By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
Heading into the 2026 European Championships, there was some apprehension about exactly which version of Kristof Milak would show up. The 2024 version which won Olympic gold in the 100 fly, or the 2025 version – which never turned up at all, as he skipped the World Championships last year.
It was certainly a debate in Hungary. Milak has not been a darling of the Hungarian media, refusing to engage with them after winning that Olympic gold in Paris, and even his teammate Hubert Kos did not hold back in an interview with Hungarian outlet M4Sport last month.
“I’m looking forward to the relays, we want to be on the podium. If we have a Kristóf Milák who has trained who knows how much and can still swim the world’s best time in the 100 butterfly, then we could do anything.”
“We know that Kristóf thinks differently, he doesn’t take anything away from his talent, but it shows that he only thinks about himself, not the team,”
Hubert Kos in an interview with M4Sport
The doubts over the relays have proven at least partially unfounded. Milak did not swim in the men’s 4×200 free relay, but nor did Hungary as they did not enter a team. The men’s 4×100 free, however, was a different story.
Without Milak, this team moved through the heats in 5th, but even their best-case scenario was missing the podium. With Milak, and a thunderous 46.29 anchor leg, they won gold.
Their last European relay title also came courtesy of Milak, as he ran down France’s Roman Fuchs and Italy’s Stefano Di Cola with a 1:44.42 anchor in the men’s 4×200 free relay. But this one, coming at the end of a session which Milak started by winning the 100 fly in a new European record, has more meaning to it.
He has stepped away from the pool at various points over the last four years. Both his own coach in 2024, Balazs Virith, and Hungarian National Team Coach Csaba Sos, have criticised the time out of the water. The Hungarian media has not been particularly forgiving either. As recently as last December, it was being reported that his club, Budapest Honved, had issued him an ultimatum on returning to training
Milak’s position has never been particularly clear through this period. Whether the level of training reported was accurate is unknown, but swimming just one major international meet in three years left a lot of room for speculation. He even stated in an interview last night that ” …this year is about building myself back up from zero and reaching the next level.”
Whatever has been going on out of the pool in that period, his performance in the pool seems at its peak now. Extended breaks have worked for Cam McEvoy and Caeleb Dressel recently, and David Popovici espouses a mental health first approach to his swimming career that saw him rebound from a tough 2021/2022 season. Milak’s seems to have breathed new life into what was already an historic legacy.
Over the last decade, there may not have been a better career than Milak’s when you take impact and longevity into account. Dressel hasn’t won an individual international medal since 2022. Ramsay-Peaty last won gold in the 100 breast, his signature event, five years ago. Marchand has only been at an incomprehensible level since 2022.
Milak is a top-five performer in three individual events. He has dragged relays to medals they shouldn’t have won. He has won eight World Championship or Olympic medals from nine swims in his primary events, five of them gold. For his three silvers, he has been beaten by Caeleb Dressel twice, the first when Milak was just 16 years old, and Leon Marchand once. He has a pair of world junior records that barely register because they are so rarely even troubled. He dismantled the 200 fly world record of the greatest swimmer in history, is faster than a supersuited Cesar Cielo in the 100 free, and is just three hundredths of a second away from owning the 100 fly world record.
And now? He is faster than ever. The 200 fly is gone from his schedule, but in its absence he has established himself as one of the greats in the 100 free. He is a top-25 swimmer in the 50 fly. He is a top-100 swimmer in the 50 free. He is a top-two swimmer in the 100 fly. He is still only 26.
It would be tough to have the career Milak has had without a work ethic and passion that would seem alien to most people. There is probably at least a grain of truth in those media reports, but he is a supremely talented individual who is still in his prime, still setting records, and still proving people wrong.
There have evidently been setbacks recently. It is true that the 100 fly and 100 free is a less taxing schedule than the 100 fly and 200 fly, but this legacy is Milak’s own. The last few years are perhaps best described by an even more famous man who allegedly never practised, the 76ers’ Allen Iverson:
“You have to go through good times and bad times to get where you’re trying to go.”
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