2023 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Make that four national titles in four days for Kristof Milak.
The 23-year-old world champion won the 100-meter butterfly in 50.80 at the 2023 Hungarian National Championships on Saturday, completing an impressive week of racing in Kaposvár. Milak’s new season-best time is tied for second in the world this season with Shaine Casas behind Josh Liendo‘s 50.36 from last month’s Canadian Trials.
| 2 | Shaine Casas |
USA | 50.80 | 03/04 |
| 2 | Kristof Milak |
HUN | 50.80 | 04/22 |
| 4 | Petr Zhikharev |
RUS | 50.88 | 04/18 |
| 5 | Katsuhiro Matsumoto |
JPN | 50.96 | 04/08 |
Milak was out in 23.82 before coming home in 26.98. He reached the wall well under the 2023 World Championships ‘A’ cut of 51.96 along with second-place finisher Richard Marton (51.70), who missed the Paris 2024 Olympic ‘A’ cut (51.67) by just .03 seconds.
Milak’s lifetime best still stands at 49.68 from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when he became the second-fastest performer ever behind Caeleb Dressel. Last year, he went 51.03 at the 2022 Hungarian Nationals, 50.14 to claim the world crown in Budapest, and 50.33 to win European title later that summer. His haul from this year’s Hungarian Nationals features national titles in the 100 free (48.40), 200 fly (1:52.58), 200 free (1:46.68), and 100 fly (50.80) along with runner-up finishes in the 50 free (22.06) and 50 fly (23.27).
Hungary will also be sending two swimmers to Worlds in Fukuoka this summer in both 200 backstroke events.
Benedek Kovacs put up one of the biggest swims of the day in the men’s 200 back, where he clocked a 1:56.11 that ranks fourth in the world this season. The 24-year-old was less than a tenth off his personal-best 1:56.03 from last year’s European Championships, where he took silver.
20-year-old Hungarian Hubert Kos wasn’t competing this week in Kaposvár, but he blazed a 1:55.95 at the Pro Swim Series stop in Westmont last weekend.
| 2 | Evgeny Rylov |
RUS | 1:55.50 | 04/21 |
| 3 | Hubert Kos |
HUN | 1:55.95 | 04/15 |
| 4 | Benedek Kovacs |
HUN | 1:56.11 | 04/22 |
| 5 | Ryan Murphy |
USA | 1:56.31 | 04/15 |
Runner-up Adam Telegdy also finished under Worlds ‘A’ cut (1:58.07) and Paris 2024 Olympic ‘A’ cut (1:57.50) with a 1:57.35. It would be the third Olympics for the 27-year-old Telegdy, who competed at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021.
In the women’s 200 back, Eszter Szabo-Feltothy triumphed with a personal-best 2:08.85, shaving nearly a full second off her previous best from last year’s Mare Nostrum tour. The 21-year-old now ranks 12th in the world this season with a new Paris 2024 Olympic ‘A’ cut (2:10.39). Second-place finisher Ktalin Burian went 2:10.92 to sneak under the Worlds ‘A’ cut (2:11.08), just about half a second off the Olympic ‘A’ cut at 28 years old.
Dalma Sebestyen pulled off an impressive double with the women’s 50 breast and 100 fly separated by just one event on Saturday. The 26-year-old started off her session by dropping a couple tenths in the 50 breast en route to the victory before earning silver in the 100 fly (59.29) behind 18-year-old Panna Ugrai (59.00). Sebestyen was just off her best time in the 100 fly (58.85 from the 2021 European Championships) while Ugrai shaved over half a second off her lifetime best from last year’s Hungarian Nationals.
21-year-old Gal Oliver was just about a second off the Worlds ‘A’ cut (27.33) during his men’s 50 breast win in 28.32.
