Paris Olympics, Day 4 Semifinals: Kristof Milak Tops 200 Fly In 1:52.72 As He Seeks To Defend Tokyo Crown

MILAK Kristof HUN 200m Butterfly Men Semifinal Swimming FINA 19th World Championships Budapest 2022 Budapest, Duna Arena 20/06/22 Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Kristof Milak: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Paris Olympics, Day 4 Semifinals: Kristof Milak Tops 200 Fly Semis In 1:52.72 As He Seeks To Defend Tokyo Crown

Michael Phelps is the only man to have won the Olympic 200 fly title on more than one occasion with the 23-time gold medallist visiting the top of the podium three times.

Seven countries have been represented atop the rostrum by the likes of Mark Spitz, Michael Gross and Chad Le Clos on the 17 occasions the event has been contested since its introduction to the Olympic programme at Melbourne 1956.

Phelps won at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016 and would have been a four-time champion were it not for Le Clos accelerating into the finish with a perfect touch at London 2012.

Kristof Milak, however, is one step away from becoming a two-time champion after posting 1:52.72 in the semis although he faces a challenge from Leon Marchand who went 1:53.50.

World Record: Kristof Milak, HUN – 1:50.34 (2022)
Olympic Record: Kristof Milak, HUN – 1:51.25 (2021)
Tokyo Olympic Champion Kristof Milak, HUN – 1:51.25
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It’s five years and six days since Milak first broke the 200 fly world record, crushing Phelps’ previous standard that had stood for 10 years.

Then 19, he cut 0.76 from the WR of 1:51.51 set at the 2009 worlds, a time he subsequently lowered to 1:50.34 in front of a home crowd at Budapest 2022.

Milak won 200 gold in Tokyo in 1:51.25, the fourth-fastest time of his career and one that he alone has eclipsed.

However, in 2023 he withdrew from the Fukuoka worlds to focus on his mental health with Leon Marchand winning the title in 1:52.43, a French record as he went third-fastest all-time.

Milak didn’t return to full-time training as planned and only made his competitive comeback at the Hungarian Championships in April this year.

The 24-year-old returned to Olympic waters on Tuesday morning and was the only man inside 1:54 in prelims as he posted a season’s best of 1:53.92, the second-fastest time in the world this year behind only Tomoru Honda who shockingly finished 22nd in 1:57.12.

Come the semis and Marchand – willed on by an exuberant crowd at La Defense Arena – posted the third-swiftest time of his career before heading off to warm down and prepare for the 200m breaststroke.

Milak then came to the blocks: out in 24.50, he split 28.84/29.29 before coming home in 30.09 for the 13th-fastest time of his career, underlining the quality of the Hungarian who holds the five fastest times in history.

Ilya Kharun of Canada was third in 1:54.01 followed by Noe Ponti in a Swiss record of 1:54.14, Kregor Zirk of Estonia (1:54.22), Krzysztof Chmielewski (1:54.28), Italian Alberto Razzetti (1:54.51) with Martin Espernberger of Austria claiming the eighth and final spot in 1:54.62.

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