The 21-year-old Hungarian competitor triumphed with a national record of 7:30.56 minutes.

Zalán Sárkány won a gold medal in the 800-meter breaststroke at the World Short Course Swimming Championships taking place in the Duna Arena on Saturday.

With this, Sárkány won the Hungarian delegation's third medal in the Duna Arena, previously Hubert Kós and the women's 4×200 meter relay came second.

In Saturday's final, the Hungarian competitor and the winner of the 1,500 meters, Tunisian Ahmed Dzouadi, quickly left the field, already halfway through the distance, it was certain that the victory would be decided between the two of them.

In the last 200 meters, the only question was whether Sárkány would manage to swim a better time than the German world class, Florian Wellbrock, in the morning's "slower" race, and in the end he surpassed him by 1.34 seconds.

The athlete studying in the United States is the fifth Hungarian short track world champion after Katinka Hosszú, Dániel Gyurta, Péter Bernek and Béla Szabados.

"I admit, I didn't think that. It's something most people only dream about. I had hoped in advance that I would somehow get to the podium in front of the Hungarian audience, it is an amazing feeling that I was able to overcome this. I hope this is just the beginning," said Zalán Sárkány in the mixed zone.

The new world champion revealed that at three quarters of the distance, when he was already pulling away from his Tunisian rival, he was thinking of somehow overtaking the second German Sven Schwarz in the morning's slower race and getting to the silver medal. He didn't even dare to think that Wellbrock could be beaten.

"Because I wear glasses, I wiped my eyes for about three seconds after I hit the finish line to believe my result, that I swam a national record and won," said Zalán Sárkány, who added that it was good for him, but a little sad that he was among the best , who had to perform at his peak in the morning.

MTI

Cover photo: Gold medalist Sárkány Zalán at the results announcement of the men's 800-meter freestyle swimming at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in the Duna Arena on December 14, 2024.
Source: MTI/Tibor Illyés