Olympic Swimming Top Races, No. 8: Kristof Milak Trying to Rocket Past 200 Fly Field in Comeback
The Olympic swimming competition will begin Saturday, July 27, with the best swimmers in the world competing for medals in 28 individual races and seven relays over nine days of competition. Before that, Swimming World will count down the top-10 most anticipated races of the Games, where we can expect to find the best races and where the most decorated athletes will be racing for history.
Two years ago, Kristof Milak was the toast of the world in the men’s 200 butterfly after he took down his own world record in front of adoring fans at Duna Arena in Budapest. He faded slightly on the last 50 before hitting a time of 1:50.34, leaving swimming fans wondering when the Hungarian star would achieve history’s first sub-1:50 performance.
But it would not happen in 2023 as Milak pulled out of the World Championships, citing physical and mental health concerns. He then stayed away from competition during the latter half of the year and into early 2024, calling into question whether Milak would be able to mount a serious defense of his Olympic gold medal when the Paris Games came around this summer. And in Milak’s absence, one of the toughest competitors in the aquatic world took over the mantle as world’s best in the event.
Leon Marchand — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
When Leon Marchand won world titles in both individual medley events in 2022, he also took Worlds silver in the 200 fly behind Milak. And one year later in the global 200 fly final, Marchand pulled away on the last length to secure gold, his time of 1:52.43 moving him up to No. 3 all-time behind Milak and Michael Phelps. Thus, Marchand would head into the Olympic year with significant momentum and an expected boost of a supportive home crowd when the competitors arrived in Paris.
Milak, however, has fired back. Competing on the Mare Nostrum tour early last month, Milak swam a time of 1:53.94 in the 200 fly, only five hundredths slower than the tour record he set in 2022 (months before his most recent world-record-setting swim). The time made him the second-fastest performer in the world behind Japan’s Tomoru Honda, and Milak actually beat Honda head-to-head in that performance. Later in the month, he added a European title in the 200 fly by taking down Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski.
Chmielewski took silver behind Marchand at last year’s Worlds while Honda won bronze in that swim before taking gold at the watered-down edition of the World Championships earlier this year. By beating them and posting a series of strong times, Milak has set himself up nicely for Paris, but will it be enough against Marchand on his home turf?
There remains the possibility that Marchand skips the 200 fly to focus on the 200 breaststroke. The events line up within the Olympic program, but there is enough time in between the rounds in each session that it seems likely Marchand will attempt to swim both. The 200 fly final comes before the 200 breast, so he would be fresh as he tries to take down Milak.
As for other contenders, Japan’s Genki Terakado and Italy’s Giacomo Carini have both clocked 1:54-lows this year while Switzerland’s Noe Ponti, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 fly in Tokyo, has improved significantly in the 200 fly in recent years. But the presence of Canada’s Ilya Kharun and the United States’ Thomas Heilman is the most scary for the favorites: these two teenagers both ran down the field and nearly claimed medals at last year’s World Championships before tying for fourth. They have both recorded 1:53s in the past, and high-pressure situations have not intimidated them early on in their respective careers.
But if Milak and Marchand are on their games, the battle will be between all these men for bronze. The showdown between these two accomplished swimmers could be a highlight of the swimming competition in Paris.
Although it would be amazing for Marchand to take a slew of Golds, I’d like to see Milak win this one,also ZSC defend his 200m Breastroke!
Aussie commenters are amazing in their own bubble.
They are represented well in events throughout the program, but instead of just commenting positively about those athletes in the events in which they contend, some (see Kanga 1) take an article clearly focused on just the 200 Butterfly — an event in which the Aussies have no one who has met the Australian Olympic Qualifying time of 1:54.97– where Australia added an entry to bolster the program of sprint flyer Matt Temple who hasn’t met their own Q time and swam the prelims of the event at their Trials and then dropped out of the final — and somehow twisted it into an homage to the the Aussie defending 200 breast champion, ZSC. It has been three years since ZSC won in Tokyo and he lost his world record last year to Qin. I suspect there is a substantial set of newish non-Aussie swim fans who are not even aware of who/what ZSC stands for.
American ‘Ra Ra Ra with bells on(cow bells) is accepted,but a bit of Australian spruiking isnt? Typically myopic US view!
For I’m also wanting to see GB’ s Peaty win and basically any systemic drug cheaters lose to Any other nation. As to the the Marvellous Marchand, ofcourse it would be delightful to see him win 4 Golds on home turf. But I’d prefer he won 2 and the Hungarian and Aussie their respective events.
As to the USA in Swimming generally,obviously I want the ‘Tall Poppies’ to be cut down!