Long Katinka enters the Christian age on the third of May, turns thirty-three. At this age, few swim competitively, nor will he finish this year, if all is well. We know he will jump into the water at the Fukuoka World Championships in May and the Rome European Championships in August, and then say goodbye.
The fact that we have a basis for our information has not been denied by the Hungarian Swimming Association, it has been confirmed that Long is preparing for a big announcement, but it has not been detailed. But what could it be other than a retreat, which would be just a sanctification of the status quo anyway, since it has been an open secret in the world of swimming pools since the not-so-successful Tokyo Olympics that there is not much point in forcing a continuation.
Since the third third of January, his coach has been training in Tenerife with his partner, Máté Gelencsér, his father and a training partner.
The swimmer’s nearly two-decade cutting-edge career began with winning the 2003 short-run adult championship at 400 meters, at just 14 years old. After age-old European championship titles, the big breakthrough was the 2009 World Cup in Rome, where he won 400 mixes and won bronze medals in 200 mixes and butterflies.
In the autumn following the failed London Olympics, her career, now under the professional guidance of Shane Tusup – her later husband – gained momentum. He won the short-track World Cup series on a treadmill, stacked World Cup and World Cup gold, and reached the top of his career with three gold and one silver at the Rio Olympics. At the 2017 World Cup in Budapest and then in 2019, he pulled in the two World Cups – the latter was already coached by Árpád Petrov – but the Tokyo Olympics did not come together, and it can be assumed that he will finish soon.
Whatever happens at this year’s World Championships, Long Katinka’s place has been unshakable in the history of swimming, as well as being a revolutionary who has made racing itself the basis of his training method.
(Cover image: Hosszú Katinka on July 15, 2020. Photo: János Bődey / Index)
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