Hungarian swimming star Laszlo Cseh become the first male swimmer to ever medal in all three same stroke events (excluding freestyle) at one edition of the FINA World Championships saturday night.
Only four swimmers have ever done it in the history of the sport, and they were all female breaststrokers. Luo Xuejuan did so in 2001, Leisel Jones grabbed three medals in 2007, Rebecca Soni accomplished it in 2011, and Yuliya Efimova matched it in 2013.
Taking home the silver in the men’s 100m butterfly final, Cseh solidified the feat, adding to his gold from the 200m butterfly and bronze from the 50.
Cseh has most recently spent a lot of time focusing on the fly after a career of medley prowess. As one of the most versatile swimmers on the planet, Cseh had what can arguably be described as his most successful world championships ever.
He matched his one gold, one silver, one bronze performance from the 2005 World Championships in Montreal where the bulk of his medals came in the medleys. His bronze was in the 100m backstroke.
Cseh’s first medal of the meet came in the 50m fly where he finished third behind Florent Manaudou and Nicholas Santos with a time of 23.15. That time broke Cseh’s own 23.57 Hungarian national record in the event that he set back in 2009.
Following that performance, Cseh shocked the world with what was then the fastest 200m butterfly of the season, winning his first international title in the event. Cs final aeh rocked a 1:53.48 to win the final ahead of defending champion Chad Le Clos and win his first world championship title in 10-years.
Shortly after Cseh once again stepped things up in the heats of the 100m butterfly, churning out a 50.91. That time was the first sub 51-second 100m fly since Phelps’ performance from the 2012 London Olympics. It also made him the third fastest performer ever in a textile suit.
In finals, Cseh bettered that time but so did defending champion Le Clos. In a rematch of the 200m fly final, Le Clos took down Cseh with a 50.56 to put up the second fastest textile swim ever.
Cseh ended up second in 50.87, breaking his own Hungarian national record from prelims and becoming the first swimmer to medal in three same stroke events at a world championships.
Although it can be argued that Cseh is one of the best swimmers in history, much of his career his been overshadowed by both Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte of the United States.
This week he got the chance to show the world exactly what he’s made of, and it seems as though he doesn’t want to stop just here.
With the 2016 Olympic Games on the horizon, Cseh will have to defend his 2015 victory against current 2015 number one Phelps and Le Clos. When a poolside reporter brought up Phelps 1:52.94 time from US Nationals, Cseh responded by saying that, “it doesn’t [matter] because I won the world champs.”
Krayzelbuug could’ve done if there was a 50m in ’98, Larkin also has a chance tomorrow night
Long Course! Cause It’s been done before in SC. Brendan Hansen in 2004 for instance
Best swimmer ever behind “those two.” All around good guy with a tough career. I’m happy for him.
This is only his 2nd gold medal at a Worlds. His first was the 4IM, but it was also when Phelps chose to swim other events and dropped this, so both still carry minor shadows. But Gold is gold and one can never say “what if,” so Cseh gets to celebrate and all is good.
He’s the man
If you take Phelps and Lochte out of the equation Cseh would be the number 1 all round male swimmer on the planet. The 100 fly today was his 65th major meet medal!
Very true. If there were no Phelps or Lochte, he could very well could have been the best all around swimmer. But if it weren’t for Phelps or Lochte, perhaps he wouldn’t have had the motivation to train as hard as he did and be the swimmer he is now.
Nevertheless, Cseh accomplished a lot on the international stage and continues to defy critics by throwing down performances like he has at Kazan. I wish him all the success he deserves.