Kristof Milak Returns To Training And Commits To Paris Olympics And Beyond
Olympian 200 fly champion Kristof Milak returned to training on Monday after time away to focus on his physical and mental wellbeing and committed himself to Paris 2024 and beyond.
The three-time world champion was making his way back to the water 11 weeks after withdrawing from the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka with physical and mental exhaustion.
In his absence, Maxime Grousset and Leon Marchand won the 100 and 200 fly respectively, the former matching Milak’s winning time of 50.14 from Budapest 2022 where the Hungarian set a WR of 1:50.34 in the longer race, more than two seconds quicker than the 2023 gold-medal time (1:52.43).
Milak made his first foray back at the Duna Arena in Budapest where he spoke to members of the Hungarian press where he revealed his desire to keep pushing the sport into new realms.
He said:
“I’m back. I needed this break as now I feel that I’m ready to continue with the same or even bigger determination than ever before.
“I’m feeling the hunger once again to show a dimension in swimming one has never seen before.
“I’ve restarted the practices with double determination, I’ve programmed myself for the pain as I know that the first weeks if not months will be gruelling but this is the path I chose and I shall go all the way up until Paris – and beyond.
“I thank everyone for all the support and understanding and I’ll be there to make up everything missed this summer.”
Milak is slated to appear at the 2023 World Cup which starts in Berlin next month before moving on to Athens and Budapest.
Contracts signed before Milak’s circumstances changed, the eight-time European champion’s schedule is unclear although doing the 50s is one option while no doubt there’s the allure of competing in front of a home crowd in Budapest.
Milak will speak to his coach Balázs Virth and a decision will be made at some point on his involvement.