International swimming body FINA decided on Monday in Budapest that the 2022 short course worlds would be hosted by Kazan, Russia while Budapest will host the event two years later.

Next year, Budapest will also host a junior synchronised swimming world championship, and a junior swimming world championship in 2019, to be followed by European championships of swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming and diving in 2020.

Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog highlighted the return on the government and Budapest’s investment in the Duna Arena, a new facility hosting the sporting events, saying that the swimming complex had not been completed for a single occasion.

National Development Minister Miklós Seszták, the head of the organizing committee, voiced confidence concerning the success of the 2024 event, and insisted that Budapest had “both the infrastructure and the experience” required to manage a major international sporting event.

Gusztáv Bienerth, head of the Hungarian Swimming Federation, said that “this is an achievement for Hungary, for the Hungarian people, those who bore the burdens of the preparations for the world championships” now under way. “We have used the opportunity that leaders of the swimming world are together and that there is a momentum,” he added.

Tamás Gyarfás, the Hungarian vice president of FINA, who suggested earlier that he would resign if the organisation did not choose Budapest as the site for the 2024 event, said, “I’m staying”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo