Invincibility (part 1) was what Hungarian and French teammates in Texas Hubert Kós and Léon Marchand (part 2, coming up...) set out to achieve in the curtain-closer here in Paris. Take a bow, Kós, the 200 medley champion in the Olympic champion's absence, and Marchand, the Olympic medley champion out of multi-skilling while an adductor in jury heals, but champion in 400m freestyle (file to come).

Kós had company - but only in a thunderous closing bull run to the end wall by Spain's Hugo Gonzalez, made to look all the more impressive than it surely was by the sheer end-game struggle of an Olympic 200 backstroke champion who made his opening gambit a dash, bolt, dart, tear and scoot fit to hammer home his message to rivals: though shall not pass! He was inside the world record pace of Marchand at 50, at 100, then faded from it on breaststroke.

Gonzalez was having none of it, and though he fell 0.2 shy of the bullseye Kós chucked a vast spear of courage at, the first two men home in 1:54.24 and 1:54.24 shredded the Spaniard's championship mark of 1:56.61 from semis - and the fastest title-win in the event's history after 14 years of waiting: the 1:56.66 of Kós' fellow Hungarian and childhood hero and inspiration, László Cseh, from 2012. Kós also confined Cseh's 2009 shiny suited 1:55.18 Hungarian record to history at last: it was set in semis at the Rome 2009 circus.

Cseh is still the target for all European golden medley hopefuls: he has the record for the biggest haul of crowns in the 200m, a high five that sits in a vast pantheon of honours as one of the great all-rounders of his sport. In victory, Kós extended Hungary's lead on the all-time medals table, a score of 12 titles comparing to a net-best of three for Finland all the way back to 1970.

Marchand's world and European record was very safe, of course, but the pace of the LA2028 200m medley is building to an Olympic height last seen on freestyle in 1972: Mark Spitz USA 1:52.78 (WR) Steve Genter (USA) 1:53.73 Werner Lampe (FRG) 1:53.99 ... on medley - imagine that!

Kós was in the mixed zone after the race, and had just spent several minutes with Hungarian written press. There would be more media after the medals.

As he walked away, he looked as though he was hobbled by the effort of his swim: his gait was that of a patient who would certainly recover well but right now was testing his feet for the first time since coming round from an op. He looked as though he might be physically sick.

Pain is like that, and he's referred to it more than once this week, as we saw in the words you'll find in the report of his 200m backstroke victory chasing down the remote pace of a shiny suited Aaron Peirsol, a great of the art who needed no suit to be a winner but was lethal to the ambitions of generations to come on the clock when poly put the kettle on for what was a relative blip in real time, an open sore in the thread of swimming history.

Hubert Kós Hooks a 1:53-Flat To His 1:52.3 For Debut Euro 200 Back Gold

″ 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.” Hubert Kós

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

So, pain.

"Finally, a day when I only have to swim in the evening and only once!"

That's what Kós its reported to have said to Hungarian media on Saturday evening after his 200IM semi-final.

And then, that same media reported, Hubi was corrected by his younger brother Oliver, who reminded him: "Hubi, the first day was like this too!"

Yes, it was, but since then, Kós the elder bro has been a very busy chap: five solo events and a relay meant that he'd taken to his blocks 16 times by the close of business this evening.

His point before his bro corrected him was still valid. Sunday morning: off. Time to breathe, to think. To find perspective, to ask every sinew 'what is it that you want?... 'How hungry are you"?

During warm-up, he would say later, he didn't ant to overdo it, because of this other observation of his:

"I paid attention so that I wouldn’t over-swim myself. I took on a lot at this European Championship, but we knew it would be like this, but I had to test what I could handle, what this busy schedule was like. Brutal… You know in advance that it will hurt, but you don’t know exactly what it feels like. It’s really brutal."

So, warm-up was confined to things he enjoys: attention to technique, turns and so on.

The question in Hungary - and in Kós - and among his entourage, one might imagine - was simple: could he break László Cseh's shiny 1:55.18?

After he had, Kós said:

“The adrenaline didn’t come on Saturday, that was also a problem, but on Sunday it did. I took advantage of it!”

He needed to have done so: Gonzalez would have kicked his ass had he not. Kós knew it: "Huge congratulations to Hugo! The condition he was in a year ago… He trained with us, he improved a lot.”.

Victory was his, however, and it was his third straight win in European l/c waters. As we said after the pre-champs press conference, Kós is a story teller ... and this is how he told his story:

I’ll just say this: László Cseh.
The fact that I was able to break the national record of such an icon in a competition where I had to give everything, really everything, is an incredible experience. It’s like the Olympic gold, which I couldn’t grasp for a long time, I don’t even know yet: I broke Laci’s record!
Then let’s continue with the names: Léon Marchand, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps.
And I’ll come after him?
That’s right, this 200m individual medley was the eighth fastest of all time, but these three greats swam the previous week.
I think I'm in good company... I won't be able to move forward for a while if I have to let go of the 200m individual medley, because it clashes with the 200m backstroke in the Olympic program. But here at the European Championships, I was still swimming, and I wanted to pack a big one in at the end: I couldn't be so happy after the 200m backstroke, because it was simply etched in my mind that I wanted to swim a world record, but I went into this 200m individual medley with a conversation with Léon beforehand, and we stuck to that, we have to show it today, this is our day! I wanted to give it my all and enjoy every moment of it – except for the few minutes after the final, I managed both."

The case proven to self, sure, but it's about much more than that. Project Invincibility can also strike fear in the hearts of brave athletes. It require substance, however. Think back through history, recall even moments in your youth where a local opposition team arrived in new kit, everyone looking the very imagine of a bonded team on a mission, carrying themselves like they already knew they'd done what it took to keep you at bay. Of course, to look the part is one thing, to talk the talk another - and then there's those actions that speak louder than words:. 1:52.30, 1:54.24, that sort of thing, the stuff fit to make it feel impossible to match.

There was also more than a sprinkling of that in Project Invincibility part 2: the men's 400m freestyle.

None of you need to read a long thesis describing a result sheet, so here is that result, with some observations when they've been slept on:

The History File below ...