200 Fly WR Holder Kristof Milak: “I Think I Can Go Under 1:50”

FINA WORLD CUP SERIES – BERLIN

  • Friday, October 11th – Sunday, October 13th
  • Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark (SSE), Berlin
  • LCM
  • Results

Cluster #2 of the 2019 FINA World Cup Series wrapped up tonight in Berlin, Germany, but not before Cate Campbell of Australia and Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands were named King and Queen. They each earned a $50,000 cluster bonus for their efforts.

Look for a post detailing out the money winners and FINA point rankings heading into the final cluster, which begins on November 1st in Kazan, Russia. In the meantime, catch up on our recaps from the 3-day meet below, as well as hear from some of the top performers from Berlin, with quotes courtesy of FINA.

Day 1 Recap

Day 2 Recap

Day 3 Recap

Michelle Coleman (SWE)

25-year-old Michele Coleman of Sweden pulled out a mild upset in the women’s 50m freestyle, beating out World Championships medalists Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Cate CampbellColeman entered this meet with a lifetime best 50m free time of 24.56 from just last week in Budapest but found another gear to hack that mark down to 24.26 for the win.

For Coleman, she now checks-in among the world’s top 20 all-time performers, tying Canada’s Taylor Ruck in the 20th slot.

As for her performance, Coleman stated, “I did not expect that time at all. Last season I was at 25.0 so coming here and doing that 24.2, that’s unreal. I was really nervous so maybe the extra adrenaline got me going. I also noticed that I had a good swim because I had Cate on one side and Ranomi on the other.”

Kristof Milak (HUN)

Newly-minted 200m fly World Record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary dominated the men’s 100m fly field night 1, establishing himself as the gold medalist in a time of 51.78. His other gold came in the 2fly on the final night where he touched in a time of 1:55.47.

After his 200m fly event, Milak stated, “I swam cleverly, they pushed the first 100m too much. On the last 50 my experience helped, I knew I could win it. These competitions are practice for me with very highly skilled competitors, but my main goal is the times.”

As for his future plans for the 200m fly, Milak stated regarding new boundaries, “I already did it. I think have 10 years [left in my career]. I think I could go under 1 minute 50.”

Vlad Morozov (RUS)

27-year-old Vlad Morozov of Russia racked up wins across the 50m back, 100m free and 50m free events.

Morozov said of his performances in Berlin, “It feels good, not just the freestyle race but the whole tournament, so I hope to keep it going and win every race of the World Cup, I’m not sure if anyone has done that before. The 50 back was really close; I think this one [100m freestyle] hurt the most but wasn’t as close.”

Katinka Hosszu (HUN)

The Iron Lady ended Berlin with the 299th World Cup gold medal of her career, leaving the goal all but attained with 2 more World Cup stops to go. Hosszu had pulled out of the women’s 100m fly on the final day, with the event possibly representing her 300th win. Instead, she took gold in the 200m IM.

Hosszu’s 2IM time on the final night of 2:10.38 was off the 2:09.56 from last week but was enough to stay ahead of Japan’s rising star Rika Omoto and her silver medal-garnering swim of 2:10.61.

With a 300th World Cup gold on the horizon, Hosszu says, “I don’t want to think about it [my legacy] now but if I have hard moments it’s nice to think about it. I’ve done so many things in swimming already and it definitely gives me that kind of confidence having all these years of experience.”

Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED)

Veteran sprinter Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands got her hand on the wall first in the women’s 50m fly in Berlin on day 2.

“Today I was really focusing on my own race and technique and that was a lot better than yesterday. I use these competitions for race strategy and training for the Olympics. There was strong competition with Cate and there were three bronze girls, so I think it’s really funny to medal with four other girls instead of two. It was a close field.”

Cate Campbell (AUS)

C1 ended her 2nd World Cup cluster with a win in the 100m free, topping the field in a 52.51 scorcher. That was after her aforementioned 50m free bronze in a time of 24.87 from night 1.

“It’s been a bit of a rough cluster for me, the 50 [freestyle event] was nowhere near the time I wanted so it was great to come out and put in a really strong performance. I think all the German pastries are keeping my carbs up. That was really solid swimming, I’m really pleased with that 100 freestyle. My speed hasn’t been very good but to be able to put together such a solid 100 after it’s been a bit of a disappointing meet for me is really encouraging.”

