Kristof Milak Scorches To 50.47 In 100 Fly And Adds 200 Free To End Meet With Six Titles
Kristof Milak thundered to a national record of 50.47 in the 100 fly after taking the 200 free to bring to six the number of titles he won in a shuddering five days at the Hungarian Nationals in Budapest.
It has been an astonishing campaign for the 21-year-old who won all the freestyle titles from 50 to 400m plus the 100 and 200 fly, in which he produced the second-fastest swim of all time in 1:51.40.
The 100 free title was secured in a Hungarian record of 48.00secs and there was also a silver medal in the 50 fly and a 1:44.86 split anchoring a Hungarian 4×200 relay quartet to a national record of 1:44.86.
Photo Courtesy: Hungarian Swimming Federation
On Saturday morning, he won the 200 free in 1:46.15 before returning for the two-length fly.
Out in 23.84 – second behind Szebasztián Szabó and his 23.59 – Milak came back in 26.63 to touch in 50.47, slicing 0.15secs from the previous record of 50.62 he set en-route to the silver medal at the 2017 World Championships in the very same pool.
That was just 0.08 off Joseph Schooling’s winning time at Rio 2016 and 0.67 faster than the silver medal won in an historic three-way tie between Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh.
It also would have secured him the silver medal behind Caeleb Dressel at the 2019 worlds in Gwangju in which he was fourth.
Hubert Kos – who turns 18 on Sunday – was second in 51.61 with Szabo third (51.71) and Cseh next home in 53.03.
Milak expressed his satisfaction and some relief at having moved on his PB which had stood since 2017, saying:
“Such 50.8, 50.9 came at the World Cup and the European Championships, they were all embarrassingly poor, so I was really looking forward to it.
“Actually, I’ve been training seriously since January, which means there’s still a lot to prepare for, it’s going to get better than that, I’m sure of that.
“I will jump into everything at the European Championships (in Budapest in May – 200 free, 400 free.”
All-time rankings all suits
- 49.50 Caeleb Dressel, 2019
- 49.82 Michael Phelps, 2009
- 49.95 Milorad Cavic, 2009
- 50.39 Joseph Schooling, 2016
- 50.40 Ian Crocker, 2005
- 50.41 Rafael Munoz Perez, 2009
- 50.47 Kristof Milak, 2021
- 50.56 Chad Le Clos, 2015
All-time rankings textile
- 49.50 Caeleb Dressel, 2019
- 50.39 Joseph Schooling, 2016
- 50.40 Ian Crocker, 2005
- 50.45 Michael Phelps, 2015
- 50.47 Kristof Milak, 2021
- 50.56 Chad Le Clos, 2015
- 50.64 Piero Codia, 2018
- 50.67 James Guy, 2017
The session started with Milak renewing acquaintance with Nandor Nemeth, the relay teammate whose national 100fr record he had eclipsed on Friday morning.
The pair locked horns once more and it was Milak who again came out on top, leading from start to finish.
Nemeth was some way distant in 1:47.52 with Balazs Hollo third in 1:47.67 – the trio all members of the 4×200 squad – along with fifth-placed Gabor Zombori – that set a Hungarian record of 7:07.67 earlier this week.
Milak split 1:44.86 that day as he anchored the quartet home and although he couldn’t replicate such a swim, his final 50 of 27.97 extended his lead and propelled him further away from the field.
Splits:
Milak: 23.54/50.31/1:18.18/1:46.15
Nemeth: 23.97/50.50/1:18.91/1:47.52
Milak said:
“This morning the 200 free was like in Kaposvár, I woke up in the morning and I felt bad, tired, like the one who was beaten against the wall, I couldn’t do a strong pace during the warm-up.
“Then everything returned for the 100.”
Looking To Tokyo
Kristof Milak – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer
It has been an astonishing week for Milak and quite what programme he will select to do in Tokyo is something only he and his coach will know but his efforts have thrown up some intriguing questions.
He’d be expected to do 100 and 200 fly plus the 4×100 and 4×200 free, 4×100 medley relay and possibly the mixed version which is making its Olympic debut – although it’s doubtful he would do the 4×1 heats of any relay.
Despite that, it’s already a heavy schedule and one more event would of course add another layer of demands given the need for rest.
Milak though appears to have Phelps-like powers of recovery.
For example, adding the 100fr will present difficulties given the semi is the first event on the morning of 28 July, swiftly followed by the 200 fly final with the session rounded out by the 4x200fr final.
Were he to add the 200 free to his schedule then the heats are on the evening of the 25th with the semi the following morning along with the men’s 4×100 free final with the 200 fly heats that evening.
The 200fr final is on the morning of 27 July followed by the 200 fly semis.
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