Coming off of his earth-shattering world record performance in the 200 butterfly at the World Championships back in July, Hungarian Kristof Milak has settled back into training to gear up for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
However, despite becoming the fastest man in history by nearly eight-tenths of a second in the event, the 19-year-old is putting the 200 fly on the back-burner for the next few months.
“In the fall months, I don’t even want to strain on the Olympics, I want to have fun in the competitions and I want to prepare for other (distances) and other (strokes),” he said, translated from his native Hungarian, with Newzeti Sport.
He continues in saying he wants to focus more on speed work right now, “rather than constantly pushing that ‘crazy’ 200 butterfly … I’ve done enough.”
After a follow-up question asking if he hates training for one of the most gruelling events in swimming, Milak replied “no, I just don’t feel like swimming (it) for a while. I’m a little fed up with it and I don’t feel the need to practice this (swim) in the coming weeks or months.”
In the interview, he also discusses his position as the gold medal favorite in the event next year, how he’s dealt with the media attention he’s received since the World Championships, and his potential event lineup next summer.
Check out the full interview, in Hungarian, here.
What a second, I completely glanced over this, but he said he wanted a change from pushing that “idiot” 200 butterfly.
LMAO I love translations…
I would love to see him try out the IMs. We know his fly and free are good and he has entered backstroke events at Europeans juniors in the past. I don’t know how good is breaststroke is but I’d imagine even if it’s weak then he could still do some pretty impressive times particularly in the 200 IM
The level of talent to smash a legendary WR then decide, actually, I don’t want to do this race now… 🤯🤯🤯
It’s important to understand mentality as part of being an athlete. You have to have some in intrinsic joy in what you do. If he will get more satisfaction out of let’s really being good at the 100 fly, like competing with Dressel, instead of improving further on his currently untouchable 200 fly record., then he should go for it. When your a WR holder, you more than earn the right to go try your hand in another event…
My Hungarian may not be up to speed, but I believe he said he wanted to train as a Professional Golfer in the World Long Drive Association.
he didn’t
whoosh…
that was the sound of the original comment flying over your head
Maybe Dressel will do the same and train for the 200 free for the relay or even individual spot.
Milak won the 200 fly by over 3 seconds. Dressel doesn’t have nearly that big of a margin of error in his events, especially in the 50 free and 100 free (assuming Chalmers is healthy). It’d be nice if he’d go for a spot on the 800 free relay but I doubt it’d be prudent for him to compete individually in the 200 free.
Eh his 100 fly is essentially a lock @notaswimmer, but I see your point. “Lock” = Regan Smith 200 back, and Milak in the 200 fly- you’re right. Also, just a quick tbt to Smith’s 100 back WR (sorry, slightly irrelevant, but idc)
I think he’ll focus on free, as he’s got a lot less time to play with in the free than the fly, but not sure he’ll put loads of 200 emphasis. He needs the front end speed to win the 50/100.
Right now the only shot of him winning gold in the 100 fly is if Dressel DQs, but he could seriously challenge Dressel in 2024, depending on how Dressel ages.
Didn’t Milak go 51+ at Worlds? Nowhere close to Dressel. Different people with different skills
My favorite part: “the ‘idiot’ 200 fly”….so funny from world record holder.
Wondering about the translation. Maybe in the original Hungarian it was something like the “$&8@&8/?***#£¥[%#” 200 fly?
The original actually had the word for idiot in Hungarian, idiota, believe it or not. But it seems like his feelings reflect what you’re saying😂
idiota does not mean idiot in this context, it means crazy
Thanks for the clarification. Article has been updated.