Hungary's Kristof Milak cruises to victory in the 200m butterfly
The Hungarian world record holder won his first Olympic gold medal and also broke Michael Phelps' Olympic record in the 200m butterfly
Swimming
Hungary's Kristof Milak won the 200m butterfly today 28 July at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre and set an Olympic record time of 1:51.25, breaking Michael Phelps record of 1:52.03 set in Beijing 2008.
The current world record holder gained an earlier lead against South Africa's Chad le Clos in the first half of the race, but stayed ahead of the pack in the last lap to touch the wall first, followed by Japan's HONDA Tomoru who took silver and Italy's Federico Burdisso, who placed third.
Despite being unable to break his own 1:50.73 which was his target for this butterfly event, Milak posted the third-fastest swim of his career.
“My suit tore 10 minutes before the start of the race, just before entering the call room. At that moment I knew that the world record was gone, because I was totally off focus," Milak told the press afterwards.
“When that happens to a swimmer, it could be the goggles, or suit, but just prior to a race, it can destroy your focus, absolutely.
“I got tense. It was on my face and it was no longer that easy to do what I wanted to do.”
After Honda's surprise silver medal win, the 19-year-old Japanese swimmer told the press:
"I'm genuinely just so happy. When I touched the wall I was so elated.
"In the semi I put a lot of pressure on myself but in the final I decided to just have fun. I've been training to really push it on the last 50m. It felt good and I managed to push myself to the wall.”
South Africa's most decorated Olympian Chad le Clos, the strong contender for this race, placed fourth. He last won gold in the event in London 2012 where he defeated Michael Phelps.