Katinka Hosszu broke her first long course world record en route to becoming the repeat 200m IM world champion with a time of 2:06.12.

With her winning time she took three one-hundredths of a second off what was previously thought to be an untouchable record of 2:06.15 set by Ariana Kukors at the 2009 World Championships.

Hosszu attacked the race right from the start, turning under world record pace at the first 50 wall. Hosszu continued to swim under world record pace for the remainder of the swim, holding on during the freestyle leg to better the record by a very slim margin.

Below is a comparison of Kukors 2009 world record splits and Hosszu’s 2015 world record splits:

World Record Splits 50 100 150 200 Katinka Hosszu 2015 27.30 (27.30) 58.94 (31.64) 1:35.64 (36.70) 2:06.12 (30.48) Ariana Kukors 2009 27.72 (27.72) 59.24 (31.52) 1:36.31 (37.07) 2:06.15 (29.84)

Hosszu’s breaststroke leg is what really made the difference in solidifying the record for her. Not predominately known for her breaststroke, Hosszu split a swift 36.70 in what was supposed to be her weakest leg.

Hosszu set a new personal best and European record of 2:07.30 in prelims before bettering that mark in the semifinals to reset the European record at 2:06.84. Her semifinal swim was the second fastest performance ever in the event behind Kukor’s 2009 swim, suggesting that a world record was a direct possibility.

Hosszu scratched the 100m backstroke semifinals in order to assumably focus on the 200m IM tonight.

With her victory, Hosszu earned her fourth long course world championship gold medal of her career, and repeated as the 200m IM world champion.

Hosszu is now the world record holder in both the long course and short course 200m IMs.