CHENNAI: Humgry has a proud swimming culture. Right from the days of Alfred Hajos, who medalled at the first Summer Games in 1896, to Katinka Hosszu, who won three gold in the pool of Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they have produced multiple artists in the water.
On Tuesday night, an Indian quietly tried to replicate the feats of Hungarian men and women who have been swimming in Budapest for over a 100 years. Even if he fell short of his intended target in the end, Srihari Nataraj once again did what he has made a habit of doing over the last 14 months or so: lower the national record.
Competing at the ongoing World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest, Nataraj twice set new national records in the 100m backstroke event to advance to the final. Coming into Budapest, his mark was 55.49 seconds. In the heats, he swam 55.18 seconds to go under the Olympic Selection Time (OST). Commonly referred to as ‘B’ time, it doesn’t guarantee a place at the Olympics but Nataraj did his reputation no harm. A ‘B’ time means FINA, the world governing body for the sport, after the end of the qualification period, will allot extra places according to world ranking in the event.
A few hours later, Nataraj shaved off a few more valuable micro seconds — 54.69 to be exact — as he reached the final with a sixth fastest time. He was still outside the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT) or the ‘A’ time of 53.85 seconds.
Even though he finished outside the medal bracket in the final, his pace — he dipped under 55 seconds for the second consecutive time — will put him in good stead ahead of what is going to be a crucial month for the teenager if he is to realise his Olympic aspirations. He finished in seventh with a time of 54.85 seconds, 1.39 seconds behind Italy’s Thomas Ceccon who won gold.
The teen has the opportunity to make a further impression in Budapest before the end of the week as he has two more events remaining (50m and 200m backstroke).