Paris 2024, Euro Recap: Kristof Milak Snaps Hungary’s Streak of Near Misses For 100 Fly Gold

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena — Paris, France
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• European Recap, Day 1: Lukas Märtens Doesn’t “Give A Shit” About 400 Free WR As He Wins Gold
• European Recap, Day 2: Leon Marchand Answers The Hype With An Olympic Record
• European Recap, Day 3: European Men Have Won Every Individual Event Through Three Days
• European Recap, Day 4: Team GB’s 4×200 Free Relay The First To Defend Olympic Gold With Identical Lineup
• European Recap, Day 5: Out of the Spotlight, Josha Salchow is Having The Meet Of His Life
• European Recap, Day 6: Apostolos Christou Wins Greece’s First Medal In The Pool Since 1896
• European Recap, Day 7: Ben Proud Finally Captures His First Olympic Medal

Hungary’s history with the men’s 100 butterfly is one of near misses. To be fair, they’ve won two medals in this event but both are silver: Laszlo Cseh, whose career is defined by near misses for gold, won silver in 2016. The next Games, Kristof Milak set an Olympic record in the semifinals which stood for about five minutes as Caeleb Dressel broke it in the next heat. Then, Milak broke 50 seconds for the first time in his career with a European record of 49.68, taking silver behind Dressel’s world record of 49.45.

In quotes provided by the Hungarian Swimming Federation after the race, Milak said “It was a great race, with great opponents and a brilliant swimmer. It was really an excellent swim now, maybe I left a tenth at the wall, but I don’t think I could come any better now, so I’m proud that Caeleb [Dressel] needed a world record to win.”

It was a miss for a gold medal, but it didn’t seem that Milak viewed it in those terms. And, he went on to say that the swim allowed him to see that the possibility of beating Dressel was a reality, which was “tremendous motivation.”

A lot has changed for both Milak and Dressel since the Tokyo Games. After incredible 2021 and 2022 seasons, 2023 saw Milak withdraw from the World Championships and take a break from training to focus on his mental health. There were plenty of reports about whether he was training, how much he was training, and whether he’d show up to the Paris Games in any kind of form to defend his two individual medals from Tokyo at all.

Milak himself hasn’t spoken to the Hungarian press in over a year, the Associated Press reported after his 100 butterfly final in Paris, where he avoided all the media. That makes it impossible for us to know for sure what his training looked like in the lead-up to the Games; and, while he wasn’t as dominant as he had been in prior seasons, his 50.75/1:53.94 swims in the 100/200 fly at the Monaco Mare Nostrum stop were encouraging.

He faced disappointment in his first Paris outing, though. In the 200 butterfly final—the event where he holds the world record—Milak was winning through the final turn. But he was unable to counter a late surge from the hometown hero Leon Marchand and did not defend his Olympic title, taking silver in 1:51.75.

Milak still had the 100 butterfly to race. And those “great opponents” Milak talked about in Tokyo had increased—the race was one of the deepest on the men’s side of the Olympic program. Not only did the entire 2021 podium return but there were new stars nipping at their heels and the 50-second barrier.

As if eager to erase any doubts, Milak fired off a 50.19 in prelims and qualified first for the semifinals. That swim set the tone for a brutal event that saw Dressel, the defending champ, miss out on the final. Milak led the way again in the semifinals with a 50.38.

Swimming out of lane 4 in the final, Milak looked how he usually does in a 100 butterfly, using a powerful back half to move through the field after turning fourth at 50 meters. In Tokyo, Milak ran out of room to catch Dressel. The same thing nearly happened again, but Milak timed the finish right and out-touched Josh Liendo by .09 seconds. He dipped under 50 seconds for just the second time in his career with a 49.90, securing the win that he just couldn’t catch three years ago.

It’s Hungary’s first gold in the event and continues the European men’s dominance in the individual events. But more importantly for Milak, he battled back and stood on the top step of the men’s 100 fly Olympic podium for the first time—now himself the motivation for the hungry field behind.

Day 8 Quick Hits

• Sarah Sjöström continues to shine at these Games. Now focused on the race that she did all her preparation for, the 50 freestyle, she has been flexing her dominance as the greatest 50 freestyler. She’s been sub-24 seconds through both rounds of the event, highlighted by the third-fastest swim of her career in the semifinals–a 23.66 that’s also a new Olympic record.
• Simona Quadarella finished just off the podium in a surprisingly riveting women’s 800 freestyle final. She tried to mount a late charge but couldn’t quite catch the three leaders. Nevertheless, she still set an Italian record, lowering the mark from her old best of 8:14.99 to 8:14.55. It’s her first PB in the event since she swam that mark in 2019.
• Slovenia’s Neža Klančar reset her 50 freestyle national record twice today. First, she swam 24.64 in the heats, improving the mark from her 24.70 in December 2023. She barreled past that time in the semifinal, clocking a 24.40 to tie for 7th place and earn a spot in the final. She’s Slovenia’s first female Olympic finalist since Sara Isakovič and has already guaranteed that she will be the nation’s best finisher in the event’s Olympic history. Before this, Slovenia had placed as high as 25th in the women’s 50 freestyle.

Day 8 Continental and National Records

• The French squad of Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Leon Marchand, Marie Wattel, and Beryl Gastaldello reset the national record that the prelims team set in the mixed 4×100 medley relay. The quartet swam a 3:40.96, taking 4th place.
• Both the Irish men and women swam national records in their respective prelims of the 4×100 medley relay. The men’s team of Connor Ferguson, Darragh Greene, Max McCusker, and Shane Ryan swam a 3:33.81, breaking the previous record of 3:34.62, swum in 2021. The women’s squad of  Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, and Grace Davison powered to a 4:00.12, breaking the previous record of 4:01.25 from 2023 by over a second.
• David Betlehem broke the Hungarian men’s 1500 freestyle record during the event’s preliminaries. Betlehem swam a 14:45.59, breaking Gergo Kis‘ record from 2011 by seven hundredths. Betlehem qualified for the final in 8th place, so he’ll get another shot at the record in tomorrow’s final.

European Medal Table Thru Day 8