The race was more intriguing for its potential in the 200m butterfly but in winning the 100m on the second day of Hungarian nationals in Eger, Laszlo Cseh rattled his national record in 52.66, just 0.17sec outside his shiny best of 2009.
Cseh rarely races 100m 'fly when it counts but he is Olympic silver medallist and it is in the longer race that the significance of him being close to shiny best resonates most loudly.
In 2009, Cseh went a touch slower than best over 200m from 2008. Indeed, his best three 200m 'fly efforts are all from the Beijing Olympic Games: 1:52.70 in the final; 1:54.35 in the semi; and 1:54.48 in the heat. His best from the pre-shiny era was a 1:57.13. In the 100m, that 52.66 of today is his third-best on the clock, after 52.49 in 2009 and 52.62 in 2008.
The man who kept Cseh at bay in the 400m medley yesterday, took the last crown of day 2: Gergo Kis claimed the 400m free title in 3:51.71. It was on freestyle in the medley that Kis, who has a shiny pb of 3:45.68 from Rome last year, overhauled Cseh in Eger yesterday.
Elsewhere at nationals today, world 200m breaststroke champion Daniel Gyurta claimed the 100m breaststroke crown by not much more than the skin of his teeth: just 0.13 secs head of Richárd Bodor, he clocked 1:01.55 to 1:01.68). Those times were almost identical to those the pair swam this time last year, though in Rome Gyurta got down to 1:00.26. A full taper to come yet before those home Euro titles in Budapest next month.
Teammates at Jöv‘ SC (translation - Future SC), Evelyn Verrasztó and Ágnes Mutina battled for the 100m free crown. Verrasztó, a finalist at Roma2009 but out of action for some of the current season, got the better of the 200m specialist 54.86 to 55.43. The champion is coached by father Zoltán Verrasztó, 1975 200m backstroke world champion.
Among sprinters, Krisztián Takács emerged 50m free champion in 22.51, and his teammate Beatrix Bordás 50m 'fly champion in 27.06.
Many thanks to Zoltán Orlay, of uszovilag, Hungary's premier swim website, for contributing to this report.
Wider results from Eger can be found in the SwimNews World Rankings updated daily by Nick Thierry.
