2023 HUNGARIAN SC CHAMPIONSHIPS
On the heels of David Betlehem nailing a new Hungarian national record in the 1500m free on night one of the Short Course Nationals, Zalan Sarkany followed suit in another men’s distance event.
Competing in the 800m free on the final night of action in Debrecen, 20-year-old Sarkany crushed a new lifetime best of 7:34.41 to take the gold. That got him to the wall with time to spare ahead of Betlehem who settled for silver in 7:37.28 while open-water ace Kristof Rasovszky rounded out the top 3 in 7:46.26.
As for Sarkany, the Arizona State University Sun Devil established a new Hungarian national record. His time tonight of 7:34.41 overwrote the previous standard of 7:39.21 Rasovszky put on the books at this same competition last year.
Splits for Sarkany’s big-tome performance are below:
Entering this competition, Sarkany’s personal best in this SCM 8free rested at the 7:43.06 he produced last year. That means Sarkany’s effort hacked nearly 10 seconds off his best-ever performance in this event. His time this evening would have placed 5th at the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
In September of this year, we reported that Sarkany is training in his home nation of Hungary this Fall/Winter and intends on returning to ASU next month.
On his performance this evening, Sarkany said post-race, “I prepared a lot for this championship and especially for this short course, I really wanted to pull it off.
“All my respect goes to Dávid (Betlehem) and Rasó (Kristófé Rasovszky), since they swam a two-hundred backstroke right in front of this, and I didn’t. It’s fantastic to train with them, it means a lot to me to be there among them.”
Additional Winners
- Adam Telegdy topped the men’s 200m back podium in 1:51.66 as Benedek Kovacs scored runner-up status in 1:52.23. Rasovszky rounded out the top 3 in 1:52.99.
- Dora Molnar hit a new Hungarian age record for 17-year-olds en route to grabbing gold in the women’s 200m back. She clocked 2:05.56 to lower her own mark of 2:06.10 put on the books lt year.
- The women’s 800m free saw Ajna Kesely get it done for gold in 8:21.16.
- Gabor Zombori clinched the win in the men’s 100m IM in 53.96 while Panna Ugrai followed suit in the women’s race in 1:00.19. Ugrai also was victorious in the women’s 100m fly in 57.79 as the sole competitor under 59-seconds in the race.
- Richard Marton topped the men’s 100m fly podium in 50.78, his first-ever foray under the 51-second barrier. Behind him in 4th place was Zoltain Bagi who clocked a new age record for 16-year-olds in 52.97. Bagi’s previous age record stood at 53.28 from a 2022 outing.
