By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
Following a pair of breakout showings at the Texas Hall of Fame Invitational and the U.S. Open Championships, Northwestern sophomore Oli Kos, the brother of Olympic champion backstroker Hubert Kos, is poised to make a splash on the Big Ten and NCAA stage this spring for the Wildcats.
The Hungarian made his way to Northwestern via a previous connection with his brother. Before her arrival as head coach for Northwestern, Rachel Stratton-Mills joined the program after spending six years on staff at Arizona State, where Hubert previously attended before transferring to Texas.
“Northwestern was one of the few that reached back to me when I was in the recruiting process,” Oli Kos said in an interview with SwimSwam. “We had scheduled a call, and it had turned out that Rachel was just appointed as the head coach when I was looking at Northwestern. That kind of helped everything fall into place.”
The coaching connection was not the only attraction to Northwestern; the institution’s academic prestige also drew Kos stateside.
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“Back home in Hungary, I was more focused on school for my senior year, while still putting swimming as a high priority,” Kos said. “Obviously, my older brother went out to Arizona State and had a very successful time there with Bob [Bowman], and it made me want to try something new. I wanted to go somewhere that was academically strong, and equally as strong in athletics, and Northwestern was a fit.”
Kos’ first two years with the program have been night and day different, mainly due in part to a freshman campaign that was hindered by injury.
“Right about when midseason was happening, I actually fractured my elbow. So that kind of set me out for a month and broke my training in half before championship season,” Kos said. “So I didn’t really get the chance to put in all that work that I’ve been doing this season… I’m surrounded by a great coaching staff, great teammates, and the support I get from all the coaches as well is unmatched.”
At the 2025 Texas Hall of Fame Invite in November, Kos threw down lifetime best swims in all three of his individual events; most notably finishing 4th in the 200 backstroke in an NCAA qualifying time of 1:41.79, more than a second and a half under his previous best from last season’s Big Ten Championship (1:43.42). Much of that improvement he credits to a new training regimen.
“Last year, I was more 400 IM, 200 IM, and 200 back, obviously that needs a different training than what I am doing now with the 100s and 200s, I think stepping away from the distance training and hone in more on my speed was a big factor,” Kos said. “I switched groups entirely. I am now under Rachel herself, so she has been keeping a very close eye on me this year.”
One thing that Kos frequently brought up was the strength that he has developed since joining the Wildcats program, calling himself a “late bloomer” physically.
“I think just becoming stronger and physically getting bigger has really helped,” Kos added. “I’m finding now that my body is finally coming to fruition, I just kind of want to see how far I can take it.”
Although his performance on paper was a massive improvement on his previous times, Kos was not totally satisfied with the performance as a whole.
“I would say my goal by midseason was to get as close to 1:40 as possible, so I mean it gives me great confidence that I went 1:41.79, but I know I am capable of much more,” Kos said. “I expect a lot from myself, but in a healthy way. I know the work I’ve done and what I am capable of and how motivated I am.”
That meet also helped lock in the foreseeable future of the Kos championship event lineup: the 100 back, 200 back, and 200 free. That 200 free is a massive change for the Hungarian, but a move meticulously made by Kos and Stratton-Mills ahead of his sophomore season.
“Before the season, I sat down with Rachel and we had a talk about what the focus should be of my training, and she had advocated heavily for the 200 free over the 400 IM, and I was totally okay with moving on from the 400 IM,” Kos said. “I swam at [Hungarian] Nationals in April and had a pretty good meet there; I swam a 55.3 long course 100 back, which was much faster than my previous best, and that put the idea into my head that I should focus on this more.”
Just two weeks after that midseason meet, Kos had to switch back to long course and race at the U.S. Open Championships in early December.
“Thankfully, we train long courses three times a week up until championships, so it was not that hard to flip my brain to meters, ” Kos added. “I’ve trained in meters my entire life and it was great to race in meters again.”
But just like his performance at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite, Kos’ performance, while still smothered in best times, did not meet his expectations.
“I actually thought I’d be swimming a bit better than I did,” Kos said.
Kos raced in three events, setting best times in the 100 back (55.22), 200 back (2:00.17), and the 200 IM (2:02.89). With future goals still set on qualifying for the European Championships, Kos had hoped to be faster at the U.S. Open.
“I had Nationals in April, and I went pretty fast, but I wasn’t training as hard as I was for our midseason meet,” Kos said. “I would not say I am disappointed… I just expected more of myself.”
Though the results may not have shown the exact times that Kos had hoped for, he has set himself up in a prime position heading into the championship season ahead.
“I want to do as much as I can for the team, I want to make as many ‘A’ finals as I can at Big Tens, and if I can, I want to do it in all three events,” Kos said. “As for what happens in the finals, that’s up in the air. I want it to be natural; I want it to happen in the moment.”
For Kos, his aspirations don’t stop at Big Tens; his mind is also set on the NCAA Championships later this spring and qualifying to represent Hungary at the European Championships.
“I want to reach NCAAs and especially join my brother in his last one, that would be special,” Kos said. “I really want to qualify for the long course European championship in April, that one is definitely high up there.”
Though having an Olympic Gold Medalist and NCAA Champion as an older brother, Kos has never felt he was in Hubert’s shadow; the feeling is actually one of closeness.
“It has always been a close relationship between him and I, we talk every day, and we trained our whole lives together,” Kos said. “I even lived at his apartment for Thanksgiving. Every success that he’s lived through, I’ve been right there with him. So in a way, I’ve lived through that with him as well, which is pretty great.”
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