2024 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, April 9th – Friday, April 12th
- Duna Arena, Budapest, Hungary
- Prelims at 9am local (3am ET), Finals at 5pm local (11am ET)
- SwimSwam Preview #1/Preview #2
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Start Lists/Results
- Livestream (Prelims)
The 2024 Hungarian National Championships wrapped up tonight from Duna Arena but not before 24-year-old world record holder Kristof Milak topped the podium once more.
Milak grabbed the gold in the men’s 100m fly, posting a head-turning time of 50.99.
Milak opened in 23.72 and closed in 27.27 to handily defeat the field, with the next-closest competitor represented by Austrian Simon Bucher. Bucher touched in 52.53 while Richard Marton rounded out the top 3 in 52.66.
As for Milak, his time checks in as his 18th performance under the 51-second threshold and sits just off the 50.80 put up at last year’s edition of this competition.
He ranks 4th in the world with tonight’s performance.
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 |
All told, Milak showed he is back to form after having refrained from racing most of 2023. A recap of his performances here includes:
- 50m free – 21.89 Olympic Qualification
- 100m free – 48.38
- 200m free – 1:48.15
- 50m fly – 23.44
- 100m fly – 50.99 Olympic Qualification
- 200m fly – 1:54.90 Olympic Qualification
Adam Teledgy topped the men’s 200m back field this evening getting to the wall over 3 seconds ahead of his competitors.
The 28-year-old notched a result of 1:55.57 (26.92/29.06/29.52/30.07) to establish the best time of his career.
Entering these championships, Telegdy’s lifetime best rested at the 1:56.15 put up at the 2020 Olympic Games. That garnered him 5th place in Tokyo.
He now moves up the all-time Hungarian 200m back performers list to rank only behind national record holder Hubert Kos.
All-Time Hungarian Men’s LCM 200 Back Performers
- Hubert Kos – 1:54.14, 2023
- Adam Telegdy – 1:55.57, 2024
- Peter Bernek – 1:55.58, 2017
- Benedek Kovacs – 1:55.85, 2023
- Laszlo Cesh – 1:56.16, 2006
Teledgy already qualified for the Olympic Games in this event but he moves up the season’s world rankings to take over slot #5.
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Back
KOS
1:54.26
| 2 | Ryan MURPHY | USA | 1:54.33 | 06/20 |
| 3 | Hugo GONZALEZ | ESP | 1:54.51 | 06/20 |
| 4 | Keaton JONES | USA | 1:54.61 | 06/20 |
| 5 | Jack AIKINS | USA | 1:54.78 | 06/20 |
The women’s 200m back saw Eszter Szabo-Feltothy knock down a season-best and near-lifetime best en route to the top prize.
Szabo-Feltothy stopped the clock in 2:08.95 to score one of two sub-2:10 outings of the field this evening.
2022 World Junior champion Dora Molnar was next to the wall in 2:09.82 while veteran Katalin Burian also nabbed a medal in 2:10.19 for bronze.
Szabo-Feltothy’s personal best remains at the 2:08.85 posted at this same competition last year with both performances easily clearing the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time of 2:10.39 needed for Paris.
Molnar’s time this evening overtakes her previous season-best, a time of 2:10.18 from December’s Gyor Open,
Additional Notes
- ASU NCAA champion in the men’s 1500m free Zalan Sarkany raced his way to 800m free gold here. He touched in 7:57.41 to register just the 3rd sub-8:00 result of his young career. Unfortunately, he needed a minimum of 7:51.65 to qualify for Paris in this event, although he’s also sitting behind two other Hungarians who have already made the grade: Kristof Rasovszky, 7;44.42 and David Betlehem, 7:48.06.
- Racing mainstay Boglarka Kapas already qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in the 200m fly but she tried for the 800m free tonight. She fell short of the 8:26.71 QT, hitting 8:29.57 for the gold. Behind her was Ajna Kesely in 8:30.49 while newly-minted 400m IM European Junior Record holder, 15-year-old Vivien Jackl captured bronze in 8:30.74.
- Austria’s Bernhard Reitshammer nabbed gold in the men’s 50m breast while Henrietta Fangli got it done in the women’s race in 31.31. We reported how Fangli recently changed sporting citizenship from Romania to Hungary and already established a new 100m breast record for her new nation.
- Panna Ugrai was the speediest competitor in the women’s 100m fly, putting up a time of 58.83. That got the edge over Lora Fanni Komoroczy who logged 58.93 while Amina Kajtaz also landed on the podium in 59.21 for bronze. 34-year-old new mom Katinka Hosszu placed 8th in 1:02.68.
Qualification Information
It’s important to note that these Hungarian National Championships are not the sole qualifying opportunity for the country’s athletes. Swimmers can nab qualifying times at approved competitions through the March 1, 2023 – June 23, 2024 window with the top 2 qualifying times in each event earning a spot on the roster.
Hungarian Olympic Qualifiers
Men
- 50m free – Szebasztian Szabo (21.89, 2023 Helsinki Swim Meet), Kristof Milak (21.89, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
- 100m free – Nandor Nemeth (47.78, 2024 World Championships)
- 400m free – Kristof Rasovszky (3:46.77, 2024 World Championships)
- 800m free – Kristof Rasovszky (7:44.42, 2024 World Championships), David Betlehem (7:48.06, 2024 World Championships)
- 1500m free – David Betlehem (14:46.44, 2024 World Championships), Zalan Sarkany (14:53.19, 2023 Gyor Open)
- 100m back – Hubert Kos (53.19, 2023 U.S. Open), Adam Jaszo (53.35, Gyor Open)
- 200m back – Hubert Kos (1:55.95, 2024 World Championships), Adam Telegdy (1:55.57, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
- 100m fly – Kristof Milak (50.80, 2023 Hungarian Nationals), Hubert Kos (51.59, 2023 U.S. Open)
- 200m fly – Kristof Milak (1:52.58, 2023 Hungarian Nationals), Richard Marton (1:55.76, 2024 World Championships)
- 200m IM – Hubert Kos (1:57.88, 2023 U.S. Open), Gabor Zombori (1:57.88, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
Women
- 200m free – Nikolett Padar (1:56.17, 2023 World Cup Budapest)
- 400m free – Ajna Kesely (4:06.35, 2023 Hungarian Nationals)
- 800m free – Ajna Kesely (8:26.04, 2023 Sette Colli Trophy)
- 200m back – Eszter Szabo-Feltothy (2:08.95, 2024 Hungarian Nationals), Dora Molnar (2:09.82, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
- 200m fly – Boglarka Kapas (2:08.15, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
- 200m IM – Dalma Sebestyen (2:10.87, 2023 Gyor Open)
- 400m IM – Viven Jackl (4:34.96, 2024 Hungarian Nationals)
Ok so I can’t really make sense of his performance yet. But I highly doubt he missed training for 8 months, because these are all competitive times.
He didn’t miss 8 months, he took 2 and a half months off in the summer, and trained from like September to October before taking a break again until January. So more like 5 months total, with training in between.
I love how he got through the whole tournament with a straight face. He sent a message to the doubters and critics who said he had misbehaved. His techniqe is still amazing, he’s getting back to the perfect butterfly, but he’s also made his mark in free. He showed what to expect in the coming months and in Paris. Milak is on another level, a true genius.
Fangli doesn’t have the 100 br OQT, or the OCT for that matter, so she’ll need to chase the standard in the weeks to come
You’re right, corrected. Thanks! – Retta
Thank God he’s back.
The most unique swimmer in the world, a huge natural talent. He doesn’t put on a show, he doesn’t show off like a celebrity, he doesn’t make an Insta or a YouTube channel to promote himself, He just swims, but he does it amazingly. I love him so so much!
He does have Instagram…
Yeah, he just never posts on it lol.
His countryman Kos went a 51.2 in the prelims at San Antonio
Got a feeling he’s a bit motivated by this time from Milak