2019 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

After cruising to a very fast time of 1:52.96 in the semi-finals, Hungarian Kristof Milak absolutely smashed the 10-year-old world record in the final of the men’s 200 fly, touching in a time of 1:50.73.

The swim breaks the previous record held by the great Michael Phelps, who went 1:51.51 at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. That swim came during the super-suit era, and since then, Milak’s 1:52.71 from last year came closest to it.

SPLIT COMPARISON

In terms of splitting, the 19-year-old newly minted world record holder matched Phelps identically on the first 100. He gained a full 0.78 on the back half.

Phelps, 2009 Milak, 2019 24.76 24.66 52.88 (28.12) 52.88 (28.22) 1:21.93 (29.05) 1:21.57 (28.69) 1:51.51 (29.58) 1:50.73 (29.16)

Prior to this historic performance, Phelps owned the four-fastest swims in history.

ALL-TIME PERFORMANCES, MEN’S 200 FLY

Hungarian Kristof Milak, 19 years old, shatters Michael Phelps‘ 200m butterfly world record by .78 of a second at swimming worlds. pic.twitter.com/z8mG4Pjv3B — Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) July 24, 2019

After the semi-finals, we alluded to the fact that this type of swim from Milak was possible, and that he had a great shot to break the record if he was more aggressive than in the semis. He did just that.

This ends Phelps’ historic reign over the world record in this race, first having set it over 18 years ago (March of 2001). Once he broke it, no one stole it from him until today. He also broke the record 18 years to the day for the second time at the 2001 Worlds in Fukuoka, where he went 1:54.58 (the initial record was 1:54.92).

WORLD RECORD PROGRESSION (SINCE 2000)

Chad Le Clos went out like a bullet in the race, leading Milak at the 100 wall in 52.55. He faded down the stretch, and Daiya Seto of Japan moved up to claim silver in 1:53.86, over three seconds back of Milak. Le Clos held on for bronze (1:54.15), while Federico Burdisso set a new Italian Record in fourth (1:54.39).

Milak’s 3.13-second margin of victory also overtakes Phelps for the largest in history. At the 2007 Championships in Melbourne, Phelps won by 3.04 seconds in 1:52.09 (which broke the WR by 1.62 seconds).