Kristof Milak Crushes Michael Phelps World Record in 200 Fly With 1:50.73 (Video)

Kristof Milak of Hungary celebrates after winning in the men's 200m Butterfly Final during the Swimming events at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships, Gwangju, South Korea, 24 July 2019.

Kristof Milak of Hungary celebrates after cracking the 10-year-old world record of Michael Phelps for gold in the 200m butterfly in Gwangju, as Daiya Seto, silver, and Chad Le Clos, congratulate each other on the minor spoils - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

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World Swimming Championships (Kristof Milak)

Gwangju 2019

Day Four Finals (Men’s 200 Fly)

Hungary’s Kristof Milak crushed the world record in the 200 fly on Wednesday night at the 2019 FINA World Swimming Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Milak, 19, crushed the world record at 1:50.73 to lower Michael Phelps’ world record of 1:51.51 from 2009. It is the first time someone not named Phelps has held the world record in the men’s 200 fly since 2000.

It is the first world record of Milak’s career and it is the fourth time the world record has been broken at the World Championships. Mel Stewart broke the WR in 1991 (1:55.26) while Phelps broke it in 2001 (1:54.58), 2007 (1:52.09) and 2009 (1:51.51). Phelps also broke the world record in the semifinals in 2003 at 1:53.93.

Milak was out under world record pace through 150 meters, similar to what he did at the European Championships in 2018. But this time Milak held on to break the world record, and then some, knocking nearly a full second off of Phelps’ WR from ten years ago. Last year, he looked disappointed after his 200 fly in Glasgow when he was within a tenth of Phelps’ world record pace

Milak’s previous best was a 1:52.71 from last year as he was third all-time. He dropped nearly two full seconds from his best time in one swim.

- Milak’s splits: 24.66, 28.22, 28.69, 29.16. He was out in 52.88 and 1:21.57.
- Phelps’ splits: 24.76, 28.12, 29.05, 29.58. He was out in 52.88 and 1:21.93.

200 Fly Results:

1:50.73, Kristof Milak, HUN, WR
1:53.86, Daiya Seto, JPN
1:54.15, Chad Le Clos, RSA
1:54.39, Federico Burdisso, ITA
1:54.79, Denys Kesyl, UKR
1:55.69, Zach Harting, USA
1:55.96, Leonardo De Deus, BRA
1:57.10, Tamas Kenderesi, HUN

The early leader was Chad Le Clos, who was the reigning World Champion from 2017. Le Clos was out under world record pace at 52.55 but had the slowest final 50 in the field at 31.51. He won the bronze medal at 1:54.15 as Japan’s Daiya Seto (1:53.86) won his first 200 fly Worlds medal with the silver.

Last night, Milak cruised to the final at 1:52.96. Observations concluded that Milak had not fully shaved his arms last night. When asked if he thought he could go faster last night, he said: “Of course I want to be faster. This semifinal is just a preparation for tomorrow’s final so I definitely want to be faster.”

This is Milak’s first medal in the 200 fly at the World Championships as he won the silver in the 100 fly in Budapest. It is also Hungary’s second gold medal in the 200 fly at the World Championships, adding to Laszlo Cseh‘s gold from 2015. Cseh also won silver in 2017 and Tamas Darnyi won bronze in 1991.

This is also the third of Phelps’ five world records to fall from his tremendous career. He set world records in the 400 IM, 200 free, 200 fly, 200 IM and 100 fly in his career. The 200 free, 200 IM and now 200 fly have been taken down in the last 10 years.

Hungary and the United States also notably have five of the ten fastest performances in this event with Milak, Phelps and Cseh standing on the list.

Le Clos also became the third man to win at least four medals in this event at the World Championships after Phelps and Wu Peng won five and four medals respectively. Le Clos won golds in 2013 and 2017 and also the silver in 2015.

Going back to the race itself, Italy’s Federico Burdisso was fourth at 1:54.39 while Ukraine’s Denys Kesyl (1:54.79) was fifth. USA’s Zach Harting (1:55.69), Brazil’s Leonardo De Deus (1:55.96) and Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi (1:57.10), who won a swim-off this morning to get here, also swam in the final.

Top 10 Performers:

1:50.73, Kristof Milak, HUN (2019)
1:51.51, Michael Phelps, USA (2009)
1:52.70, Laszlo Cseh, HUN (2008)
1:52.96, Chad Le Clos, RSA (2012)
1:52.97, Takeshi Matsuda, JPN (2008)
1:53.23, Pawel Korzeniowski, POL (2009)
1:53.40, Masato Sakai, JPN (2016)
1:53.42, Tamas Kenderesi, HUN (2019)
1:53.64, Tyler Clary, USA (2009)
1:53.79, Nao Horomura, JPN (2018)

Top 10 Performances:

1:50.73, Kristof Milak, HUN (2019)
1:51.51, Michael Phelps, USA (2009)
1:52.03, Michael Phelps, USA (2008)
1:52.09, Michael Phelps, USA (2007)
1:52.20, Michael Phelps, USA (2008)
1:52.70, Laszlo Cseh, HUN (2008)
1:52.71, Kristof Milak, HUN (2018)
1:52.76, Michael Phelps, USA (2009)
1:52.79, Kristof Milak, HUN (2018)
1:52.91, Laszlo Cseh, HUN (2016)

World Record Progression:

1:50.73, Kristof Milak, HUN (2019)
1:51.51, Michael Phelps, USA (2009)
1:52.03, Michael Phelps, USA (2008)
1:52.09, Michael Phelps, USA (2007)
1:53.71, Michael Phelps, USA (2007)
1:53.80, Michael Phelps, USA (2006)
1:53.93, Michael Phelps, USA (2003)
1:54.58, Michael Phelps, USA (2001)
1:55.18, Tom Malchow, USA (2000)
1:55.22, Denis Pankratov, RUS (1995)

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72 Comments

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Anonymous

4 years ago

WOW Great

Anne Groskamp Broughton

4 years ago

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry. We love Michael – but this performance/s are great show of outstanding swimming.

