Kristof Milak posted the second-fastest 200 fly in history with a time of 1:51.40 in morning finals at the Hungarian Nationals in Budapest.
The 21-year-old had thundered to the fifth-fastest 200 fly all-time of 1:52.50 in Tuesday evening’s heats and returned to the Duna Arena the following morning with the schedule mirroring that of the Olympics which are scheduled to start in Tokyo in four months.
First up was the 50 free which he won in 22.19 before his jaw-dropping effort in the fly where he was under his own world-record pace until the final 50.
Splits:
Hungarian Nationals: 24.37/52.73/1:21.49/1:51.40
World record 2019: 24.66/52.88/1:21.57/1:50.73
Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
It was a time that only he has bettered when he went 1:50.73 en-route to gold at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju and in the process obliterated Michael Phelps‘ world record of 1:51.51 which had stood since 2009.
Wednesday’s performance was 0.11 inside Phelps’ best as the Hungarian produced a performance that will reverberate across pool decks around the world.
Milak, who had covid-19 in the latter part of 2020, emerged from the pool with a grin to say “the last fifty I did pretty badly,” pointing to being unrested and not yet at his training best.
Neither was he particularly satisfied with the touch but said:
“We call this relative untraining – but it is gratifying that this time confirms everything we have done so far.
“I think it could only be better than that at the Olympics, because really serious preparation will follow.”
Milak – who won gold and silver at the 2019 worlds – endured a miserable conclusion to 2020 after contracting covid and struggling in the aftermath.
He said:
“In fact, looking back, I can say that 2020 is a one-in-one trash, with illness, lack of motivation.
“I have been training fully again since January 2021. I managed to cure everything, I completely rested myself, I finally see the goal, I feel the motivation.”
Second – more than 4.5secs adrift – was Tamas Kenderesi (1:56.02) with David Verraszto rounding out the top three in 1:57.22 with Laszlo Cseh, the Hungarian great, in sixth in 1:58.72.
Kapas Returns For Fly Mission
Boglarka Kapas: Photo Courtesy: LEN
Boglarka Kapas had similarly produced a shuddering 200 fly in Tuesday evening’s heats, posting 2:06.85, just 0.07 outside the time that secured her the gold medal at the 2019 worlds.
She came back to the Duna Arena to post 2:07.24, splitting 29.30/1:02.14/1:34.49 ahead of Katinka Hosszu (2:08.45) and Reka Nyriadi (2:10.84).
She said:
“Based on these two swims, I can say we have usefully spent the extra year that was given – even if no-one asked for that year.
“The goal was for the first hundred to be faster.
“I managed to turn 1:01.2 yesterday, which is why I’m incredibly happy because I’ve never managed to get better than 1:02 in the first hundred before.
“Actually, that was the most important thing, today I wasn’t so excited anymore, although of course I’m very happy to have managed to win.”
Fanni Gyurinovics won the women’s 50 free in 25.76 and Katalin Burian took the 100 back in 1:00.35 the morning after hitting the Tokyo consideration time.
Dalma Sebestyén won the women’s 100br in 1:08.79 and Ajna Kesely won the 800fr in 8:37.14.
Csaba Szilágyi stopped the clock at 1:00.26 in the men’s 100br, Richard Bohus won the 100 back in 54.11 and Gergely Gyurta took the 1500fr in 15:09.56.
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Just for the record, Milak is born on 20th of February in 2000, so he has just turned 21 🙂