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European Swimming Championships, Budapest, Day 2 Heats: Kristóf Milák Puts In 1:54 Opener & Greg Paltrinieri Scrapes Into 1500 Fight

Craig Lord 2021-05-18 Reading Time: 6 minutes

Mind over matter - Kristóf Milák - photo courtesy of the Hungarian Swimming Federation

May 18 – Day 2 action from the pool at the European Swimming Championships sees the start of the 200m butterfly campaign of pioneer of pace Kristóf Milák.

For many national also doubles as a qualifying event for the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The venue: the Duna Arena, scene of the 2017 World Championships and the 2020 International Swimming League Bubble of Budapest. Milák is already on the team for Tokyo.

So, too, is Gregorio Paltrinieri on the Italian team but the Olympic 1500m freestyle champion, who last week excellent in open water, including victories in the 5km, the 10km and the 5km team event, scraped into the 30-length final this morning. The showdown, which will go without the 2018 European and 2019 World champion Florian Wellbrock after the German ace opted to bypass the 1500m beyond his own podium-placing efforts at Lupa Beach last week, is tomorrow, providing Paltrinieri with one more day of what looked like much-needed rest… The qualifiers, led by Mykhaylo Romanchuk, of Ukraine and a man who did not opt into open water and enters the pool fray fresh:

Day 2 heats were also marked by the exit of Benadetta Pilato as third Italian in the top four fastest in the 100m breaststroke (see potted reports below) and a speedy 47.53 from Kliment Kolesnikov in the heats of the 100m freestyle, the Russian heading into the evening with a 50m backstroke final, a day after a 23.93 World record in semis, and the semis of the 100m freestyle.

The fast heats of the 100m freestyle:

The Six-Gold Nationals Of Milák – & A Fine Start At Europeans

Kristóf Milák racing in Budapest at nationals today (Courtesy - Hungarian Swimming Federation) — Kristóf Milák racing in Budapest at nationals today (Courtesy – Hungarian Swimming Federation)

After warming up in the 400m freestyle heats yesterday, butterfly ace Kristóf Milák gets his home European campaign truly underway this morning in the heats of the 200m butterfly. In March, he ended his 2021 Hungarian Championships campaign in the most fitting of fashions after five days of gauntlet chucking in the same Duna Arena pool in Budapest, a 50.47 national record in the 100m butterfly following a 1:46.15 triumph in the 200m freestyle taking his tally of gold to six.

There were victories in the 50, 100, 200 and 400m freestyle and the 100 and 200m butterfly, his effort in the latter his fastest since he lifted the World title in a shuddering global standard of 1:50.71. At Olympic trials in March, Milák clocked 22.19 for victory over 50m freestyle and then scorched a 1:51.40 over 200m butterfly in the same session.

This morning, Milák got the blood racing with a 48.72 in 100m free heats. He was third Hungarian home, perhaps by design, perhaps with a nod to the race to come and where his ambitions really rest: 1:54.38 over 200m butterfly would be a national record in the bulk of swimming nations around the world. Indeed, the domestic high bar is higher in just 9 nations beyond Hungary, the flag-bearer of the best ever, the 1:50.73 clocked by Milak at 2019 World titles in Gwangju when he took down the 2009 World record of Michael Phelps.

On the second morning of action at what is the first major international championship since the 2019 World Championships before the COVID-19 pandemic, only two events lead directly to a final: the men’s 1500m freestyle showdown unfolds tomorrow evening after prelims today – and the novel 4x200m freestyle mixed, which is not a global event, the final of which will be done by the end of play this evening.

The swim meet stretches across seven days in traditional format of morning heats, from 10am local time each day, and evening finals, from 6pm local time each day. The livestream of the event is subject to broadcast rights but is available through the EBU/Eurovision link below. National broadcasts on mainstream media are also available far and wide (check local guides) among the 50-plus countries that form the membership of the European Swimming League (LEN).

