Discussion surrounding Kristof Milak‘s motivation, mental health, and physical shape have been thrust into the spotlight over the past few months.
In January, Hungarian coaches publically said the reigning Olympic champion hadn’t been preparing adequately and gave him an unofficial deadline for the end of the month to fully commit to all-in training in time for the Paris Games.
However, according to a report from Hungarian outlet Mandiner, Milak returned to training in the pool “two weeks ago” in an article published on Jan. 31.
The report says that Milak, attempting to stay under the radar and out of the limelight, started training at the pool of his home club, Budapest Honvéd, between noon and 2 p.m. when no one else is around.
Having already notched the qualifying times for Paris, Milak is said to be fully focused on hitting his best possible form when the Olympic swimming competition gets underway on July 27.
Milak’s head coach, Balazs Virth, is headed to Doha to accompany the Hungarian squad at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, but upon return, he and Milak are set to align and commence a four-month training block.
Related:
- Preparation Issues Cited in Milak’s Shrinkage of 2023 Worlds Event Lineup
- Milak Pulls Out of 2023 Worlds: ‘I’ve Hit Rock Bottom’
- Milak Ready for 2023 World Cup, Paris 2024, and Beyond: ‘I’m Back’
- Milak Withdraws From World Cup Stop in Budapest
- Hungarian Coaches Say Milak Needs To Rebound By Edn of January
Milak’s strength coach, György Zala, commented on Milak’s work outside of the pool at the beginning of January, saying that they’d been doing “quality work” and the progress was “clearly visible.”
Prior to the news of Milak’s return to the pool broke, Zsolt Gyulay, the president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, offered his thoughts on Milak and the publicity he’s received of late.
“What is going on with Kristof is certainly not good for Hungarian sport,” said Gyulay. “It’s his job, he’s an elite athlete, he has to decide if he’s preparing or not. Milak is a great champion, and we stand behind him.
“I don’t think it’s a good story to tell the press, I think it’s not particularly fashionable in other countries. I understand that this has news value, but it does not help Hungarian sports that he jumped into the water or did not jump into the water. He is an individual athlete, he has already won the Olympics and the World Championships, he knows exactly what he needs to get there. If he won’t, he won’t.”
It appears as though he will, and hopefully, the 23-year-old will be in the field vying to defend his Olympic title in the men’s 200 fly later this year.
The two-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in the 200 fly, Milak will be favored for gold in Paris even if he’s not at 100 percent, as his world record of 1:50.34 is more than two seconds faster than what Leon Marchand went to win the world title in 2023 (1:52.43). Milak has been faster than that eight times.
In the 100 fly, Milak won silver at the Tokyo Olympics behind Caeleb Dressel, as Dressel set a new world record of 49.45 and Milak moved to #2 all-time with a blistering 49.68 swim. Milak then won the 2022 world title with Dressel absent in a time of 50.14, and then with both of them missing at the 2023 World Championships, Frenchman Maxime Grousset won gold in the exact same time, 50.14.
Until he swim and produce a time in a competition, all everyone could do is making wild speculation.
I want to note that Milak didn’t train properly in the fall of 2020 and 2021 as well.
In 2020 he caught covid and took an extended break.
In 2021, he took two months off after Olympics, changed coach, resumed training for a while and then caught covid once again. He also did a small nose surgery at year end and only returned to serious training in January 2022.
So he has a history of bouncing back quickly.
Although he was out of water for a bit longer this time, but he could be 2s slower than in 2022 and still be the gold favorite.
The only question is whether he really has the hunger to… Read more »
Don’t get me wrong I love Kristof and wish him all the success going forward as he gets back to the pool. But I fear Paris is a bit ambitious for him. Dressel is struggling to come back in his sprint events. How is this guy going to be ready in a few months? Would love to be proven wrong tho…
Every Swimmer’s case is different. For example, McEvoy didn’t swim for more than a year and only went back to training in late 2022, yet he became world champion with a PB in 2023. It’s difficult to apply one swimmer’s case to another’s. There are many factors: mental & physical status, personal life etc.
