Kristof Milak: It's an honour

25 July,2019 09:23 AM IST |   |  AFP

Hungarian teenage swimmer Kristof elated after crushing Michael Phelps' 200m butterfly world record; says he is the man everyone will now want to beat

Hungary's Kristof Milak celebrates after winning the 200m butterfly final at the World Swimming Championships in South Korea yesterday. Pic /PTI


Gwangju (South Korea): Hungarian teenager Kristof Milak smashed Michael Phelps's 200m butterfly world record while Chinese giant Sun Yang suffered defeat yesterday after a draining week in which he has clashed with rival swimmers over doping allegations.

Milak stormed to gold in the men's 200m fly, clocking a blistering 1:50.73 to shatter Phelps's 10-year-old mark by almost eight tenths.

Astonishingly, silver medallist Daiya Seto of Japan touched more than three seconds behind the Hungarian19 . "It's a tremendous honour to beat such a great record," said Milak, who has already set his sights on next year's Olympics. "Everyone will try to catch me, but I will be ready."

Sun eclipsed

Meanwhile, triple Olympic champion Sun, who had already retained his 200 and 400m crown in Gwangju, finished a distant sixth in the 800m final behind Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, who claimed gold in seven minutes, 39.27 seconds from Norway's Henrik Christiansen.

A brutal schedule looked to have taken its toll on Sun, who has been involved in angry confrontations with Australian Mack Horton and Britain's Duncan Scott after they snubbed him at two different medal ceremonies in response to bombshell claims made in a FINA doping panel report.

The leaked document alleged Sun allowed vials of blood to be smashed with a hammer after he was visited by testers last year. "I was exhausted," said the Chinese idol. "My legs and arms felt sore - the hardest part is juggling a tight schedule, which I will have to do at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics."

Peaty bags a hat-trick


Britain's Adam Peaty with his 50m breaststroke gold yesterday

Elsewhere, Britain's Adam Peaty completed an unprecedented hat-trick of world doubles in the 50 and 100m breaststroke as he romped to gold in the one-lap final in 26.06. Peaty, 24, who crushed his own 100m world record earlier this week, became the only swimmer to win six breaststroke world titles. Italian Federica Pellegrini retained the women's 200m freestyle world title by pipping Australia's Ariarne Titmus to gold.

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