Hubert Kos Took Further Steps in 2025 to Secure Place Among World’s Best
The first world title Hubert Kos won came in upset fashion, as he dethroned American Ryan Murphy in the 200 backstroke at the 2023 World Championships. Entering that meet, Kos had been best known for his individual medley abilities, including a European title in the 200 IM a year prior, but that win launched an undefeated streak in the 200 back that would stretch through the Paris Olympics and this year’s world championships.
But now, the full range of the Hungarian’s abilities are on display. He is not at the level of training partner Leon Marchand — no one is — but Kos has followed in the footsteps of Marchand and Michael Phelps as the latest multi-event star who has advanced their global prominence under the guidance of Bob Bowman.
Consider the year Kos put together in 2025, both as the anchor of a national-title winning team at the University of Texas and then internationally. His yards performances had not lived up to his long course success until this season, when Kos swept national titles in all three of his events.
At the NCAA Championships, Kos overcame spirited performances by Destin Lasco in the 200 IM and Jonny Marshall in the 100 back, requiring the quickest performance ever in the latter event, before dominating the 200 back to conclude the meet. His time of 1:34.21 was more than a second quicker than anyone else in history had ever clocked. Moreover, he proved his versatility by handling the butterfly legs on the Longhorns’ medley relays, including a national-title winning group in the 200 medley, and performing admirably on a pair of sprint freestyle relays.
And when Kos reached the World Championships in Singapore, his performance in the very first session was a sign of what was to come. Swimming the second leg on Hungary’s 400 free relay, Kos split 47.71. He would not race with the group in the final, opting to save himself for his individual events as Hungary had little chance of winning a medal, but the tone was set.
Individually, Kos first raced in the 100 back, where he came up just short of a medal in the deepest event in the world on the men’s side. He led the way into the final with a semifinal effort of 52.21 and managed a hundredth quicker with medals on the line, only for Pieter Coetze, Thomas Ceccon and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard to all swim under 52 and deny Kos a medal.
Next up was the 200 IM, once Kos’ signature event but still one in which he had massive potential. With an elite backstroke and world-class abilities in butterfly and freestyle, Kos only needed a middling breaststroke leg to give himself a medal chance. And this was the year he found that and more.
While Marchand was destroying the world record and fellow Texas-trained swimmer Shaine Casas was breaking through with a stunning silver-medal performance, Kos came through for bronze. Turning in second place halfway through the World Championship final, Kos managed a breaststroke split of 34.02, slower than only Marchand and Casas in the field and quicker than accomplished medley performers Duncan Scott and Lewis Clareburt.
On the way home, Kos easily held off Scott as he produced a time of 1:55.34, good for a bronze medal and a spot among history’s top-10 performers in the event.
That night, Kos would have to navigate a double, needing to qualify for the 200 back final before heading back to his hotel. He did so easily but left the facility with the expectation of a tough fight to come in his signature event after Coetze managed an African record in the semifinals and both Ndoye-Brouard and Roman Mityukov swam under 1:55.
Twenty-four hours later, Kos would need to swim his best time by more than a second to win the world title. Coetze led through the early stages of the race, but Kos came through with a brilliant third length and then held off the charging South African down the stretch. Kos touched in 1:53.19, breaking the European record previously held by Evgeny Rylov and moving to No. 5 all-time in the event. He needed every bit of that improvement as Coetze came in only 0.17 behind.
Moving forward, Kos has one year of eligibility left at Texas, and he will try to cap off his college career with another signature national-championships performance. As for international competition, he enters year two of this quad at or near the top of the world in three individual events, and more could soon follow. Kos has put forth 50-second performances in the 100 fly on multiple occasions, with only schedules at major competitions preventing his participation in that event. This year in Singapore, he qualified for the global final in the 50 backstroke.
He might not have the dominance of Marchand, at least not yet, but his multi-event prowess and year-to-year consistency in his main event is now giving Kos the recognition he deserves.
