2023 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, April 19th – Saturday, April 22nd
- Kaposvár, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Preview
- Start Lists/Results
Kristof Milak rose to the top of the world rankings in the 200-meter butterfly at the Hungarian National Championships, clocking a 1:52.58 to claim the title by more than three seconds.
The 23-year-old world record holder now owns 10 of the top 15 times in history as only Michael Phelps and Daiya Seto have been faster than his swim on Thursday. Milak also remains undefeated in the 200 fly at senior long course meets.
Top 15 Performances, Men’s 200 Fly:
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:50.34 (2022)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:50.73 (2019)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:51.10 (2021)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:51.25 (2021)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:51.40 (2021)
- Michael Phelps (USA) – 1:51.51 (2009)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:52.01 (2022)
- Michael Phelps (USA) – 1:52.03 (2008)
- Michael Phelps (USA) – 1:52.09 (2007)
- Michael Phelps (USA) – 1:52.20 (2008)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:52.22 (2021)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:52.39 (2022)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:52.50 (2021)
- Daiya Seto (JPN) – 1:52.53 (2020)
- Kristof Milak (HUN) – 1:52.58 (2023)
Milak’s new season-best mark ranks as the top time in the world this season ahead of Tomoru Honda‘s 1:52.70 from last December. It’s also the fastest time this calendar year by nearly two seconds ahead of 18-year-old Canadian Ilya Kharun (1:54.49).
2022-2023 LCM Men 200 Fly
Marchand
1:52.43
| 2 | Kristof Milak | HUN | 1:52.58 | 04/20 |
| 3 | Tomoru Honda | JPN | 1:52.70 | 12/03 |
| 4 | Krzysztof Chmielewski | POL | 1:53.62 | 07/26 |
| 5 | Thomas Heilman | USA | 1:53.82 | 07/26 |
Milak split 25.13 on his first lap, 28.87 on his second, and 29.14 on his third before coming home in 29.44.
Milak competed in his first meet of 2023 last month, starting his season with a 1:56.71 that ranked 11th in the world at the time. At last year’s Hungarian National Championships, he went 1:53.88.
Just about 45 minutes after his 200 fly, Milak returned to the pool in the 50 free final and took silver with a 22.06 behind Szebasztian Szabo (21.82). Milak improved on his previous best from last year’s Hungarian National Championships by .13 seconds. Szabo was just off his personal-best 21.60 from last year’s World Championships, but he moved up to No. 4 this season in the world rankings.
2022-2023 LCM Men 50 Free
McEvoy
21.06
| 2 | Ryan Held | USA | 21.50 | 07/01 |
| 3 | Florent Manaudou | FRA | 21.56 | 06/15 |
| 4 | Jack Alexy | USA | 21.57 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Benjamin Proud | GBR | 21.58 | 07/29 |
In other highlights from Kaposvár, 24-year-old Benedek Kovacs won the 100 back in 53.67, coming within a few tenths of Laszlo Cseh‘s Hungarian national record (53.40) from the London 2012 Olympics. It was Kovacs’ first time sub-54 as his previous best was a 54.12 from the 2021 Hungarian National Championships. He’s now the third-fastest Hungarian in history behind Cseh and Richard Bohus (53.51).
Petra Senanszky triumphed by more than a second in the women’s 50 free with a 24.97, just .02 seconds off her lifetime best from last year’s World Championships. The 29-year-old Senanszky is less than a tenth away from Katinka Hosszu‘s Hungarian record of 24.89 that has stood since 2014.
Kristof Rasovszky picked up his second win of the week in the 400 free (3:47.33) after placing first in the 1500 free (14:55.46) on Wednesday. The 26-year-old dropped nearly two seconds in the 400 free (3:49.01) and almost four seconds in the 1500 free (14:59.17). Both previous-best times were posted at last last year’s Hungarian National Championships.
1:49.03 for Milak in the 200 free prelims, 23.84 in the 50 fly. That looks to be a 1:46 low, 1:45 high in the final – little chance of breaking the NR I think, I’m not getting my hopes up. The 50 fly should be around 23 low, I think he could PB.
Thys guy is incredible. He has revolutionized the 200 fly. To me, he will be soon the fist man sub 1’50 and sub 49 in the 100 fly.
Dressel condition worsening
Come on. Let’s see Milak throw down a good 100 fly tomorrow and then be disrespectful to Dressel (if you must).
😯😯😯🤯🤯
He swam this time by obviously holding back in the first 100 metres. Anyone who has seen the race knows what I am talking about.
After the swim he said it was an easy, relaxed swim. The main focus of the preparation was on technical improvement in freestyle.
Milak was over a second quicker than he was at Hungarian Nationals last year, surely a 1:49 will happen at Worlds this year.
“Surely” seems unfair for a feat like that. He’s already greatly approached the asymptote of max human performance possible. But I get what you’re saying
I don’t know if I agree he “crushed” the world leading time. 0.12 better than Honda is more of a “slide”.
1:52 200 fly is crushing it regardless
And the runner-up Richárd Márton in the 200 fly had 1:55,62 which is the 11th fastest time in this season.
Other missing notable results:
Ajna Késely’s 4:06,35 in the 400 freestyle (12th in the world ranking of 2022-23)
Boglárka Kapás’s 2:08,86 in the 200 fly (16th in this season)
And in addition, Szebasztián Szabó’s time in 50 free is the fourth fastest of this season.