{"id":473529,"date":"2021-05-19T11:11:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T18:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=473529"},"modified":"2021-05-19T16:33:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T23:33:56","slug":"european-championships-milak-thunders-to-200-fly-gold-in-151-10-2nd-fastest-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/european-championships-milak-thunders-to-200-fly-gold-in-151-10-2nd-fastest-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"European Championships: Kristof Milak Thunders To 200 Fly Gold In 1:51.10; 2nd Fastest In History"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Championships: Kristof Milak Thunders To 200 Fly Gold In 1:51.10; 2nd Fastest In History<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kristof Milak<\/strong> swam the second-fastest 200 fly in history as he thundered to gold in 1:51.10 at the European Championships<\/strong> in Budapest.<\/p>\n

Milak was in a world of his own as he claimed victory by 3.18secs at the Duna Arena ahead of Federico Burdisso<\/strong> of Italy who touched in 1:54.28 with Tamas Kenderesi<\/strong> making it a Hungary one-three in 1:54.43.<\/p>\n

It obliterated the 21-year-old’s previous championship record of 1:52.79 he set in Glasgow in 2018 en-route to his first senior medal.<\/p>\n

Splits:<\/em><\/p>\n

2021 Europeans: 24.57\/53.12\/1:21.76\/1:51.10<\/p>\n

2019 world record: 24.66\/52.88\/1:21.57\/1:50.73<\/p>\n

Link to results<\/a><\/p>\n

Link to live stream<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kristof

Photo Courtesy: Deepblluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

All eyes were on Milak and his time is one only he has bettered when he went 1:50.73 en-route to gold at the\u00a02019 World Championships<\/strong>\u00a0in Gwangju and in the process\u00a0obliterated\u00a0Michael Phelps<\/strong>\u2018 world record of 1:51.51 which had stood since 2009.<\/a><\/p>\n

It was 0.30 quicker than his time of 1:51.40 from Hungarian Nationals<\/strong> in March which was then second all-time.<\/a><\/p>\n

Milak now holds the three fastest times in history with Phelps the owner of the next three.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There was a wag of the finger and then a smile and Milak said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why but I got really tense in the call room and I almost had to throw up.<\/p>\n

“This happens sometimes, especially before the 200m fly when I don\u2019t feel that I\u2019m in really good shape.<\/p>\n

“I need that confidence before the top races so it was a kind of guessing what would happen here.<\/p>\n

“Throughout the race I just wanted to control the technical part, I saw the Italian guy turning behind me before the last 50m so I thought my finish will be OK though I didn\u2019t have any idea where we stood with the times.<\/p>\n

“Well, at the end it turned out to be 1.51.1, so I cannot complain\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"KovacsAniko_05.19_len_evening_3-41\"

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia\/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

Burdisso, the 2019 world junior bronze medallist, said:<\/p>\n

“The semi-final went s0 smoothly and it was easy for me.<\/p>\n

“I did not expect the final to be so difficult and hard. I\u2019m happy with my time even though it could have been just a bit better.<\/p>\n

“My next race is the 100m fly on Saturday, and of course I\u2019m very happy with the medal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kenderesi had mixed feelings, saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit disappointed because I couldn\u2019t achieve the time I did in the semis, in fact my target was 1.53.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s somewhat pleasing that I could do at least 1:54 again, despite the wall didn\u2019t come in the right rhythm at any of the turns but I could somewhat react to that.<\/p>\n

“Still, it\u2019s not a good feeling to lose to Federico by a couple of hundredths but I got a medal so I\u2019m accepting this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n