Katinka Hosszu and Kristof Milak turned up the heat on their challengers ahead of Tokyo 2020 with a victory each at the Mare Nostrum series in Barcelona.
It was another good day for Hungary's flagship swimmers on Saturday, as three-time Olympic champion Hosszu roared back from a slow start to win the 200m individual medley. Milak comfortably bested South Africa's Chad le Clos in the 100m butterfly.
There were also standout wins for Russia's Yuliya Efimova in the 100m breaststroke, while the Netherlands' Arno Kamminga sent a message to Tokyo gold favourite Adam Peaty with wins in the 50m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke.
After entering a lung-bursting number of events at the two previous Mare Nostrum rounds so far, it was perhaps unsurprising that Hosszu got off to a tired start in her first final of Saturday – the 200m butterfly.
The "Iron Lady" finished third behind Mexico's Maria Mata Coco of Mexico and Ana Catarina Monteiro of Portugal.
There was little time to rest, with the Hungarian up again just two races later, this time in her world record event, the 200m individual medley.
Early on it looked as if the Czech Republic's Kristyna Horska would deny Hosszu as she hauled in Spain's early leader Catalina Corro Llorente. But Hosszu's knack of strong finishes didn't let her down, as she took the win in a time of 2:13.11. A deflated Horska finished a 10th of a second behind.
200m butterfly world record holder Milak was up against le Clos in the100m butterfly final, and cruised home without too much of a challenge from the London 2012 champion. Milak taking victory with a time of 50.95, Le Clos came in second with a time of 52.24.
Breaststroke specialist Efimova came into Barcelona with six out of six victories from Monaco and Canet in the 50m, 100m and 200m. The Rio 2016 silver medallist in the 100m breaststroke at Rio 2016 clinched the win over the same distance in 1:06.44. It's the only event she is due to compete in at Tokyo.
One of the swimmers to watch on Saturday was Kamminga, who could be one of the few to seriously challenge Peaty at Tokyo 2020. Last month, Kamminga became only the second man after the Briton to dip below the 58-second mark in the 100m breaststroke.
The Dutchman got Saturday's finals off to a good start with victory in the 50m breaststroke, in a time of 27.06. But it was in the 200m breaststroke that he really blew away the competition, touching the wall underneath the world record split on the first two laps.
With the 100m being his specialty, he faded slightly – but still cruised to victory in 2:07.23.