Arena swimmers won three out of four golds on offer on the first day of the European Championships in London.
Katinka Hosszu twice lowered the championship record to claim her third straight title in the 400m individual medley while Gabriele Detti won the 400m freestyle, also in a new championship mark.
The Netherlands then took the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay as Arena made a golden start to the championships at the Aquatics Centre, scene of the 2012 Olympics.
In the heats Katinka lowered her own championship record from the Europeans in Berlin in 2014, only to slice a further 0.07secs off in the final with a winning time of 4mins 30.90secs.
Hannah Miley of Great Britain was second with Katinka’s fellow Hungarian Zsuzsanna Jakabos third as Arena swimmers enjoyed a clean sweep.
Victory came as a pleasant shock to Katinka who felt she had started badly. “I was surprised,” she said. “I felt as though I had just taken my clothes off. But I kept my calm, I told myself I had 400 metres.
“So I am feeling pretty good, really excited.”
Hannah raced unrested and said: “Pleased and tired.”
“It’s hard to go into a championships when you are not 100 percent fresh, your ego gets bashed about a little bit because you want to swim…