Yanjing Wang

4 years ago

Well done

Tomasz Skwarek

4 years ago

Amazing race!!!

Val-Joy Kalmikovs

4 years ago

Records ment to be broken! Great swim

Jacob Roche

4 years ago

Sweet jesus

Kelly Gebadlo

4 years ago

Mike Gebadlo Levi Gebadlo Noah Gebadlo

Sebastian Sotelo

4 years ago

???

Lisa Ankarloo

4 years ago

Anri Balam Cifuentes Robinson

Morgen Hawkins

4 years ago

Fraser Sutton beast

Kara Muscillo

4 years ago

Wowzers! Kim Pfarrer DiJoseph

Rebecca Skroback

4 years ago

Suzanna Skroback

Rachelle Jiao

4 years ago

Rymbeau

Erika Anderson

4 years ago

OMFG!!!!!! Wowwwwww!???

Anonymous

4 years ago

Under 1:50 in Tokyo..Omg

Christine Chan

4 years ago

AMAZING

Aaron Wands

4 years ago

Wow! Sad and happy at the same time.

Terry Blackwell

4 years ago

OUTSTANDING CONGRATS

Norbert Siket

4 years ago

Repült a Srácunk,
Zendült az álmunk,
Csoda történt messze,
Robbant hős, szép teste,
Ő volt “A” Pillangó,
Hős volt, a szívrabló,
Éretten tempózott,
Szép csendben meglógott,
Elnyúlt a világtól,
Nem szúrt a hiánytól,
Szilárd titkot őrzött,
Milák Kristóf győzött!

Victoria Hart

4 years ago

George Morreal

David Couturier

4 years ago

????

Klaudia Kállai

4 years ago

??????

Sue Barlow

4 years ago

Ciarra Mclay

Kira Hauptfleisch

4 years ago

Zelda Hauptfleisch

Lajos Madár

4 years ago

my country is a small country (Hungary) but it has always been big swimmers

Mario Cutajar

4 years ago

Wowww

Aleksandr Asejevs

4 years ago

Maris Lencevics

Heather Shaffer

4 years ago

Wendy Mitchell-Payne goals ??

Wendy Mitchell-Payne

4 years ago

Reply to Heather Shaffer

Heather Shaffer wow!! Yes… goals! ?
Putting in the work this morning! 9 hours after he left practice last night!

Armando Costes

4 years ago

Wow! Congratulations!! Still a big fan of MP..

Alison Evans

4 years ago

Brilliant WELL DONE ?
Good to see hard work training pays off

Suzanne Maranto Baker

4 years ago

Oh shoot will Michael be back to defend his title? Probably not since he has done what no other swimmer has done and won 8 Golds in a single Olympics! He is still the greatest swimmer we have ever known!

Paul Roe

4 years ago

2 seconds off his PB…… at that level………. ?????

Erin Carne McConkey

4 years ago

Tim Conley so that happened ?

Rhys Jones

4 years ago

Ethan Steel-Brown

Abel Tan

4 years ago

Simon Langer dude… what a beast

Rania Allam

4 years ago

Ahmed Haytham Ali Haytham

Laura Mendez Berry

4 years ago

Jennifer Naae Albanese

Nathan Mizner

4 years ago

Abby Lahey we were sorta just talking about this

Erick André

4 years ago

Iván Erandi Romero García vas weexd

Hans Ferguson

4 years ago

Drug test results coming soon…

Viktoria Levins

4 years ago

Reply to Hans Ferguson

Hans Ferguson why aren’t you accepting the fact that a young man from a small country broke a world record? There are still hard working swimmers who can achieve these kind of results without doping. Unbelievable

Hans Ferguson

4 years ago

Reply to Hans Ferguson

Viktoria Levins testing is just a part of the game sometimes. I hope he’s clean. That’s just one of the hardest records that was left to beat from the fast suit era. Set by the greatest swimmer of all time. If he’s clean, I hope he crushes his own record later. It will be great for the sport.

Volmar Matti Steinberg

4 years ago

Amazing performance!

Halim Yussuf

4 years ago

Spectacular

Hazel Wiseman

4 years ago

Shaun Wiseman

Adam Boden

4 years ago

Ed Stevens

Anne-marie Manzara Noble

4 years ago

Can’t believe it. Congrats, awesome race!

Susan Steeper Magnanelli

4 years ago

Are the World Championships short course meters/yards or long course?

Toni Fisher Chow

4 years ago

Reply to Susan Steeper Magnanelli

Susan Steeper Magnanelli … long course. ?

Susan Steeper Magnanelli

4 years ago

Reply to Susan Steeper Magnanelli

Toni Fisher Chow darn, I guess Michael Phelps will have to come out of retirement, lol ?

Tom Perla

4 years ago

“It is also Hungary’s first gold medal in the 200 fly at the World Championships “…..right. Apart from Laszló Cseh in 2015, 4 years ago! Stupid mistake.

George AKOS

4 years ago

Great. The progress is awesome.

Judy Sandlin

4 years ago

This is great- congratulations!

Karen Lynn Freeman

4 years ago

Congratulations young man. You are a machine.