Kristóf Milák

Kristóf Milák (born 20 February 2000) is a Hungarian swimmer.

He is the current holder of the world record in the long course 200 metre butterfly and the European record in the long course 100 metre butterfly.

He also currently holds the Hungarian record in the short course 50 metre backstroke.

In addition to breaking the world record set by Phelps in 2009, Milák became the first person to hold the world record in the men's long course 200 metre butterfly event other than Phelps in an 18 year period.

It was also the first time in almost a decade that any swimmer had a long course world record in a butterfly event at either the 100 metre or 200 metre distance other than Phelps, with the last swimmer being Milorad Čavić of Serbia in the 100 metre butterfly in 2009.

When he was 16 years old, Milák competed at the 2016 European Junior Swimming Championships in Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary in July, winning the gold medal in the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 1:56.77, placing fifth in the 100 metre butterfly at 52.98 seconds, and placing seventh with a time of 24.42 seconds in the 50 metre butterfly.

At the 2017 European Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya, Israel, Milák swam a 1:53.79 in the 200 metre butterfly, winning the gold medal and setting a new world junior record and a new Championships record in the event.

At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Milák set a new world junior record and a new Hungarian national record of 50.77 seconds in the semifinals of the 100 metre butterfly.

Earlier the same day, in the prelims of the same event, he broke his first world junior record of the Championships with a time of 51.23 seconds.

In the final he swam a 50.62 and won the silver medal, setting a his third world junior record and second national record in the event.

In addition to his national records in the 100 metre butterfly, Milák helped the Hungary 4x100 metre medley relay place seventh in the final and set a new national record of 3:32.13.

On 26 August 2017, at the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Indianapolis, United States, Milák helped set a new world junior record and Championships record of 7:10.95 in the final of the 4x200 metre freestyle relay.

Milák also broke the 100 metre butterfly national record he set in 2017 at 50.62 seconds with a new personal best time of 50.47 seconds.

He also anchored the 4x200 metre freestyle relay with a split of 1:44.86, helping the relay set a new national record of 7:07.67 in the event.

He was the gold medalist in the 400 metre freestyle, 200 metre freestyle, and 200 metre butterfly events at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.

At the 2018 Hungarian Spring National Championships, Milák, who was just 18 years of age, lowered his own world junior record in the 200 metre butterfly to a 1:52.71.

In July, at the 2018 European Junior Swimming Championships, Milák competed in 10 individual and relay events, reaching the semifinal or final in all 10 events, swimming in the final of 9 events, and winning medals in 5 events, of which four were gold medals and one was a bronze medal.

At the 2018 European Aquatics Championships held in Glasgow, Scotland in August, he won the gold medal in the 200 metre butterfly event with a time of 1:52.79.

In the mixed 4x200 metre freestyle relay, he led-off the relay swimming a 1:48.04 for the first leg and helping the relay place fourth with a Hungarian national record time of 7:31.19.

Milák won a total of four medals at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2018, three of which were gold medals and one of which was a silver medal.

In the 400 metre freestyle Milák won his first gold medal with a time of 3:48.08, finishing almost half a second before silver medalist Marco De Tullio of Italy and splitting under 30 seconds at every 50 meter mark of the race.

His second gold medal of the Youth Olympic Games came in the 200 metre freestyle where he was the only swimmer under 1:48.00, winning in a time of 1:47.73.

He won his third gold medal in a butterfly event, the 200 metre butterfly, where he finished exactly 1.00 seconds ahead of second place finisher Denys Kesil of the Ukraine with a time of 1:54.89.

In the 100 metre butterfly, Milák won his only silver medal of the meet, ranking second in the final behind Andrei Minakov of Russia with a time of 51.50 seconds.

Once back to Hungary from the Summer Youth Olympics, Milák set a new national record in the short course 50 metre backstroke with a time of 23.49 seconds on 10 November 2018 at the 2018 Hungarian Winter National Championships conducted in short course metres.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea in July 2019, Milák won the gold medal and set a new world record of 1:50.73 in the 200 metre butterfly on 24 July, breaking Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record by 0.78 seconds.

In 2019, Milák was member of the 2019 International Swimming League representing Team Iron.

He won the 200m butterfly in both matches he participated in.

(Lewisville, Budapest)

At his first Olympic Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 200 metre butterfly and a silver medal in the 100 metre butterfly.

He has also won three gold medals and one silver at the World Aquatic Championships, as well as three gold medals at the European Aquatics Championships.

Due to a positive test of having COVID-19, Milák was unable to participate in the 2020 International Swimming League at full capacity, he was on the roster of Team Iron though was out of the season.

At the long course 2021 Hungarian Spring National Championships in Budapest, Milák set his first national record of the Championships in the 100 metre freestyle by dropping over eight tenths of a second off his best time to set the new record at 48.00 seconds, which was eight hundredths of a second faster than the previous record.

At the 2020 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Milák won his first gold medal in Championships record time in the 200 metre butterfly, which was the second gold medal for Hungary and first gold medal for a male Hungarian in any sport at the Championships.

He also won the gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly with a national record and Championships record time of 50.18 seconds in the final after achieving Championships records in both the prelims and semifinals of the event.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Milák won the gold medal in the 200 metre butterfly in a new Olympic record time of 1:51.25.

He finished over one body length ahead of and more than two seconds before the second place finisher and silver medalist, Japan's Tomoru Honda.

In the semifinals of the 100 metre butterfly, Milák broke the Olympic record of 50.39 set by Caeleb Dressel of the United States in the prelims heats and set a new Olympic record of 50.31 seconds.

He won the silver medal with a time of 49.68 in the final, less than three tenths of a second slower than the first place finisher.

His time of 49.68 seconds in the final set a new European record and Hungarian record in the event and moved him up in global rankings to second fastest swimmer in the event internationally, ahead of Michael Phelps and behind Caeleb Dressel.