Kristof Milak Pops 51.03 to Claim Gold in 100 Butterfly at Hungarian Nationals
A few days after turning in a sub-1:54 performance in the 200-meter butterfly, Olympic medalist Kristof Milak produced a strong showing at half the distance at the Hungarian Nationals. The 22-year-old comfortably topped the field, as he stopped the clock in 51.03 for a .85 margin over runnerup Hubert Kos.
Milak went out in 23.68, a half-second quicker than the 24.23 of Kos, and came home in 27.35 to gather momentum for the upcoming championship season. Kos grabbed second place in 51.88 and was followed in third by sprint specialist Szebasztian Szabo, who was timed in 52.06. Not surprising, Szabo was with Milak at the turn, going 23.71, but fell off the pace down the second lap.
Milak is one of only four men in history to crack the 50-second barrier in the 100 fly and sits as the No. 2 performer of all-time, thanks to his European record of 49.68. That time was produced at last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, where Milak was the runnerup to American Caeleb Dressel. Prior to winning silver in the 100 fly, Milak stormed to the Olympic title in the 200 fly.
Kristof Rasovszky put together an impressive showing in the men’s 800 freestyle, his mark of 7:52.77 handing him an eight-plus second victory over David Betlehem (8:01.10). Rasovszky went through the midway point of the race in 3:55.06, which had him nearly two seconds ahead of Betlehem. Over the back half, Rasovszky continually expanded his advantage, splitting 3:57.71.
A tight battle emerged in the women’s 100 butterfly, with Panna Ugrai clipping Katinka Hosszu, 59.55 to 59.63. Zsuzsanna Jakobos (59.68) and Dalma Sebestyen (59.73) were also in the mix. Sebestyen earlier won the 50 breaststroke in 31.51.
Before his second-place effort in the 100 fly, Kos finished first in the men’s 200 backstroke, touching in 1:57.64, just .06 ahead of runnerup Benedek Kovacs. The women’s version of the event went to Katalin Burian, who tracked down Dora Molnar to prevail by the slimmest of margins, 2:09.33 to 2:09.34. Katalin split 32.22 over the last lap to reel in Molnar, who closed in 32.56.
Oliver Gal (28.17) picked up the win in the men’s 50 breaststroke.