Swimmers Kristóf Milák and Nándor Németh Achieve Olympic Qualification

Kristóf Milák swam an Olympic-level time in the 100m freestyle on Tuesday in the semi-finals of the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade.

The 2022 European silver medalist clocked 48.26 seconds, meeting the qualification criteria for the Paris Olympics (48.34 seconds). The other Hungarian competitor, Nándor Németh, who won bronze in the 100m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha and was the first Hungarian to stand on the podium in this event at the World Championships, finished the second heat with an even better time of 48.05 seconds. Only the Romanian star David Popovici was ahead of him, with Németh finishing third overall and Milák fourth.

I saw the times the top two swam at the U.S. trials; they had 47-second starts, so I felt I had to get my act together five weeks before the Olympics,” Németh said.

I would like to cut down a bit more tomorrow; the second fifty was very encouraging. I think it will be a very good fight for the gold medal,” he continued.

Németh noted that his training has not been going well lately, hence he is a bit puzzled by his good form here. The BVSC’s athlete swam an Olympic-level time in the 200m freestyle relay on Monday, but has already indicated that he will not swim that distance in Paris. Milák was not available to the press this time.

In the women’s 50m butterfly, Lora Komoróczy managed to shave another three-hundredths off her personal best from the morning (26.86 seconds), but this was only enough to finish 15th overall, so she did not qualify for the final.

In the men’s 200m backstroke, Ádám Telegdy and Benedek Kovács, the second and third place finishers in the national Olympic rankings, will compete for the last three spots at the European Aquatics Championships. Telegdy, who finished fifth in Tokyo, is currently .28 ahead of his compatriot (1:55.57 and 1:55.85) in the Paris race, where the leader, Hubert Kós, the 2023 world champion in Fukuoka, has not competed in this event.

Kovács was the first to jump into the pool, finishing second in the heat in 1:57.99, while in the second heat, Telegdy finished fourth overall in 1:57.12.

It was not a 100 percent swim yet; that will be needed tomorrow. I want to start better at the beginning,”

said Telegdy, who finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics

In addition, Ajna Késely won a gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle. The 22 year old Hungarian only traveled with the peloton until about halfway, but then she easily made her way to the finish in 8:29.96, more than three and a half seconds ahead of the field. Késely won the first European title of her career and the first gold for the Hungarian delegation in the Serbian capital.

Via MTI; Featured Image: Facebook / Magyar Úszó Szövetség – Magyar-úszóválogatott