Kristóf Milák the Wednesday morning program of the national swimming championship began with his favorite track, the preliminaries of the 200-meter butterfly.
After his victory in the 100 on Tuesday, everyone was wondering, after his great time (48.38), it’s fine that his supposedly long layoff didn’t leave a mark on his speed, but what about his endurance? After all, the 200 breaststroke – next to the 400 medley – is perhaps the roughest swimming number in this field.
Well, everyone can relax, Kristóf Milák kicked the door in this event as well.
Our Olympic champion, the world record holder of the track, started with a 25.06 fifty, followed by three almost perfectly even 30-second fifty meters – his 100-meter partial time was 55.11; His 150-meter partial time was 1:25.16 – swimming, he finally reached the final with a street-length lead of 1:55.43. His result is 1:01 seconds better than the result he achieved in the 2023 ob preliminaries.
In our article from December last year, we explained why it is not impossible, what’s more, it is completely feasible for a classic swimmer to get in top shape after an eight-month layoff, and then travel to the Olympics as a contender six months later.
Milák’s current time of 1:55.43 is, let’s say, far from his own world record (1:50.34), but in a morning preliminaries, especially seeing his steady pace, which does not fall apart in terms of his style, is more than encouraging for the future. Seeing his swimming already, and knowing that he still has three months of work ahead of him,
we can safely advance him a Paris medal.
He didn’t win gold only because the organizers of the Olympics varied the program in such a way that the domestic ace, the king of the 200- and 400-meter medley, Leon Marchand He can also start in the 200 butterfly, since in Milák’s absence the French star won the 2023 World Championship in this event as well.
Marchand’s time of 1:52.43 last year is currently separated by just three seconds from Milák. That’s not much. At the same time, this difference can be reduced after the 200 butterfly final of the national championship, and there is still time to further polish the technique and form until the Olympics.
An hour later, Milák was also interested in the quick heat of the 50 meters, who finished at the head of the 101-person field with a time of 22.29 seconds, so he will wait for the final from the field of four in this race as well.
The finals will be broadcast live by Duna World from 5 p.m.
