Dávid Betlehem Posts 1500 Free Rankings Topper At Hungarian Championships
Dávid Betlehem became the first man inside 14:30 this year as he went top of the 1500 free rankings at the Hungarian Short Course Championships in Debrecen.
The Olympic 10k bronze medallist posted 14:27.39 which was 2.61secs swifter than Sam Short’s 14:30.00 previous rankings topper from the World Cup last month. Kristóf Rasovszky and Máté Kárpát tied for second in 14:58.62, the latter tipped for a exciting future in the open water in which the former won the Olympic title in Paris last year.
Betlehem had mixed feelings, bemoaning the lack of competition during the race which may have pushed him to a quicker time. Nor was he certain whether his plans would include the short-course Europeans in Poland next month.
Speaking through the Hungarian Federation, he said: “This is definitely a message, first and foremost to myself. The others weren’t in the form I would have liked. To be honest, I was a bit bored between eight hundred and a thousand and I had to fight mostly with my own demons.
“It hurt, and it had been hurting for a long time, but there was no one to watch next to me, so in the end I thought that if I beat everyone else, maybe I could swim an early 14:20 or even better. It didn’t work out, I was already scratching a lot at the end, and it wasn’t the time I wanted. I should go to the European Short Course Championships, where there would be five or six people next to me who know what I do. But maybe I’ll leave it to them now and take a rest, and then next year, at the European Championships in Paris.”
Ádám Jászó and Gábor Zombori won two titles apiece. Jászó enjoyed narrow victories in the 100 free (46.58) and 50 back (23.79) with Zombori taking the 200IM (1:55.58) and 100m breaststroke (59.94) while also placing third in the 50 back (24.04).
Panna Ugrai won the women’s 100 free in 53.17 and was second in the 50 back, behind winner Lora Komoróczy (26.57).
Ajna Késely pulled away from Napsugár Nagy and Viktória Mihályvári-Farkas at the 1000m mark in the 1500 to win in 16:04.08 as she made a successful return to the pool after she missed the World Championships in Singapore with injury. Nagy (16:06.81) and Mihályvári-Farkas (16:13.60) followed her home.
Eszter Szabó-Feltóthy won the 200IM (2:10.62)m and Henrietta Fángli took the 100m breaststroke in 1:05.39.
