2023 HUNGARIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Olympic champion and reigning World Record holder Kristof Milak did Kristof Milak things at the Hungarian National Championships which just concluded over the weekend.
Over the course of the 4-day competition, the versatile 23-year-old earned 4 national titles, wreaking havoc on the season’s world rankings in the process.
| Milak’s Time at 2023 Hungarian Championships |
Current World Ranking | Milak’s Personal Best & Date | |
| 100 Free | 48.40 | #18 | 47.47, 2022 |
| 200 Free | 1:46.68 | #17 | 1:45.74, 2021 |
| 100 Fly | 50.80 | #2 | 49.58, 2021 |
| 200 Fly | 1:52.58 | #1 | 1:50.34, 2022 |
Milak has conveyed he has been putting more attention on freestyle lately, targeting the 100m and 200m distances.
“Since this year finally offers a normal calendar with one big event in the summer, it’s easier to plan ahead and build up our preparations on one hand.
“On the other hand, it’s also easier to take some risks and change more things in the practices in order to develop myself to a good freestyle swimmer.
“This is what we’ve done in the camps, and at the nationals, I’ve only taken care of my feelings and sensations the swims gave to me. Honestly, I don’t even know how many medals I got. Never counted. It was all about listening to my senses – those will help me when we sit down to put together my World Championships programme.”
As listed in the chart above, Milak owns lifetime bests of 47.47 in the 100m freestyle, a mark which represents the Hungarian national record, while his PB in the 200m free sits at 1:45.74.
Currently, World Record holder David Popovici of Romania owns the top time in the world in the 100m free with his season-best of 47.61. He leads a list of 10 swimmers who have all been sub-48 seconds on the season already.
In the 200m free, it’s South Korea’s Hwang Sunwoo who owns the top time at 1:44.67, while the top 5 performers have all been under 1:45 on the season.
Last year in Budapest, it took 47.71 to land on the podium in the 100m free and 1:44.98 in the 200m free.
With these times in mind, Milak will need to put up the best performances of his career if he wants to come close to touching a medal at this summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Even with a focus on freestyle, however, Milak has made it clear he is far from turning his back on the butterfly discipline which carried him into the annals of swimming history.
“Whatever focus I’m putting on the free, the fly and especially the 200m will always be my top event where I will try to do my best again and again. I’ll never let it go.”
Quotes courtesy of LEN.
