Hubert Kós has now given us two classic displays of what its like to be the fastest backstroke swimmer in history and yet still be unable to get past the warpery and buoy of shiny suits from 2009.

The Hungarian's mission today was not the same as that in the semi-final yesterday. Then, the target was the World record. Today, it was victory, and a debut European 200m backstroke title for the Olympic champion and two-time world champion.

Triumph was preceded by another thunderous show of dizzying speed far inside World-record pace to the last turn, before the difference between supremely fit human and one dressed to swim beyond their natural capacity.

Make no mistake, American Aaron Peirsol, one of the all-time greats of backstroke, was the real deal, his 1:51.92 that and something else, the very essence of a 2009 insult to the nature of swimming.

We saw as much in semis yesterday, when Kós challenged the 2009 shiny suits World record with a volcanic 1:52.30 World textile best, European and European Championship record.

That and the final compared to 2009 like this:

• 26.52; 54.90; 1:23.30; 1:51.92 Aaron Peirsol (USA) Rome 31/07/2009
• 25.82; 53.64; 1:22.32; 1:52.30 Hubert Kós (HUN) Paris 11/08/2026 - World textile best, all-time No2 on the clock
• 26.16; 54.11; 1:22.94; 1:53.08 - Kós - European gold, Paris 12/08/2026

Kós’ 1:52.30 was the second best on the clock, all-time, inside the 1:52.51 of Japanese ace Rosuke Irie's 2009 shiny suited effort for silver - and, more importantly, inside the 1:52.96 in which American Ryan Lochte claimed the World title in Shanghai back in 2011. That had been the World textile best.

So, Kós: 0.66sec than anyone else in history in textile.

Kós combines technical efficiency in the swim with a feel for precision in and out of turns, his streamline off the start and the first turn challenging the 15m mark, and a flip later, at half-way, he was not all that far shy of repeating the fast and lengthy dolphin drive into stroke. At the last turn, the Hungarian was a sledgehammer 0.98sec inside Peirsol's top speed when Poly put the kettle on in 2009.

In any other circumstance, a pioneering moment would have been lit in lights a length later. But no...

Kós broke sooner into stroke and we saw the first signs of the fight in the Hungarian that was absent in those buoyed by non-textile bodysuits on their way to the chop. It was around 15 to go when we saw the smoothness and aesthetic of the Hungarian's flow falter, and shiny speed slipped from his grasp.

After that effort, Kós, who felt sick after the swim, said:

“When someone goes so hard for something, it’s not the best feeling not to see the world record in the end. I felt that today’s semi-final was one of the four chances I could have to break the world record. ”

Coach by Bob Bowman in Texas, Kós said that on Monday he had watched training partner Léon Marchand swim the sixth best 200m free of all-time, his 1:43.9 still 0.8 shy of Yannick Agnel's 2012 French record.

So impactful was that swim on the Hungarian that he the took it as a first "sign" that he should have a crack at the 200 back World record. Courage begat courage.

“Then in the preliminary heat I expected a time of around 1:57, compared to that it was 1:55, then I was already smiling and felt that I was in good shape. I asked Bob if I should try for the world record in the semi-final, he said 'yes'.”

The talk was that to get to Peirsol's standard he would have to be a big margin inside the world-record pace all the way to the last turn and hang own for dear life and love of ambition. Kós said:

“Until now, I didn’t even know that I was capable of such a start. Moreover, I felt good in the water, and even in the last round there was nothing wrong, but then from one moment to the next I felt pain like I had never felt before. In the last metres, I was almost fighting for my life. From one moment to the next, lactic acid set in, and from then on it was as if I was fighting demons. I was sinking like the Titanic, my heart was beating in my head, I couldn’t see, and the water was pouring into my mouth. I thought the last twenty-five metres - and the pain would never end.”

In the final this evening, Kós tied up badly in the last 10m but had easily down enough to hand on: he won by 0.73sec, the silver to Greek challenger Apostolos Siskos, the bronze to Italian Thomas Ceccon:

Not a championship record but the fastest win ever in the event, inside a time clocked by a man who left the sport in disgrace with a Z symbol for Putin's war sewn to his sports kit and legacy forever.

The History File below ...