On Tuesday, the Spanish swimmer Hugo González made history as he garnered the first medal for the national team in the pool modality at the World Championships currently being held in Doha. He won a silver medal in the 100 meters backstroke event, ending a medal drought for the Spanish team that had lasted over six years.
Hugo González, who had been the European runner-up in 2021 for the same event, has now added the first World Cup medal to his illustrious record. His performance in the grand final was exceptional, and he was on the cusp of becoming the world champion. Even though he narrowly missed the gold, his return to the podium at a significant international event after three years is a testament to his burning desire and ambition to aspire for a podium finish at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris next summer.
With Hugo’s success, pool swimming has now joined the list of Spanish successes at this World Championship. Other successful modalities include artistic swimming with four medals, free water with a silver medal from María de Valdés, and even springboard diving with a historic bronze medal by Nicolás García Boissier and Adrián Abadía.
The Spanish swimming team had not won a World Cup medal since Mireia Belmonte claimed three in the 2017 edition. However, Hugo González, who is about to turn 25 and is undoubtedly one of their top prospects today, has put an end to this extended medal drought. His success serves as a strong argument to confirm that his decision to train in the United States has been a fruitful one.
Hugo, who had achieved the Olympic minimum goal on Monday, had reserved his best performance for the fight for the podium. He entered the finals with the third-best time of the finalists (53.23). However, in the final, he managed to elevate his performance to a personal best of 52.70. This achievement was one of his main goals and what ultimately earned him a place on the podium.
Hugo’s start was incredibly strong. In the initial 50 meters, he demonstrated his determination and intent to win. He completed the first half of the race in less than 26 seconds (25.53), establishing a lead over all his competitors and setting the stage for a strong finish.
Despite his best efforts, he was unable to fend off the American swimmer Hunter Armstrong, who had won the bronze last summer in Fukuoka, Japan. Armstrong managed to surpass Hugo in the final meters, snatching the gold from him by a mere margin of two-hundredths of a second (52.68). Meanwhile, the bronze medal went to the Greek swimmer Apostolos Christou, who finished far behind both Hugo and Armstrong (53.36).
On a different note, Arbidel González couldn’t make it to the final of the 200 butterfly event. He finished with the tenth best time in the semifinals, clocking 1:56.7. This time was an improvement on his record from the morning heats (1:57.20) but was still far from his personal best from last summer (1:54.99) in Fukuoka. He needed to get closer to his personal best to achieve the desired Olympic minimum (1:55.78).
