I was a witness of a great and spectacular sports event on Saturday, 11th May, 2019. Since, the awaited FINA CHAMPIONS – SWIM SERIES was held in Danube Arena on this marvelous evening at 8 p.m. The first day of this sports event had surprises for the audience. Our country was represented by 10 athletes. The members of the Hungarian Team were by name the following athletes: Kristóf Milák, László Cseh, Ajna Késely, Katinka Hosszú, Zsuzsanna Jakabos, Eszter Békési, Dominik Kozma, Katalin Burián, Péter Bernek and Boglárka Kapás. Besides the Hungarian Team, well-know foreign swimmers were represented in this event. For instance: Sarah Sjostrom, Matt Grevers, Mireia Belmonte, Chad Le Clos, Yuliya Efimova, Anton Chupkov, Emily Seebohm, Anthony Ervin, Frederica Pellegrini, Chase Kalisz or Pernille Blume and I could list the further names. Unfortunately, I could only go to the first day, but it was also a great experience.

The Danube Arena

The FINA CHAMPIONS – SWIM SERIES started with the Hungarian Anthem and after that the opening speeches were held by Dr. Tünde Szabó, Minister of State for Sport, Dr. Julio C. Maglione, FINA President and Dr. Sándor Wladár President of the Hungarian Swimming Association. After the opening ceremony the athletes entered to the pool area with the Hungarian Team. As I mentioned before, the Hungarian Team consisted of 10 members. During the event, the lights were sparkling and flickering. Besides this, the Danube Arena was in true color palette and it has almost blown up, because of the great atmosphere. In  short: the mood was very good.

The first lap was the Women’s 400 m Freestyle. This lap was won by Ajna Késely with the time of 4:05.92. The next lap was the Men’s 200 m Butterfly, which was won by Kristóf Milák with the time of 1:53.64. According to the announcer, it was the best time of the year for Kristóf Milák. László Cseh ranked the 4th place with a nice swimming.

In 200 m Women’s Breaststroke, Eszter Békési finished the lap at the 2th place with the time of 2:27.54. It is an individual best time. In 200 m Women’s Backstroke, we had also two starters: Katinka Hosszú and Katalin Burián. This lap was won by Margherita Panziera (ITA), Katinka Hosszú finished at 2nd place with the time of 2:08.16 and Katalin Burián ranked at the 4th place. The penultimate lap was the Men’s 200 m Freestyle, where Dominik Kozma finished the 3rd place with time of 1:47.12. By the way, this lap was won by Danas Rapsys (LIT).

Dr. Julio C. Maglione FINA president held his opening speech.

The Medley Relay was held at the end of the program. Ajna Késely started in one team, while László Cseh started the lap in the other team. This lap was interesting, because the athletes were selected randomly into the teams from 1 to 4. Finally, the team 1 won this lap.

The great international athletes also did a great performance on Saturday evening. I have to highlited Sarah Sjostroem (SWE), who firstly won the Women’s 100 m Butterfly and after some lap, she also won the Women’s 100 m Freestyle. Yuliya Efimova (RUS)  confidently won the Women’s 200 m Breaststroke. As I mentioned before, Eszter Békési finished this lap in the 2nd place. In Men’s 50m Freestyle Benjamin Proud (GBR) reach the wall first. The Men’s 100 m Backstroke is won by Jevgenyij Rilov (RUS). In Men’s 50 m Freestyle the veteran, great athlete Nicholas Santos (BRA) finished in the first place. All in all, it is worth mentioning about the Men’s 200 m Individual Medley. In this lap Jeremy Desplanches (SUI) finished in the 1st place, and Chase Kalisz (USA) ranked the 2nd place. I could even mention some further great names, but I have not got enough opportunity, due to the content limits.

The beginning.

Summarize the whole program of the first day evening of the FINA CHAMPIONS – SWIM SERIES: it was marvelous and fantastic sports event. I have had a great experience. It was wort to going out and watching the excellent performance of our athletes. Although I could go only on Saturday, but it was worth it! The mood was excellent and the Danube Arena almost blew up. Besides the aforementioned facts, the organizing of the event was still perfect. The next big sports events in the swimming world will take place in Gwangju between 12th-28th Juli 2019.  This event is the FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.

16th May 2019., Budapest

Zoltán Ferenc Samkó J.D.
Health and Sports Lawyer