2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 14-30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Pool Swimming: July 23-30
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Info
- Meet Central
When the Hungarian Swimming Federation released its final roster for next month’s World Championships we noted that, although World Record holder Kristof Milak‘s name was indeed on the list, his event lineup had been reduced.
Milak was originally slated to race the 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly and 200 fly when the initial roster was announced in April. However, he is now competing only in the 100m and 200m fly individually along with relays.
Information is being revealed regarding the reasoning for the smaller schedule.
In a recent article published on Magyar Nemzet, national head coach Csaba Sos stated that 23-year-old Milak’s preparations have not been going according to plan.
At the Hungarian National Championships in Kaposvár this past April, Milak wreaked havoc across multiple events. He nabbed national titles in the 100m free (48.40), 200m free (1:46.68), 100m fly (50.80) and 200m fly (1:52.58).
Milak ranks 1st in the world this season in the 200m fly and 2nd in the 100m fly.
However, Sos indicates momentum from that competition hasn’t continued.
“The period after that [Hungarian National Championships] didn’t go well, I don’t want to talk more about that now, this will probably result in us not expanding his repertoire now, which we had planned for a very long time.”
Sos continued, “To be honest, there were periods when his preparation was not adequate, but nothing can be deduced from that, but he is certainly not in such a state that he can swim more events now.”
Milak also only raced the 100 and 200 fly at the 2022 World Championships, winning gold in both while also providing some blistering relay splits of 46.89 and 1:44.68 in the 400 and 800 free relay, respectively.
Two months later at the European Championships, he won silver in the 100 free in a time of 47.47, and also tackled the 200 free individually, placing 10th in 1:47.47 (on the back end of a tough double) while anchoring the 800 free relay to gold in a split of 1:44.42.
This is super weird. The Hungarian Fed has a lot of control on swimmers to the point where winning trials and being one of the top 3 guys in the world is not a guarantee they will let you swim an event.
Shrinkage? The pool was COLD!!
That what I think whenever i hear that word
I think of George Costanza.
He’s in his 2010 Phelps era
Boy, just reading the first 6 words of the title had me thrown for a loop.
Hopefully he’s not entering his 2010 Phelps phase
Did him dirty with that title, haha! Definitely could be worded differently.
Seriously. “Decrease” “reduction” even “lightening” would all be more accurate and less awkward than “shrinkage”
Great comment Michigan fan! God, you have me rolling on the floor crying! 😂😂😂 Go Blue!!!
I wouldn’t read too much into this as of now, since last year he had some issues as well and still broke the WR.
I’m a fan of him but I wasn’t expecting to swim the freestyles anyway, maybe the 100 would be a great addition.
Hopefully everything is ok and remains healthy
Do we believe the story or is this more feuding with the federation?
Probably the latter. Apparently Mikak’s not really an easy person to coach…
I hope we can hear Milaks own words instead of Sos’. The latter is not so trustable.