World Aquatics Championships: The time is terrible, but I am almost satisfied – Milák

"This time is terrible," this was Kristóf Milák's first statement.

Meanwhile, 4000 people were going crazy in the Duna Aréna...

"There are many ways to look at it, it all depends on what expectations you have set for yourself in advance. I wanted to swim within 50 seconds, but I couldn't. I wanted to have a good race, and I did, so I'm almost satisfied,” the three-time world champion evaluated the final and his performance. “It is not a good feeling that the first and the second 50 meters didn't go very well. Yes, maybe I should have had someone next to me, so I'm faster, but at the same time, it's my seventh day at this World Championships, and I'm a human being, too: I'm tired."

He will have a little time to rest, but too much not since the continental competition will come in mid-August in Rome – but Milák looked even further down.

"It would have been nice to swim a good time in front of the Hungarian fans in the 100-meter butterfly, which is why I am a little disappointed. However, I am glad that I was able to give another gold medal to the Hungarian spectators. I can swim a world record anywhere in the world. It's great that we stepped in and hosted this World Championships, and I hope we will have the opportunity to do the same in the near future, if not, we will meet here again in 2027."

Attila Selmeci, Kristóf Milák's former coach, also expected a better time result, but seeing the program of the past few days, he understands that the world champion is tired.

"I was a little surprised by the final, I expected a better result from Kristóf. I thought he was going to swim within 50 seconds," Selmeci said. "I looked at the split times and saw that he started two-tenths of a second better than at the Tokyo Olympics, but the second 50 was seven-tenths of a second worse than then. And I realized from this that Kristóf was tired. If I look at his program at the World Championships, he could not feel any different. Thank God he didn't compete in the 200m freestyle and 50m butterfly, imagine how tired he would have been by the end of the competition. Kristóf's performance is fantastic, and I congratulate him from the bottom of my heart."

MEN'S 100M BUTTERFLY
1. Milák Kristóf 50.14
2. Mizunuma Naoki (Japan) 50.94
3. Joshua Liendo Edwards (Canada) 50.97