European Championships, Day 4 Finals: Kristof Milak Hits 50.82 to win 100 Fly
Kristof Milak is rounding into form just in time for the Paris Games.
The Hungarian swim 50.82 seconds Friday to win the 100 butterfly over countryman Hubert Kos. He led a field of three swimmers under 51 seconds in a scintillating final to open the fourth day of the European Championships.
The final session also featured two swims from David Popovici, who went 47.22 off the front of the 400 free relay and earned the top seed in the men’s 200 freestyle semifinals.
All the action:
- Link to results/start sheets
- 2024 Olympic Games Coverage – Paris
- European Championships Day 1 Prelims
- European Championships Day 1 Finals
- European Championships Day 2 Prelims
- European Championships Day 2 Finals
- European Championships Day 3 Prelims
- European Championships Day 3 Finals
- European Championships Day 4 Prelims
Men’s 100 butterfly
Kristof Milak was second at the midway point but pushed to win in 50.82. That time nudges ahead of Hubert Kos for eighth in the world this year, with the Americans yet to swim the event at their Olympic Trials. Kos was second in 50.96, and Jakub Majerski was 50.98 for bronze and the 18th sub-51 performance of 2024.
It was an amazing race between that trio. Nik Armbruster took it out fastest but faded to seventh. Milak, Kos and Majerski were 2-3-4. They came back in 27.17, 27.16 and 27.17, respectively.
Simon Bucher finished fourth for Austria.
Women’s 50 backstroke
Danielle Hill defended her top seed to win in 27.73 for Ireland. She and Greece’s Theodora Drakou were the only ones to break 28 seconds, Drakou getting silver in 27.87. Adela Piskorska of Poland was second in 28.00.
Men’s 200 freestyle semifinals
David Popovici coasted to the top seed in the men’s 200 free, his time of 1:46.15 outdistancing Danas Rapsys’ 1:46.44. Third was Dimitros Markos in 1:46.46, with Kamil Sieradzki the only other swimmer under 1:47 at 1:46.63.
It took 1:47.36 to reach the final.
Women’s 100 butterfly semifinals
Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium set the fastest time in semis at 57.89, edging Greece’s Georgia Damasioti by .11 seconds. Third was Sara Junevik, the 50 fly champ, in 58.23.
Barely scraping into the final, in her first swim of the meet, was Lana Pudar, who finished eighth in 58.63. Helena Rosendahl Bach and Anna Ntountounaki were fourth and fifth.
Men’s 50 backstroke semifinals
Greece has two of the top three swimmers, with Apostolos Christou setting the pace in 24.52. That buzzes within two tenths of his national record. Evangelos Makrygiannis is third in 24.73.
In between is Ksawery Masiuk of Poland in 24.72. Israel’s Michael Laitarovsky grabbed the fourth seed. Hubert Kos slid into eighth on the back end of a double in 25.07.
Women’s 200 breaststroke semifinals
Kristyna Horska is bidding to add another medal to the tally for Czechia. She posted the top time of the semifinals in 2:24.55, just shy of a half-second clear of Thea Blomsterberg’s 2:25.04. Denmark has the second and third seeds, with Clara Rybak-Andersen following. Lisa Mamie is fourth.
Men’s 200 breaststroke
There was nothing separating Lyubomir Epitropov and Erik Persson in a thriller of a finale. Both went 2:09.45 to split the gold medal. Epitropov is just the second for Bulgaria in the history of the meet.
Persson took the lead at the 100-meter mark, where Epitoropov was sixth. He outsplit Persson by a tenth to climb to third at 150, then roared home in 33.05, nine tenths up on Persson. They both got their hands to the wall in the same time.
“Honestly, it feels surreal,” Epitropov said. “That was always one of my dreams hearing the national anthem. It didn’t matter which meet – the Europeans, Worlds, Olympics, that’s one of my dreams completed now. I don’t think I’ve processed it yet.
“I am really happy to also share it with Erik. He is such a good breaststroker so it’s a real honour for me to share the podium with him.”
“It means a lot, first time winning a title feels so good,” Persson said. “I had a good feeling after the semi-finals so I wanted to be out quite fast and see how long I could hold on, so I’m quite happy with that. It feels great, we have a lot of champions from the past so it’s great to be there.”
Poland’s Jan Kalusowski of Poland got bronze in 2:10.20, rallying past Anton McKee, who had been second at 150. McKee was fourth in 2:10.28.
Women’s 200 freestyle
Make it the 100/200 double for Barbora Seemanova, who controlled the field in route to gold. Her time was 1:55.37. It’s just off the 1:55.12 she set in London earlier this year, the 13th fastest in the world. Seemanova won this event in 2020.
Silver went to Minna Abraham of Hungary in 1:57.22. She just edged Germany’s Nicole Maier in 1:57.36.
Men’s 400 freestyle relay
Serbia delivered the capstone of the meet in stunning fashion, the home country getting the win in the 400 free relay in 3:12.90. The quartet of Velimir Stjepanovic, Nicola Acin, Justin Cvetkov and Andrej Barna.
Barna was the star, splitting 46.86 off the end. That roared Serbia from fifth to first.
Poland had its turn to go from fifth to first, though it was the third leg courtesy of Ksawery Masiuk’s 48.04. They finished second in 3:13.25. Greece was third in 3:13.73 with Croatia fourth.
Romania was fifth, with David Popovici taking it out fastest in 47.22.