Well yes but the 50 freestyle is also astronomically different from the 200 butterfly.
But is his talent visible enough to scare Bowman into steering Marchand to the 200breast even with 4 months of training?
I don’t think Bowman and Marchand are scared of anyone. Marchand will swim that he wants.
Because Qin would be a much easier opponent? Nah I don’t think that’s how they work. Marchand has that dog in him.
It’s because nothing is easy. Great champions like Marchand don’t do what is easy.
…that sheep dog in him.
If I were Marchand, I would enter in both and made the final choice during the Olympics.
I don’t think Marchand would only have 4 months of breast training under his belt. In his junior years, he swam a lot of breast at major competitions. He swam 200 breast every year at NCAAs. He also said he loves 200 breast more than 200 fly.
If he really dropped a 2:06.5 200 breast without seriously training for it, then I would argue breast is a probably a better choice for him in Paris lol.
Good for him! Hopefully he’s in a good head space and has the right support system around him.
Would not be surprised to see him in the 1:51 range in Paris, however I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Marchand in 1:51 territory either…
I bet he can be 1:52 with 4 months under his belt
But can he beat Marchand?
Milak is a much better swimmer than Marchand they’re not at all on the same level in terms of speed or technique in fly
Right… but this isn’t a question of his technique or speed. It’s of his aerobic conditioning and mental headspace. If I’m Leon, I’m still swimming 2fly
He really should make that decision after Hungarian Nationals. If Milak is 1:53 or faster (maybe 1:52 or faster, but he was 1:53 at nationals in 2022) it basically gives him enough information to know that he has a better chance of beating Qin and ZSC than Milak. The PB difference is just way smaller in the 200 breast.
If I’m Milak I’d be completely fearless going into the 2fly. He’s been the world #1 every year since 2018, and has proven that even with training interruptions (2021, 2022) he’s light-years ahead. Also, his easy speed is a huge weapon. Let’s remember that his 51.9 100 split in 2022 is equivalent to going out 48.5 in a 200 free
I don’t think it’s an issue of fear. I’m wondering if Milak has the motivation to actually get through a training cycle in a way that prepares him to race at the highest level. OR the motivation to race for an Olympic title.
We have seen this happen to numerous athletes. Not everyone is Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky who can just keep going year after year. People reach their goals and achieve everything they can possibly acheive and then it’s really hard to push yourself to keep going.
Let me be clear: I’m rooting for Milak to come back and look great. But I don’t know that I would put money on it yet.
I think it is more of an issue of head space. If he is in a good place mentally, he will be physically ready.
OK, if he is in Paris he’ll win at least the 200. If not he thinks he can’t do it. He didn’t afraid of anybody (Dressel, Popovici) only from himself.
Isn’t the question whether Milak is so special and such a genius that he can overcome a notoriously inconsistent training history over the past years, what must be a complete lack of stamina, wasted muscle mass and god knows what kind of mental state, total lack of confidence or total overconfidence, to do in the notoriously challenging 200 butterfly three times over two days what for example Peaty and Dressel with I assume full conviction are struggling to do over 50 or 100 metres? I mean it’s not golf or chess. All the other coaches and athletes believe the only way to achieve this is by working their butts off, many without pause for the world championships. How is someone… Read more »
And would be second 😉
To quote Bill Parcels, ”Potential is just something you haven’t done yet.” What exactly has Marchand done in the Olympics that Milak has not?
Marchand keeps consistently improving for one thing, he dropped a second from 2022 in the 200 fly, and there’s no reason to believe that he’s gonna stop there.
Why don’t you ask Missy Franklin about ”there’s no reason to believe that she’s gonna stop there,” after London in 2012.
As far as we are aware, Marchand doesn’t have any shoulder injuries.