Hugo Gonzalez became the first male Spanish swimmer in almost 30 years to pick up a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships on Friday, winning the men’s 200-metre backstroke final in Doha, Qatar.
The 24-year-old, who has a Spanish father and a Brazilian mother, clinched gold with a time of one minute, 55.30 seconds, with Roman Mityukov one-tenth-of-a-second off the pace in second place and Pieter Coetze taking third.
Gonzalez had narrowly missed out on a gold in the men’s 100-metre backstroke final on Tuesday, finishing just two-hundredths of a second behind winner Hunter Armstrong.
Martin Lopez-Zubero is the only previous Spanish male swimmer to claim World Championships gold, winning the men’s 200-metre backstroke title in 1991 before leading the way in the 100-metre backstroke three years later.
