200 metres Individual Medley, Men

Tamás Darnyi (HUN) had been the best individual medleyer since 1985 and had already won the 400 IM in Seoul. In that race he had easily defeated American silver medalist Dave Wharton, considered to be his biggest competition. It was expected they would duel again in the 200 but Wharton inexplicably did not qualify for the final, leaving Darnyi with no real competition. In the final he did not take the lead early. The butterfly opener was led by Soviet Vadym Yaroshchuk, with East German Patrick Kühl taking over on the second leg, the backstroke. The three were close at 150, with Yaroshchuk leading and Darnyi in third place, but Darnyi’s freestyle put the gold medal away, as he won by almost 1½ seconds. Kühl passed Yaroshchuk on the final lap for silver.

Darnyi had won the 200/400 IM double. Four years later, in Seoul, he would win the two events again, becoming only the second man, after East German Roland Matthes in the 1968/72 backstroke events, to double-double in a stroke or specialty. This would later be repeated in the IMs by Ukrainian Yana Klochkova in 2000-04.