Day 2 Heats: Men’s 100m Freestyle; Women’s 100m Breaststroke; Men’s 200m Butterfly; Women’s 50m Backstroke; Mixed 4×200 m Freestyle; Men’s 1500m Freestyle

Results / Livestream (with login access for extras) / LEN Championship website

See Tokyo 2020 Table of Target Times below qualifiers / + Links to day 1 coverage

Day 2 Qualifiers for Finals:

Mixed 4x200m freestyle: Great Britain led the way into the final of an event that is unique in championship waters – only in Europe. Down the years, Europe has led the drive to add evermore events to the program. In the mix of the debate about whether that has been wise is the question of how much swimming’s bolt-on diet has served to water the sport down and render medal-count comparisons evermore irrelevant and potential medal hauls evermore ridiculous. On the European program, a swimmer such as Katie Ledecky could have 11 chances of gold, assuming she could climb out of the water after final No8-9 or so …

Anyhow, this morning, the clocked stopped at 7:34.64 for Calum Jarvis (1:49.68), Joe Litchfield (1:47.55), Lucy Hope (1:59.70) and Abbie Wood (1:57.71). Litchfield contributed to Britain’s silver in the 4x100m free, while Hope and Wood raced to gold with mates in the women’s 4x100m free, yesterday.

The British record stands at 7:29.72, which was good for bronze in the inaugural event courtesy of Stephen Milne (1:47.77), Craig McLean (1:48.34) Kathryn Greenslade (1:57.81) and Freya Anderson (1:55.80). That time is ripe for crushing this evening, as is the championship record and World best of 7:28.43, establishing for Glasgow 2018 gold by Germany’s Jacob Heidtmann (1:46.52) Henning Mühlleitner (1:47.32), Reva Foos (1:58.25) and Annika Bruhn (1:56.34).

P	H	L	Team/Swimmer/DoB	TIME	Time	Gap	Q
1	1	5	GREAT BRITAIN JARVIS Calum – 12 MAY 1992LITCHFIELD Joe – 08 JUL 1998HOPE Lucy – 30 JAN 1997WOOD Abbie – 02 MAR 1999	1:49.68 1:47.55 1:59.70 1:57.71	7:34.64		q
2	2	3	ITALY PIROZZI Stefania – 16 DEC 1993DI COLA Stefano – 11 DEC 1998MEGLI Filippo – 10 MAY 1997GAILLI Sara – 23 DEC 2001	2:00.08 1:47.00 1:47.66 2:00.62	7:35.36	0.72	q
3	2	4	DENMARK GADGAARD Mikkel – 03 MAY 1999HANSEN Andreas – 25 AUG 2000BACH Helena Rosendahl – 12 JUN 2000MORTENSEN Amalie Soeby – 11 OCT 2001	1:49.32 1:48.75 1:58.33 2:01.55	7:37.95	3.31	q
4	1	6	ISRAEL LOKTEV Denis – 04 JUN 2000COHEN GROUMI Gal – 22 APR 2002GORBENKO Anastasia – 07 AUG 2003MUREZ Andrea – 29 JAN 1992	1:49.81 1:49.81 2:01.14 1:59.48	7:40.24	5.60	q
5	2	2	HUNGARY HOLLO Balazs – 10 FEB 1999ZOMBORI Gabor – 08 OCT 2002VERRASZTO Evelyn – 17 JUL 1989FABIAN Fanni – 30 OCT 2002	1:48.87 1:48.37 2:02.27 2:00.78	7:40.291:48.87 3:37.24 5:39.51 7:40.29	5.65	q
6	1	4	RUSSIA GIREV Ivan – 29 JUN 2000RYLOV Evgeny – 23 SEP 1996KAMENEVA Maria – 27 MAY 1999SURKOVA Arina – 17 JUL 1998	1:49.80 1:48.76 1:59.93 2:05.58	7:44.07	9.43	q
7	2	5	TURKEY UENLUE Baturalp – 09 JUL 2002TURAN Efe – 17 SEP 2000TUNCEL Merve – 01 JAN 2005ERTAN Deniz – 01 JAN 2004	1:49.37 1:50.23 2:02.46 2:03.79	7:45.85	11.21	q
8	2	6	IRELAND MCCUSKER Max – 11 SEP 1999HYLAND Brendan – 23 SEP 1994TRAIT Naomi – 25 AUG 2003CATTERSON Victoria – 25 MAR 2001	1:52.89 1:52.13 2:03.57 2:02.65	7:51.24	16.60	q

