2024 MARE NOSTRUM TOUR – MONACO
- June 1-2, 2024
- Prince Albert II Pool at the Stadium Louis II
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet central
- Results
- Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap
- Live stream ($)
MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY FINAL
Mare Nostrum Record: 50.95, Kristof Milak (HUN)
Top 3:
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 50.75
- Noe Ponti (SUI) – 51.25
- Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN) – 51.70
Hungary’s Kristof Milak broke his own Mare Nostrum series record swimming to a 50.75 in the 100 butterfly, the #4 time in the World this season. His previous record stood at a 50.95 that he first swam in 2021 and then tied earlier this week at the Barcelona stop.
Split Comparison:
| Monaco | Barcelona |
Hungarian Nationals (April)
|
|
| 50 | 23.76 | 24.1 | 23.72 |
| 100 | 50.75 (26.99) | 50.95 (26.85) | 50.99 (27.27) |
Milak was out fast here and was able to hold on to his speed well enough coming home to set a new season best.
This was Milak’s second season best of the meet after he swam a 1:53.94 in the 200 butterfly yesterday, rebounding from his first loss in the event since 2020 that he swam just days ago in Barcelona. Milak holds the World Record in the 200 butterfly and won silver in the 100 butterfly at the 2020(1) Tokyo Olympics.
His swims in Monaco are good signs for what is ahead after reports in Hungarian media have said he has missed numerous training sessions. In addition, his coach Balazs Virth gave an update on Milak’s status while in Barcelona saying, “Maybe outsiders think he is capable of a miracle, but today’s swimming has shown that there are laws in this sport that are difficult to override,” Virth continued. “Although Paris is the goal, it has to be said that what has happened so far contains traces of Olympic preparation. Read Virth’s full comments here.
In addition to breaking his record, Milak moves up in the world rankings so far this season. He previously sat at #7 in the event and now moves up to #4.
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Fly
MILAK
49.90
| 2 | Josh Liendo | CAN | 49.99 | 08/03 |
| 3 | Noe PONTI | SUI | 50.16 | 04/06 |
| 4 | Caeleb DRESSEL | USA | 50.19 | 06/22 |
| 5 | Matthew William Temple | AUS | 50.25 | 12/03 |
Very impressive times! Considering he’s dropped so much time in just the past week you have to think that a little rest has contributed to that. I wouldn’t think he’s “fully tapered” but these times definitely aren’t with zero rest so we shouldn’t expect massive drops in Paris.
I have him for gold in the 200 by a hair over Marchand. The 100 is a complete crapshoot… literally like 6 legit gold contenders.
Virth’s training group flew to Barcelona straight from a two week training block in Turkey, which means Milak’s Barcelona times are basically unrested (which tracks I think). I’m assuming he wasn’t training through the last 5 days, so during competing, he got a bit of rest, which resulted in him posting faster times in Monaco.
His swimming during this year’s Mare Nostrum looked like textbook untapered swimming: slower times at the beginning of competition, then getting progressively faster because the workload is decreased during competition. It has been pointed out in this thread a few times before, but the question that remains is how big he can actually taper for Euros/Paris.
This is the 1:53.9 2 fly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9meMjGY3Vc
The time is outstanding for how strange he looks in the water at times
I’m sure Ponti was heavy from training.
You saw what he’s capable of with a semi-taper in Swiss Nationals.
Between Milak, Ponti, Liendo, Dressel and Temple, anything could happen I guess. It might come down to who slept best the night before. Still have the Trials for the latter two.
And Grousset
What is Marchand’s confirmed olympic schedule?
French trials haven’t happened yet
There isn’t one. Since no one else will get the A cuts anyway he will almost certainly enter both 200 breast/fly and then can scratch one layer if he likes
I really don’t know who’s taking the gold in Paris . Milak I’d say with a new wr but I still hopin for Dressel . I got a few other guys low 50s who are hungry as hell . It’s going to be awesome . I’ve said it before il get downvoted probably but yes the boys caught up to Dressel during his time out .