Ryosuke Irie (JPN)

Ever-consistent Japanese Olympian Ryosuke Irie closed his cluster out with a 100m backstroke victory to pair with his 200m gold earlier in the meet.

Already looking ahead to a home Olympic Games in Japan, Irie says, “My main focus now is Tokyo 2020, I want to get some medals: 100, 200 and also the 4×100 medley relay so my goal is to get three medals.”

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swimfast
4 years ago

And umm Hosszu will have won THREE HUNDRED World Cup golds??!?!!?!?!

swimfast
4 years ago

I think so too

Swammer
4 years ago

Loretta we lost the first half of your name in the title (unless you have a twin we haven’t heard about?)

Admin
Reply to  Swammer
4 years ago

She *does* have a twin, and she generally goes by Retta, though her full name is Loretta. I assume that’s because of the alliteration 🙂

Old School
4 years ago

Schooling already went that in practice…

PsychoDad
Reply to  Old School
4 years ago

Maybe he did maybe he did not, but I know what Milak did not – become an Olympic Champion (yet). He still needs to do some catching up. Schooling is an Olympic champion and Milak is not, notwithstanding your bad joke.

Kevin
Reply to  PsychoDad
4 years ago

Milak is a world record holder

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Kevin
4 years ago

But Schooling is a Singaporean record holder, so there’s that.

swimfast
Reply to  PsychoDad
4 years ago

I don’t mean to jynx nor do I underestimate the craziness of ‘anything can happen in an Olympic year’ but Milak winning the 200 fly is just about as much of a lock as it can get

Dee
4 years ago

Without a shadow of doubt. He missed two walls at Worlds when he broke the WR, hit them and find the natural improvement you’d expect and there is your 1.49!

Meeeeee
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

He didn’t miss a thing.

Kevin
4 years ago

Normally I would laugh at a prediction like this… but after worlds I’m not sure what Milak can’t do. Definitely can get under 1:50 with cleaner walls.

The Unoriginal Tim
Reply to  Kevin
4 years ago

Yes I think he could get under 1:50 as well. A lot can happen though and presumably the main objective right now is gold in Tokyo – he may go 1:49 then but perhaps more likely in 2021? Depends how training is going and how long it takes to improve his turns and breakouts. I thought Ian Thorpe would easily get under 3:40 but in the end he didn’t (I still think he could have).

Samesame
Reply to  The Unoriginal Tim
4 years ago

He definitely could have . As others have said , wish he had the world record still.

hzmusicstand
4 years ago

Irie seems like the type of person who is probably wonderful to swim with. He always seems so calm and collected and he just gets the job done. Almost comparable in consistency to Nathan Adrian’s 100 freestyle.
Irie 100 Back Times
2009 worlds final: 52.73
2010 pan pacs final: 53.71
2011 World Final: 52.98
2012 Olympics final: 52.97
2013 worlds final: 53.29
2014 pan pacs: 53.02
2015 worlds final: 53.10
2016 olympic final:53.42 (a bit of a drop off)
2017 worlds final: 53.03
2018 pan pacs: 52.78
2019 worlds final: 53.22

(Yes i did the research to find this I am a nerd this is established lol)
… Read more »

hzmusicstand
Reply to  hzmusicstand
4 years ago

After taking a look at his 200 Back record of swimming it at meets, He seems to have made basically every international final in that too. Remarkable

RenéDescartes
4 years ago

How’s he going to do that when he’s training for the 100?

Brownish
Reply to  RenéDescartes
4 years ago

I think he is training for both. He needs a faster 1st 100 to do that.

Togger
Reply to  RenéDescartes
4 years ago

He’s not saying he’ll do it next year. Suspect he’s got another year in mind to focus on 200 again and take a run at the record.

Yabo
Reply to  Togger
4 years ago

Dressel is far ahead of everyone in the 100, if I were him I’d focus on the 200 and maybe some other longer events like the 200 free and 400 free (pretty sure he said he wanted to work on those anyways), but then again he’s a genuine talent who’s also young so who knows! Maybe he could give dressel a run for his money

Coach John
Reply to  RenéDescartes
4 years ago

care to share his training plan coach? I think everyone was under the impression you can train for the 1 and 2 fly.

RenéDescartes
Reply to  Coach John
4 years ago

It’s USRPT, except all fly.

Yabo
Reply to  Coach John
4 years ago

Look at the last half of my comment lmao

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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