Day 2 Qualifiers For Semis:

Men’s 100m freestyle: The four-per-nation rule was put to good use by the members of the Russian, British and Italian 4×100 podium quartets of yesterday, ensuring that, with only two allowed to go through to the semis from each country, the last man in finishing 21st this morning. At the helm of pace in the last heat and all heats was the man who broke the 50 backstroke World record in semis last night, Kliment Kolesnikov, on 47.53, his Russia teammate Andrei Minakov having cracked 48 in heat 8, while Alessandro Miressi, on 47s twice yesterday leading off Italy’s relay, was the last inside 48 this morning, on 47.81 behind Kolesnikov.

No Duncan Scott for Britain, but Tom Dean and teenager Matt Richards made the cut. The rule on numbers per nation meant that Vladislav Grinev‘s 48.36 in 6th and Andrey Zhilkin‘s 48.40 in 9th marked the end of their 100m ambitions at the championships.

Women’s 100m breaststroke: What will Italy do now? Presumably stick to its original decision, which was to select Benedetta Pilato for the 100m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics from a swim swum last December. She then finished third at Italian trials last month and this morning Arianna Castiglioni clocked 1:05.98 in the last heat as the only sub-1:06 swimmer. Teammate Martina Carraro had clocked 1:06.26 in heat 5, which was 0.06sec ahead of Pilato in heat 4. The 10 following Castiglioni through were all on 1:06s. Tight fight ahead for places in the final.

Swim-Off: after both the following swimmers clocked 1:08.09 in heats …

Milak On The March

Men’s 200m butterfly: All eyes on Kristóf Milák, whose 1:54.38 this morning is faster than every national record in the world barring his own and that of 9 countries. In the heat before him Antani Ivanov lowered his own Bulgarian record from 1:55.5 to 1:54.72. Poland was the only nation with three in the hunt, Krzysztof Chmielewski, 1:55.46, and Jakub Majerski, 1:56.27, the two who go through. Assuming all goes to plan in semis, Milák will be the man to beat, with a pre-battle advantage on the clock of 4sec over next best going in.

Women’s 50m backstroke: Kathleen Dawson took down her own Scottish record with a 27.29, just 0.08sec shy of the British record establishing established by Georgia Davies for the 2018 European title in Glasgow.

Day 1 Coverage

Great Britain Gold in the 4x100m free – l-r: Freya Anderson, Anna Hopkin, Lucy Hope and Abbie Wood – Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Great Britain Claim First Gold In 4x100m Free Since Inaugural Crown In 1927, Hope, Hopkin, Wood & Anderson On National Record For Tokyo Ticket
Katinka Hosszú Matches Yana Klochkova For Record Fourth European 400IM Gold On Way To A Shot At Ukraine Star’s Quadruple Olympic Height
European Swimming Championships, Budapest, Day 1 Heats: Hosszu & Detti Claim Lane 4 For Finals As Peaty Leads The Charge In Heated 100 Breaststroke

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	2	4	UKR	ROMANCHUK Mykhaylo	07 AUG 1996	0.74	14:52.07		q
2	2	7	FRA	JOLY Damien	04 JUN 1992	0.69	14:56.09	4.02	q
3	2	6	ITA	ACERENZA Domenico	19 JAN 1995	0.71	14:59.47	7.40	q
4	3	2	HUN	KALMAR Akos	11 JAN 2000	0.72	15:02.97	10.90	q
5	3	3	GBR	JERVIS Daniel	09 JUN 1996	0.68	15:07.54	15.47	q
6	2	5	NOR	CHRISTIANSEN Henrik	09 OCT 1996	0.72	15:08.28	16.21	q
7	3	4	ITA	PALTRINIERI Gregorio	05 SEP 1994	0.76	15:08.84	16.77	q
8	3	1	RUS	EGOROV Aleksandr	19 AUG 2001	0.79	15:09.95	17.88	q

