Olympic silver medallist in 2004 and World champion last year, Dániel Gyurta looks good to add a home European title to his treasury next month after a 2:10.47 victory in the 200m breaststroke on the last day of Hungarian nationals in Eger.
Coached by Sándor Széles, Gyurta rarely gets down to that kind of speed in domestic waters, and did not even do so in shiny 2009. His splits in Eger: 30.23, 34.03, 33.04, 33.17. That second-leg of low 1:06 is the best homecoming split in the world this year and augurs well for events on Margaret Island in Budapest next month. His final time leaves him at 4th in the world so far this year behind the three men to have raced below 2:10, Ryo Tateishi (JPN), Brenton Brenton (AUS) and Yuta Suenaga (JPN), all on 2:09 plus and lining up at the helm in that order.
Not to be outshone too much, László Cseh produced a confortable (in terms of the gap to those in his wake) win in the 200m medley, his 1:59.14 well up on the efforts of Gergö Kis, 2:01.61, and Dávid Verrasztó, 2:02.11.
Among women, Ágnes Mutina and Evelyn Verrasztó claimed the limelight once more. Mutina produced a solid 1:58.84 in the 200m free to keep Eszter Dara at bay, on 1:59.34. Verrasztó claimed the 200m medley, racing home in precisely 2:12.62 for the second time this year.
As ever before a big meet, we can be sure that Hungary will have a sprinkling of title hopes as Europe's elite gather in the Magyar's back yard, with Cseh, Gyurta, Kis, Verrasto and Katinka Hosszú, racing this week over at her california base at the LA grand prix.
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.
