KATINKA HOSSZÚ

NATIONALITY Hungarian
HOMETOWN Baja, Hungary
DATE OF BIRTH 03/05/1989
DISCIPLINE Individual Medley
CLUB/COLLEGE Iron Swim Budapest
COACH Layber-Gelencser Máté
FOLLOW KATINKA ON
“Hard work always pays off”

BIOGRAPHY

Katinka Hosszú has set her sights on winning 100 international medals after rewriting the history books since making her debut at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Katinka is already the most-decorated swimmer in history, taking her total to 97 with relay bronze with Hungary at the 2022 European Championships in Rome.

She has excelled on the biggest stages during her career and to be only three medals away from her target is testament to her longevity and skill set across numerous events and distances.

Katinka also holds the 200m and 400m individual medley world records as well as the 100 and 200IM short-course standards.

She was disappointed with her performance at the Tokyo Olympics and set herself a personal goal.

She said: “I think it would be something special to get 100 medals; nobody has done that yet so that would be something exciting.”

Katinka was the first swimmer to claim four successive global doubles by winning the 200 and 400IM titles at the World Championships between 2013 and 2019.

At the 2019 worlds in Gwangju, she became the first woman to win five world crowns in the same event in the long medley.

Katinka was born into a sporting family – her father Istvan won 200 caps for the national basketball team – and she began swimming aged five in Baja, 10 years before her international debut.

According to FINA, she said: “My grandfather was a swim coach so he took me to the pool when I was really little. My grandfather tells me that I never wanted to leave, that I always wanted to stay five more minutes.”

GENERAL QUICK FACTS

Favorite sportsperson or team (other than swimming)
Conor McGregor, mixed martial artist
Favorite vacation spot and why
Anywhere near water, I always need to be around water
Public person you admire
Mathias Rex, King of Hungary in the 15th century
Favorite book(s)/author(s)
‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ by Viktor E. Frankl and Jorge Bucay, an Argentinian psychotherapist and writer
Favorite artist or work of art
Mihaly Munkacsy Christ Trilogy
Items you’d want on a desert island
Laptop, Wi-Fi, comfortable bed
If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?
Iron Man
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
To be able to fly
If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
‘At The End Of The Day...’
What you’d like to do in your life after swimming
To have an impactful life, to keep inspiring and helping others

SWIMMING QUICK FACTS

Proudest moment in swimming
My first long-course world record in the 200IM at the 2015 World Championships, winning the medley double at a home worlds in Budapest in 2017
Least favorite part of swimming
Jumping in the cold water
Funniest moment in swimming
By mistake I swam a different race
Favorite/least favorite training set and why
I love to do sprint workout with a speed cord. My least favourite workout is something very long, like 20 times 400 IM, that can be quite boring
Favorite Race/Training suits and why
My favourite race suit is the Powerskin Carbon Core FX Closed back. I love the way it makes me feel in the water, super-fast. The training suit I love the most is mostly black or red with a Challenge Back
Best piece of equipment and why
I love to swim with fins, I use them the most, every practice
Favorite Food after training
Protein bar or shake and a banana
Most annoying type of swimmer
The swimmers who always only swim fast on the last part of a set
Favorite Pool in the world and why
Duna Arena in Budapest, because it’s home

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

2022 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, ROME
BRONZE 4x200m Freestyle Relay
2020 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, BUDAPEST
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Butterfly
BRONZE 200m Individual Medley
2019 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, GWANGJU
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
2019 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, GLASGOW
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
2018 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, GLASGOW
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
2018 WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, HANGZHOU
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 100m Backstroke
2017 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BUDAPEST
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Backstroke
BRONZE 200m Butterfly
2017 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, COPENHAGEN
GOLD 50m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
2016 OLYMPIC GAMES, RIO DE JANEIRO
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Backstroke
2016 WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, WINDSOR
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Butterfly
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Freestyle
SILVER 50m Backstroke
2016 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, LONDON
GOLD 200m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
GOLD 4x200m Freestyle Relay
SILVER 100m Backstroke
2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, KAZAN
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
BRONZE 200m Backstroke
2015 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, NETANYA
GOLD 50m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 400m Freestyle
2014 WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, DOHA
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Backstroke
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Freestyle
SILVER 200m Butterfly
SILVER 400m Individual Medley
BRONZE 50m Backstroke
2014 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, BERLIN
GOLD 100m Backstroke
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Freestyle
BRONZE 200m Butterfly
BRONZE 4x200m Freestyle Relay
2013 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BARCELONA
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
BRONZE 200m Butterfly
2013 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, HERNING
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
SILVER 100m Individual Medley
SILVER 400m Individual Medley
BRONZE 200m Backstroke
2012 WORLD SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, ISTANBUL
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
SILVER 200m Freestyle
SILVER 200m Individual Medley
BRONZE 400m Individual Medley
2012 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, DEBRECEN
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
SILVER 4x200m Freestyle Relay
2012 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, CHARTRES
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 100m Individual Medley
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
SILVER 400m Individual Medley
2010 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, BUDAPEST
GOLD 200m Butterfly
GOLD 200m Individual Medley
GOLD 4x200m Freestyle Relay
SILVER 400m Individual Medley
2009 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, ROME
GOLD 400m Individual Medley
BRONZE 200m Butterfly
BRONZE 200m Individual Medley
2008 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS, EINDHOVEN
SILVER 400m Individual Medley
2004 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS, VIENNA
BRONZE 400m Individual Medley

INSIDE KATINKA’S BAG

Aquaforce Wave Swim Cap
Carbon Core FX Closed back
Powerfin Pro
FIND MORE ON OUR SHOP