p	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time		Q
1	10	4	RUS	KOLESNIKOV Kliment	09 JUL 2000	0.65	47.53		q
2	10	3	ITA	MIRESSI Alessandro	02 OCT 1998	0.71	47.81	0.28	q
3	8	4	RUS	MINAKOV Andrei	17 MAR 2002	0.64	47.88	0.35	q
4	10	1	SRB	BARNA Andrej	02 MAR 1998	0.63	48.17	0.64	q
5	7	5	ROU	POPOVICI David	15 SEP 2004	0.66	48.30	0.77	q
6	9	4	RUS	GRINEV Vladislav	21 JUL 1996	0.63	48.36	0.83
6	10	2	FRA	GROUSSET Maxime	24 APR 1999	0.69	48.36	0.83	q
8	8	5	HUN	NEMETH Nandor	19 NOV 1999	0.63	48.38	0.85	q
9	8	2	RUS	ZHILKIN Andrey	09 MAR 1995	0.78	48.40	0.87
10	8	7	SUI	MITYUKOV Roman	30 JUL 2000	0.56	48.56	1.03	q
11	10	6	HUN	SZABO Szebasztian	11 MAR 1996	0.59	48.59	1.06	q
12	9	6	GBR	DEAN Thomas	02 MAY 2000	0.64	48.66	1.13	q
13	9	5	HUN	MILAK Kristof	20 FEB 2000	0.68	48.72	1.19
14	9	3	GBR	RICHARDS Matthew	17 DEC 2002	0.62	48.73	1.20	q
15	7	3	SUI	DJAKOVIC Antonio	08 OCT 2002	0.66	48.74	1.21	q
16	9	7	NED	PIJNENBURG Stan	04 NOV 1996	0.62	48.76	1.23	q
17	9	1	GBR	WHITTLE Jacob	25 SEP 2004	0.72	48.78	1.25
18	10	8	ITA	ZAZZERI Lorenzo	09 AUG 1994	0.60	48.80	1.27	q
19	8	6	ITA	FRIGO Manuel	18 FEB 1997	0.63	48.90	1.37
20	4	5	SWE	SEELIGER Bjoern	11 JAN 2000	0.63	48.98	1.45	q
21	8	3	UKR	SHEVTSOV Sergii	29 JUN 1998	0.64	49.02	1.49	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	6	5	ITA	CASTIGLIONI Arianna	15 AUG 1997	0.66	1:05.98		q
2	5	4	ITA	CARRARO Martina	21 JUN 1993	0.63	1:06.26	0.28	q
3	4	5	SWE	HANSSON Sophie	02 AUG 1998	0.73	1:06.34	0.36	q
3	4	4	ITA	PILATO Benedetta	18 JAN 2005	0.69	1:06.34	0.36
5	3	7	SWE	FAST Emelie	20 FEB 2004	0.65	1:06.64	0.66	q
6	5	5	RUS	CHIKUNOVA Evgeniia	17 NOV 2004	0.69	1:06.76	0.78	q
7	5	3	GBR	VASEY Sarah	29 AUG 1996	0.67	1:06.85	0.87	q
8	4	3	SUI	MAMIE Lisa	27 OCT 1998	0.75	1:06.86	0.88	q
9	5	6	GBR	RENSHAW Molly	06 MAY 1996	0.68	1:06.93	0.95	q
10	6	4	RUS	EFIMOVA Yuliya	03 APR 1992	0.71	1:06.97	0.99	q
10	6	3	IRL	MC SHARRY Mona	21 AUG 2000	0.67	1:06.97	0.99	q
12	6	6	ESP	VALL MONTERO Jessica	22 NOV 1988	0.69	1:07.03	1.05	q
13	5	7	ITA	ANGIOLINI Lisa	29 JUN 1995	0.71	1:07.04	1.06
14	6	2	EST	JEFIMOVA Eneli	27 DEC 2006	0.73	1:07.15	1.17	q
15	4	2	FIN	HULKKO Ida	12 DEC 1998	0.71	1:07.25	1.27	q
16	6	7	NED	SCHOUTEN Tes	31 DEC 2000	0.67	1:07.45	1.47	q
17	4	6	RUS	BELONOGOFF Tatiana	16 JUL 2001	0.66	1:07.65	1.67
18	4	9	ISR	GORBENKO Anastasia	07 AUG 2003	0.68	1:07.67	1.69	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time		Q
1	4	4	HUN	MILAK Kristof	20 FEB 2000	0.67	1:54.38		q
2	3	3	BUL	IVANOV Antani	17 JUL 1999	0.66	1:54.72	0.34	q
3	2	3	POL	CHMIELEWSKI Krzysztof	18 NOV 2004	0.64	1:55.46	1.08	q
4	2	6	SUI	PONTI Noe	01 JUN 2001	0.68	1:55.67	1.29	q
5	2	4	ITA	BURDISSO Federico	20 SEP 2001	0.69	1:55.73	1.35	q
6	4	1	POL	MAJERSKI Jakub	18 AUG 2000	0.69	1:56.27	1.89	q
7	3	6	FRA	MARCHAND Leon	17 MAY 2002	0.65	1:56.33	1.95	q
8	4	7	ITA	CARINI Giacomo	02 JUL 1997	0.64	1:56.69	2.31	q
9	3	4	HUN	KENDERESI Tamas	13 DEC 1996	0.72	1:57.02	2.64	q
10	3	0	POL	CHRZANOWSKI Damian	07 JUN 1998	0.70	1:57.18	2.80
11	3	5	RUS	KUDASHEV Alexander	05 DEC 1995	0.75	1:57.19	2.81	q
12	4	6	BEL	CROENEN Louis	03 JAN 1994	0.68	1:57.31	2.93	q
13	4	5	UKR	KESIL’ Denys	26 OCT 2000	0.67	1:57.32	2.94	q
14	4	2	UKR	TROYANOVS’KYY Igor	09 AUG 2002	0.74	1:57.38	3.00	q
15	3	1	EST	ZIRK Kregor	03 JUL 1999	0.63	1:57.56	3.18	q
16	1	7	MDA	SANCOV Alexei	15 OCT 1999	0.68	1:57.78	3.40	q
17	3	2	GER	KLENZ Ramon	02 AUG 1998	0.70	1:57.96	3.58	q

