Hungary enjoyed a spectacular evening at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris on Thursday, with Kristóf Milák setting a European record in the men’s 100m butterfly before helping the Hungarian men’s 4x100m freestyle relay claim a historic gold medal with a national record.
The two victories capped an outstanding day for Hungarian swimming, while Olympic champion Hubert Kós also produced another strong performance, finishing fourth in the 100m butterfly with a personal best.
According to MTI, Milák won the butterfly final in 49.48 seconds, breaking the European record and finishing just 0.03 seconds outside Caeleb Dressel’s world record.
Milák delivers European record at the European Aquatics Championships
The defending European champion and Olympic champion had to fight for the victory until the closing metres.
The field remained tightly packed after the turn, with at least four swimmers still in contention for gold. Milák, however, produced a superb final ten metres, moving clear of his rivals to clock the second-fastest performance in history.
France’s Maxime Grousset took silver in 49.70 seconds, while Switzerland’s Noè Ponti finished third in 49.93.
Kós narrowly missed the podium after swimming a personal best of 50.25 seconds, good enough for fourth place.
The Hungarian pair had already demonstrated their strength during Wednesday’s programme. Kós had won the 200m backstroke with what MTI described as the fifth-fastest performance of all time, while Milák finished third in the 100m freestyle with one of the fastest times ever recorded in the event.
Despite those demanding races, both arrived at Thursday’s butterfly final in strong form.
Men’s 100m butterfly results
- Kristóf Milák (Hungary) – 49.48, European record
- Maxime Grousset (France) – 49.70
- Noè Ponti (Switzerland) – 49.93
- Hubert Kós (Hungary) – 50.25, personal best
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Historic relay gold for Hungary
The medal rush continued later in the evening as Hungary won the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay for the first time in European Championships history.
The final line-up of Hubert Kós, Szebasztián Szabó, Nándor Németh and Kristóf Milák touched the wall in 3:10.03, setting a new Hungarian record and European Championships record.
Russia, competing under neutral status, finished second in 3:10.12, while Croatia claimed bronze in 3:11.08.
Hungary had qualified for the final with the fifth-fastest time in the heats, but the team was significantly strengthened for the medal race by the arrival of Olympic champions Kós and Milák.
Kós opened the relay with a personal best of 48.18 seconds, cutting almost seven-tenths from his previous best.
Szabó briefly moved Hungary into the lead before handing over in fifth place, while Németh closed the gap and sent Milák into the final leg only 0.01 seconds behind the leader.
Milák produces stunning anchor leg
Milák then delivered one of the standout relay performances of the championships.
With the advantage of a flying relay start, he split 46.29 seconds over the final 100 metres and overtook the Russian team in the closing strokes to secure gold for Hungary.
The overall winning time of 3:10.03 improved the previous Hungarian national record of 3:11.06, set by the team that finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics.
Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay results
- Hungary – 3:10.03, national and European Championships record
Hubert Kós, Szebasztián Szabó, Nándor Németh, Kristóf Milák - Neutral athletes – 3:10.12
Ivan Girev, Vasily Kukushkin, Aleksandr Shchegolev, Egor Kornev - Croatia – 3:11.08
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Kós adds another Hungarian gold in the 200m backstroke
Hungary’s success at the European Aquatics Championships had already begun before Milák’s record-breaking performance, with Hubert Kós claiming gold in the men’s 200m backstroke in Saint-Denis.
Kós took control of the race immediately and was inside world-record pace at the 50-metre mark. By halfway, he was around eight-tenths of a second ahead of the pace set by former world-record holder Aaron Peirsol.
Although he could not maintain that speed over the second half of the race, the Hungarian remained comfortably in front and touched the wall in 1:53.08, securing Hungary’s first gold medal in pool swimming at this year’s European Championships.
Greece’s Apostolos Siskos finished second in 1:53.81, while Italy’s Thomas Ceccon took bronze in 1:53.96.
Kós’s winning time was also historically significant: 1:53.08 is tied for the fifth-fastest performance ever recorded in the event. The Hungarian already owns another of the fastest 200m backstroke performances in history, further strengthening his position among the discipline’s leading swimmers.
Pádár reaches the 200m freestyle final
There was further positive news for Hungary in the women’s 200m freestyle. Nikolett Pádár finished third in her semi-final in 1:57.24 and qualified for the final with the seventh-fastest time overall.
A golden evening for Hungarian swimming
The two victories gave Hungary two gold medals on Thursday evening alone at the European Aquatics Championships, underlining the strength of a men’s team built around several Olympic champions and internationally established swimmers.
Milák was the central figure of the night, first coming within three hundredths of a second of the 100m butterfly world record and then producing the decisive final leg in the relay.
Kós also played a key role, adding a fourth-place finish and two personal bests to his earlier European title in the 200m backstroke.
For Hungary, Thursday’s performances represented not only another haul of medals in Paris, but also a series of national, continental and championship-level benchmarks that made it one of the strongest sessions of the tournament so far.
