100 m backstroke, men, 25 m pool

What to remember

After his Olympic title in the 200 m backstroke, Hubert Kós made his mark over the shorter distance. Over 100 m in a 25-metre pool, the Hungarian clocked 48.16 s in Toronto on October 25, 2025, at a World Cup meet.

Kós, born in 2003, swims backstroke and individual medley. He has been part of the University of Texas swim team, and in 2023 he took bronze in the 200 yard backstroke at the NCAA Division I Championships. Medley is another thread of his career: bronze in the 400 m at the 2021 European Short Course Championships, the European title in the 200 m in 2022 and the junior world record over that distance. In 2024 he became Olympic champion in the 200 m backstroke in Paris.

The men's 100 m backstroke has been Olympic since 1908. It was left off the 1964 programme and came back in 1968. The women's race has been on the Olympic programme since 1924. Men and women have also raced it at every World Aquatics Championships, a meet first held in 1973. In short course, the event's records go to Kós and the American Regan Smith, while in long course the men's record goes to Italy's Thomas Ceccon.