No man has ever defended the 100 fly at the Olympics, bar Michael Phelps (who won three in a row)
51.21, 50.58, nor 51.25 are making the podium these days
Those times (except 50.58) are prob not making finals these days either
I don’t even think 50.3 will bronze ii think three sub 50s will do it . 51’s not even finagling except maybe lane 8 and 1
I think the same, three sub 50s in the 100 Fly and possibly three sub 47s in the 100 Free for the medals.
Lol. Times don’t matter. Golds matter. Three in a row is crazy.
Let me know when one of those boys goes sub 50, let alone sub 49.5
I will
There’s like six swimmers gonna competing for gold but right now only three of them that have been in the sub 50 and that is Dressel,Milak and Grousset which he did 49.2 on the relay last year
It’s more an educated guess . Maybe ponti and liendo and grousset and temple all went times that they will never match again. More than likely though they all going to peak at this Olympics and make this the new race of the century . Butterfly has evolved 50.50s will be th new 51’s . Thanks to Phelps first and then dressel making 49’s casual . I doubt many mid 49’s but definitely low 50s and high 49’s from multiple men in the final. Just like ncaas 43s are normalizing from high to low to mid
Suddenly Marchand is no longer looking invincible.
Nobody in history could beat a full strength Milak in the 200 fly
His coach trying to do Jedi mind tricks on his competitors . Everyone sees through it lol
Prediction Game: What will be the next Milak news?
a) Sources say Milak skipped 29 out of 30 training sessions during June.
b) Milak is missing again: President of Hungarian Swimming Federation has no idea where he is.
c) Hungarian coach: Milak hasn’t done proper work to be able to defend his Olympic title.
d) Milak’s appearance at European Championships is in doubt.
i think there’s still slight reason for concern for Milak. Obviously, Hungarian coaches have been unprofessional and that’s putting it nicely but the truth is his endurance doesn’t seem to be there.
He’s missed a concerning amount of time in the pool far too recently to have any substantial body of work to taper from and I don’t think his olympic drops will be anything significant.
That being said he’s so dominant in the 2 fly that even Milak at 75% wipes the field and he can still throw down a 50 low off reduced training which will probably win a medal.
It really is a question of whether or not he actually missed any significant time out of the pool. That is the true mistery.
He did miss time out of the pool. I wouldn’t say “significant,” but when it comes to training for a 2 fly, any missed time is significant (even if you’re Milak).
I think it’s more concerning how recently he missed time rather than the quantity of time he’s missed. My sources say they’re worried about how much work he has to taper from.
It’s hard to see him going PBs in Paris, to put it bluntly
I meant that his coaches can only track his absence, not what he is doing during his absence. A 1:53 in the 200 fly requires serious endurance no matter how you look at it. You could very well be right, but – and I’ve said this many times before – the true test of his form is going to be Euros.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9meMjGY3Vc
Judging by the video, there’s definitely something off about his swimming
I agree. That was a janky looking 2 fly with some Trenton “Steinway” Pianos at the end. I’ve never seen Milak die that hard
Very sensible analysis, the taper question seems to be spot on. I think it’s harsh to criticize the Hungarian coach for basically saying exactly what you’ve said. Any major improvement in an endurance heavy 200 fly on the back of little work is going to require some explaining and not some fairytale.
True, but no one here has been saying he’s going to go PBs and he doesn’t need to.
Most people don’t expect Milak to go PBs anyway. He’s kind of in the same boat as Peaty. Peaty went 100 breast PB+1s at trials and is still considered a gold medal contender.
Milak going 200 fly PB+2s = gold contender
Milak going 200 fly PB+1s = almost safe for gold
He didn’t swim PB in Tokyo and won it by 2.5 seconds.
Yeah, we just don’t know. His coaches keep saying thinks that aren’t backed-up by his performances which means we don’t know anything.