Kesely Wins Round 2 Against Kapas At Hungarian Nationals

2018 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • Wednesday, March 28th – Saturday, March 31st
  • Debrecen Swimming Pool Complex, Debrecen, Hungary
  • LCM
  • Start Lists
  • Results (look for link)
  • Day 1 Recap

18-year-old Kristof Milak set off fireworks last night with his 1:52.71 200m fly stunner and, although the teen was back at it today at the Hungarian National Championships, he didn’t make quite as much noise.

He was first up in the men’s 50m butterfly sprint, where he wound up 3rd (24.04) behind a pair of winners in Dominik Kozma and Laszlo Cseh. The pair matched winning times of 23.84, with Krisztian Takacs taking silver in 23.91.

Milak then took on yesterday’s 100m backstroke gold medalist, Peter Bernek, in the men’s 400m freestyle race. Bernek pulled a double on the night, already winning the men’s 200m IM in 1:59.67 to represent the only swimmer to delve under the 2:00 barrier in that race. In the 400m, however, he fought off Milak the entire time, with the teen coming within just .02 of the national record holder. Final times were pronounced as 3:48.69 for Bernek and 3:48.71 for Milak, with both men coming just shy of the top 10 outings in the world so far this season.

For the women, the stage was stolen in their edition of the 400m free, with 16-year-old Ajna Kesely going head-to-head once again with national record holder and Olympic bronze medalist Boglarka Kapas. Yesterday, Kapas completed a successful golden double, beating Kesely in the 800m free while also taking the 200m fly top prize.

Tonight, Kapas fell just short of the charging teen, with Kesely winning the 400m in 4:05.61 to Kapas’ 4:05.92. Kapas’ time was solid for this point in the season, while Kesely’s proved to be even faster than what she produced in Budapest at last year’s World Championships. She clocked 4:05.75 for 6th in that final, so she managed to shave another .14 off of that mark here tonight.

The pair now check-in as the 6th and 7th fastest swimmers in the event this season.

2017-2018 LCM WOMEN 400 FREE

KatieUSA
LEDECKY
05/17
3.57.94
2Ariarne
TITMUS
AUS3.59.6608/11
3Bingjie
LI
CHN4.01.7509/01
4Leah
SMITH
USA4.02.2107/28
5Jianjiahe
WANG
CHN4.03.1403/03
6Simona
QUADARELLA
ITA4.03.3508/09
7Ajna
KESELY
HUN4.03.5708/09
8Yuhan
ZHANG
CHN4.04.6609/01
9Holly
HIBBOTT
GBR4.05.0108/09
10Wenxin
BI
CHN4.05.5709/01
View Top 26»

Of note, Cseh also contested the 200m IM this morning, but produced a sluggish (by his standards) 2:06.98 time for 14th.

Additional Winners on the Day:

  • National record holder Flora Molnar took the women’s 50m fly in 26.82.
  • The women’s 200m IM saw Dalma Sebestyen win in 2:12.84.

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Goag
5 years ago

Abruzzo won the 400m free at the world juniors last year with a 3:49.19. Milak was half a second under that.

tammy touchpad error
5 years ago

I think we knew Milak wasn’t amazing at the 50 (even though he’s out quick in a 200). 3:48 is quite surprising for me. I have to assume there is more to drop there than in the flies, maybe he can become a finalist or medalist (the event is still weak) or at least a huge part of a potentially medal winning 4×200 FR.

Rafael
Reply to  tammy touchpad error
5 years ago

Tammy Personally I think he has better 50 than he did, but going a 50 fly less than 10 minutes of a 3:48 400 free certainly cost him something

Brownish
Reply to  Rafael
5 years ago

PB 23.72 from last year, this year the best was 24.64.

Tammy Touchpad Error
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

Of course he’s better than 24.0, but when 22.8 is getting 4th or 5th at worlds, 3;48 coming from a 3:53 looks more promising to me. Might be a while till he’s under 23. It took more than 12 years of international relevance for another 2 fly guy (Cseh) to figure out how to sprint. Milak has a better 100 than Cseh ever did, but some guys just can’t move that quickly.

Brownish
Reply to  Tammy Touchpad Error
5 years ago

Kristof and his coach, Attila Selmeczi have changed their approach for this year. They’re swimming more free, back or perhaps IM. So not “only” fly. Yesterday he swam 55.85 (PB) in 100 back heat and didn’t swim the final because of the 200 fly. Today 400 free was much more important than 50 fly. They will have 3 important international races this year, we will see what they’ll do.

Brownish
Reply to  tammy touchpad error
5 years ago

.01 and .03 after Romanchuk this year in Europe. You can read the cause of the 50fly in the other comments.

Brownish
5 years ago

Laci won his 150th medal and 105th gold today in Hungarian Nationals!
He took part and won also in the 4×200 relay of Eger.

Brownish
5 years ago

Loretta, the program started with the two 400 free, Kristóf had less than 10 minutes before the 50 fly. His PB from last year was 4:53.85, so another huge improvement.

carlo
Reply to  Brownish
5 years ago

4:53:85 ?.
I think you mean 3:53:85
If his pb was 4:53 in the 400 free last year. That means all the top females and ledecky were smoking him in the water. Just saying.

Brownish
Reply to  carlo
5 years ago

Sorry, I missed it. 3.53….

Rafael
5 years ago

Based on the live updates seems like the 50 fly was just after the 400m free.. So too bad that can´t use this to try to guess his 100 fly on Saturday… maybe tomorrow 100 free might be a better indicator

Brownish
Reply to  Rafael
5 years ago

You’re right.

tkrisz
Reply to  Rafael
5 years ago

Maybe the author is a fan of Back to the Future soundtrack ‘Back in Time’. The first event was 400FR, then 50BU, then 200IM. Same order for the girls. Milák was tired as hell after his big PB and Hungarian age group record in the 400FR.

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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