P	H	L	Nation	Swimmer	DoB	R	Time	Gap	Q
1	6	6	GBR	DAWSON Kathleen	03 OCT 1997	0.56	27.29 Sco Rec		q
2	6	4	NED	TOUSSAINT Kira	22 MAY 1994	0.49	27.60	0.31	q
3	4	4	NED	DE WAARD Maaike	11 OCT 1996	0.61	27.84	0.55	q
4	5	4	RUS	FESIKOVA Anastasia	08 MAY 1990	0.70	27.86	0.57	q
5	6	3	FIN	JALLOW Mimosa	17 JUN 1994	0.56	27.97	0.68	q
6	6	5	AUT	PILHATSCH Caroline	01 MAR 1999	0.58	28.02	0.73	q
7	6	7	NOR	LOEYNING Ingeborg V.	13 SEP 2000	0.60	28.05	0.76	q
7	4	3	POL	TCHORZ Alicja	13 AUG 1992	0.59	28.05	0.76	q
9	5	2	GBR	WILD Cassie	12 JUN 2000	0.57	28.11	0.82	q
10	5	6	SUI	KOST Nina	17 APR 1995	0.60	28.27	0.98	q
11	5	5	ITA	SCALIA Silvia	16 JUL 1995	0.57	28.28	0.99	q
12	4	5	CZE	KUBOVA BAUMRTOVA Simona	24 AUG 1991	0.55	28.30	1.01	q
13	6	2	ITA	PANZIERA Margherita	12 AUG 1995	0.62	28.31	1.02	q
14	4	2	BLR	SHKURDAI Anastasiya	03 JAN 2003	0.62	28.33	1.04	q
15	4	7	GRE	DRAKOU Theodora	06 FEB 1992	0.55	28.39	1.10	q
16	5	3	DEN	JENSEN Julie Kepp	03 JAN 2000	0.58	28.40	1.11	q