Kristof Milak completes butterfly double at European Aquatics Championships

Kristof Milak broke his own championship record to land the 100m butterfly crown on a thrilling final night of swimming action at the European Aquatics Championships in Budapest. The Hungarian, who won the 200m fly on Wednesday, touched the wall in 50.18 to beat his previous best mark of 50.62 from the semi-finals, and comfortably take top spot.

Josif Miladinov of Bulgaria took the silver medal +0.75 back, while Great Britain’s James Guy completed the podium in third. It was also a national record for Milak who only stands behind Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps and Milorad Cavic on the all-time list.

Simona Quadarella continued her amazing streak of form to land her third title of the championships in the women’s 400m freestyle. The Italian showed no signs of fatigue from her 800m and 1500m wins earlier in the week to land top spot in 4.04.66. Russia’s Anna Egorova finished second, with Boglarka Kapas of Hungary in third.

It was a familiar feeling for Quadarella, who landed the same three titles at the 2018 championships. London 2012 Olympic gold medallist Ranomi Kromowidjojo blasted her way to victory in the women’s 50m butterfly. The Dutch swimmer, who won the 50m freestyle title earlier in the week, clocked 25.30 to take top spot in the non-Olympic 50m fly, 0.16 ahead of second-placed Frenchwoman Melanie Henrique. Denmark’s Emilie Beckmann finished third.

Liukkonen creating first upset

The first upset of the evening came in the men’s 50m freestyle, where Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen picked up his nation’s first victory of the meet in a thrilling finish.

The flying Fin blasted home in 21.61, out-touching British 2018 European champion Ben Proud and Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev in second and third respectively. London 2012 Olympic champion Florent Manaudou could only manage fifth place.

Fresh from setting the women’s 50m breaststroke world record in the semi-finals last night, Benedetta Pilato secured the European title in tonight’s final. The Italian 16-year-old was the only swimmer to break the 30-second barrier, finishing with a time of 29.35 (0.05 slower than her world record). Second place went to Ida Hulkko of Finland in a new national record, while Yuliya Efimova of Russia finished third.

There was more joy for Italy soon after, as Pilato’s compatriot Margherita Panziera cruised to victory in the women’s 200m backstroke. Her time of 2.06.08 was over a second quicker than Britain’s Cassie Wild in second place, while Katalin Burian of Hungary finished third.

Joy for Great Britain

Elsewhere, Russia’s Ilya Borodin broke his own junior world record to take top spot in the men’s 400m individual medley final with a time of 4.10.02. Alberto Razzetti of Italy won silver +1.15 back, while Max Litchfield of Great Britain took third.

There was joy for Great Britain in the final two events of the event, as their men’s and women’s teams secured their respective 4x100m medley titles. First up was Luke Greenbank, Adam Peaty, James Guy and Duncan Scott, who won the men’s 4x100m medley title in 3.28.59. The quartet, who are also the world champions, finished almost a second ahead of Russia in second, while Italy took third.

The British women’s team of Kathleen Dawson, Molly Renshaw, Laura Stephens and Anna Hopkin carried on the momentum to win their race in 3.54.01. They finished over two seconds ahead of their nearest rivals Russia in second, with Italy once again taking third. Cherry on the cake, Kathleen Dawson set a European 100m backstroke record of 58.08 on the lead-off.