They call Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu the “Iron Lady” of swimming. She proved why in Hong Kong on Monday.
Hosszu swam in six finals and won five of them -- 800m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 200m individual medley and 200m backstroke -- at a FINA World Cup short course (25m pool) meet. Only the Netherlands’ Inge Dekker denied perfection, holding Hosszu to silver in the 50m freestyle.
Hosszu initially entered all 17 events for the two-day meet. She swam seven of eight in Monday’s prelims and dropped the 100m butterfly for Monday’s finals. The meet lacks top U.S. swimmers such as Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin.
Hosszu, 25, swam at her first Olympics in 2004 at age 15. She also made it to Beijing 2008 and London 2012 but hasn’t won an Olympic medal. Yet.
There’s little doubt she is the world’s best female all-around swimmer. Hosszu swept the individual medleys at the 2013 World Championships after China’s Ye Shiwen did so at the 2012 Olympics.
Hosszu is ranked No. 1 in the world this year in the 200m IM and second to Ye in the 400m IM. She also won European Championships medals this year in backstroke, butterfly and freestyle events.