tactics, which is to avoid adjusting to other swimmers’ pace. She likes to be aggressive and swim her own race. Here in Kazan the Hungarian also won gold in the 200m individual medley and bronze in the 200m backstroke. She also holds the 200m individual medley world record.

“I’m really happy how I did at these Championships. I put my heart into the race and won it. I will continue to do it. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel great before the race. I had a rough night; I had stomach cramps and didn’t get much sleep. I’m incredibly happy that I managed to overcome the difficulties and achieve this good result!” Katinka concluded. Now the Hungarian ‘Iron Lady’ has a very busy pre-Olympic training cycle ahead of her and she’s looking forward to it. 

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships