European Championships: Hubert Kos Blasts European Record in 200 Back; Just Misses Legendary WR of Aaron Peirsol
For 17 years, Aaron Peirsol has held the world record in the 200-meter backstroke, a 1:51.92 performance from the 2009 World Championships never challenged. But on Tuesday night at the European Championships in Paris, Hungarian Hubert Kos gave the mark a real scare.
Long viewed as the man capable of taking down Peirsol’s global standard, Kos clearly pursued the world record in his semifinal outing. He was well under world-record pace through the opening 150 meters and while the University of Texas product fell just short at the finish, his clocking of 1:52.30 was good for a European record and made Kos the No. 2 performer in history, bumping him ahead of Japan’s Ryosuke Irie (1:52.51).
Kos took nearly a second off his previous continental record of 1:53.19, which landed him the world title last summer in Singapore, and he did so with an aggressive approach. Kos split 25.82 down the first lap and turned at the midway point in 53.64, which was 1.26 seconds ahead of Peirsol’s pace. At the 150, Kos touched in 1:22.32, which was still .98 ahead of Peirsol’s record.
The difference was over the last 50 meters, which Kos covered in 29.98, compared to Peirsol closing in 28.62. It is important to note that Peirsol’s performance arrived at the height of the super-suit era, the American wearing a polyurethane suit that was banned on the opening day of 2010. When Kos looked to the scoreboard, he shook his head, disappointment the emotion of the moment.
Kos will have another crack at the record in the final, but with the semifinals of the 100 butterfly later in the session, the semifinal seemed to be the best place to press Peirsol’s mark. The chase was similar to training partner Leon Marchand setting the world record in the semifinals of the 200 individual medley at last year’s World Champs.
Qualifying second for the final was Greece’s Apostolos Siskos, who went 1:54.06, and was followed by Czechia’s Jan Cejka in 1:54.40. Also going under 1:55 was Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov, who went 1:54.85.
