The 2026 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup, held in Ibiza from April 24 to 26, brought notable successes for the Hungarian delegation.
As the top Hungarian competitor, Viktória Mihályvári-Farkas won the bronze medal in the women’s 10-kilometer event on Friday at the second stage of the Open Water Swimming World Cup series in Ibiza.
In the competition, which took place amid huge waves, the FTC European champion secured third place with an outstanding final sprint
and thus stood on the podium for the first time in her career in an individual event at the World Cup series.
Just as in the first stop, the race was won by Australian Olympic silver medalist Moesha Johnson by a wide margin.
Also on Friday, Dávid Betlehem won the 10-kilometer race at the second stop of the Open Water Swimming World Cup series in Ibiza.
The 22-year-old Olympic champion from the FTC found his rhythm perfectly in the final lap and took significantly better turns than his competitors, allowing him to triumph by a wide margin.
Betlehem finished second at the first stop of this year’s series in Egypt; this is his second World Cup victory of his career.
With this victory, the young Hungarian swimmer also secured his spot on the Hungarian team for this year’s European Championships.
Following the adults’ 10-km race, a 7.5-km race for juniors took place, and the Hungarians impressed with their performance there as well:
In the boys’ division, Bálint Kreisz and Márton Huszti won the gold and silver medals, Armand Marosszéki finished fourth, while in the girls’ division, Anna Bartalos took second place.
On Saturday, Betlehem won the gold medal in the men’s 3-kilometer race at the second stop of the Open Water Swimming World Cup series.
As the only Hungarian in the final, he led for almost the entire race and secured a commanding victory, leaving the runner-up, Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, nearly two seconds behind.
I am very happy about another gold medal; it was a good race,”
Betlehem said after the victory.
On Sunday, the Hungarian swimmer impressed once again with his performance and won the silver medal in the 5-kilometer race; only France’s Sacha Velly managed to overtake Betlehem.
“This weekend was very positive. We had to compete on all three days in a fairly large field (…). I won three medals, so I can be very satisfied with that. Now we’re heading to Italy for a few days of training, then the World Cup is coming up again next week, but the ultimate goal is to do very well at the European Championships, so until then I have to compete in as many races as possible and also work hard in training,” the Hungarian Swimming Federation’s website quoted Betlehem as saying.
Via MTI; Featured image: MTI/Derencsényi István
