Watch Kristof Milak Go 1:50.73, Take Down Phelps’ 200 Fly World Record

2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• All sports: Friday, July 12 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• Pool swimming: Sunday, July 21 – Sunday, July 28, 2019
• The Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center, Gwangju, Korea
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It was clear that Kristof Milak could take a run at Michael Phelps‘ 200 fly world record, but probably no one else, perhaps even Milak himself, was expecting him to knock over seven-tenths of a second off a time that had stood since 2009. Phelps had owned the world record since 2001, when he set it as a 15 year-old at a meet in Austin, Texas.

Watch the race video below.

Courtesy of Twitter/Nick Zaccardi

Hungarian Kristof Milak, 19 years old, shatters Michael Phelps' 200m butterfly world record by .78 of a second at swimming worlds. pic.twitter.com/z8mG4Pjv3B

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 24, 2019

Originally reported by Reid Carlson

MEN’S 200 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

• World Record: Michael Phelps (United States), 2009, 1:51.51
• World Junior Record: Kristof Milak (Hungary), 2017, 1:53.89
• World Championships Record: Michael Phelps (United States), 2009, 1:51.51
• 2017 Defending World Champion: Chad le Clos (South Africa), 1:53.33

Chad le Clos took the race out fast in a blazing 24.13, pursued by Milak. Le Clos was still under World Record pace at 100, turning in 52.55. Milak turned in 52.88 at the 100, matching Michael Phelps’ World Record split to the hundredth. Milak is ahead of World Record pace at 150, turning in 1:21.57, overtaking le Clos.

Milak buried the field and Phelps’ World Record to touch in an incredible 1:50.73. Milak is now the first swimmer in history to break the 1:51 barrier.

Japan’s Daiya Seto crushed his best time and slipped under 1:54 for the first time to win silver in 1:53.86, while Chad le Clos won bronze in 1:54.15, just ahead of young Italian Federico Burdisso, who touched 4th in 1:54.39.

Milak’s splits were 24.66, 28.22 (52.88), 28.69 (1:21.57), and 29.16 for a total time of 1:50.73. No other swimmer in the field cracked 30 on the final 50 meters with the second-fastest split being a 30.11 from Ukrain’s Denys Kesil who finished 5th in 1:54.79.

American Zach Harting finished 5th in 1:55.69. Brazilian Leonardo de Deus was 7th in 1:55.96, and Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, finished 8th in 1:57.10.

MEDALISTS:

• GOLD: Kristof Milak, Hungary, 1:50.73 — WORLD RECORD
• SILVER: Daiya Seto, Japan, 1:53.86
• BRONZE: Chad le Clos, South Africa, 1:54.15