BUDAPEST, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu claimed her 5th LEN award as best European female swimmer, LEN, the European governing body for aquatic sports, informed here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, British swimmer Adam Peaty took his third LEN award.
"Adam Peaty and Katinka Hosszu have been voted the best swimmers in Europe: the British Lion claimed his third LEN Award while this is the 5th triumph for the Hungarian medley queen," LEN said in a statement.
"Two household names top the lists in swimming. Among the men, Adam Peaty was a clear winner, the three-time world champion - also broke the 50m breast World Record in Gwangju - got almost 50 percent of the votes and took back his throne after 2016 and 2017," the statement added.
Katinka Hosszu indeed got 50 percent among the women - the voters appreciated her outstanding performance at the World Championships where she became the first female swimmer to win a fifth title in the same event (400m IM) and she achieved the medley-double for the fourth time in a row. Her four golds at the year-ending European Short-Course Swimming Championships, held shortly before the voting process started, might also have an affect on the outcome which granted Hosszu her fifth award (she clinched four in a row between 2013-16), according to LEN.
This was the 12th time for Europe's national federations and LEN's officials to vote the continent's bests, the statement concluded.
