Despite gloomy expectations, Olympic gold medallist, Europe and world-record holder Kristóf Milák, arguably one of the most talented Hungarian swimmers, excelled at the national swimming championship, taking a gold medal right on the first day. It had been widely believed that the sportsman did not train at all in the past year, a rumour that was reinforced by Milák himself in some interviews admitting that he is ‘taking a break’. Astonished by his performance at the Hungarian championship, trainers, swimming experts and sport commentators were at a loss to explain Milák’s surprisingly good shape, else then suggesting that he might have been secretly training for some time.

Kristóf Milák rose to international fame at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018. Right at his debut, he earned four medals (in 200m and 400m freestyle and 200m butterfly winning a gold, and a silver medal in 100 butterfly).

A year later he made the headlines again for winning the world champion title after beating a ten-year-old record in 200m butterfly (1:50.73) in Gwangju. His winning streak continued at the European Championship as well, so he arrived in Tokyo with big hopes. His performance at the Tokyo Games in fact was no disappointment either: the young athlete came home from his very first Olympics with a gold (200m butterfly) and a silver medal (100m butterfly).

Milák’s outstanding talent had been so evident from an early age that in 2017 (when he was only 17 years old) public sports television channel M4 Sport started to film his professional progress.

The documentary titled The Prophecy predicted that Milák would earn an Olympic medal and followed the athlete’s everyday life closely in the next four years, until the prediction turned into reality in Tokyo.

The seemingly unstoppable winning streak seemed to come to a pause last year in May when Kristóf Milák stopped training. At this point Milák promised his fans to resume workouts in September. Albeit some viewed his long holiday with sympathy, worried that the young athlete might be experiencing burnout—he himself also said in some interviews that he stopped training to focus on his wellbeing—others argued that it is his duty towards his fans, his sponsors, and his nation (especially given the state funding he receives as an athlete) to be back in the swimming pool soon.

National interest in his case intensified in October when it became clear that he had not restarted his trainings as he promised. Despite the outrage that ensued, especially over the fact that he skipped the World Aquatics Championships in Japan, at this point the athlete kept silent about his plans. By January this year, when the public was still under the impression that Milák was still not been training— more and more started to predict that Milák will not have enough time to prepare for the Paris Olympics. However, after a half-year of his intensely discussed absence from competitions, he surprised all that in April he aced the Hungarian National Swimming Championships.

Notwithstanding Milák’s outstanding performance straight after the alleged half-a-year break, winning five gold medals in the past week, the swimmer did lose one race against Szebasztián Szabó, another Hungarian young talent, in the 50-metre butterfly swim, but this is not an Olympic discipline.

Most importantly, Milák finished the 100-metre butterfly first, outpacing Simon Bucher from Austria and Márton Richárd, who came second and third respectively. Some highlight, however, that albeit winning in Hungary, in global comparison in the 100-metre butterfly stroke Milák is only third this year: while Milák swam the distance in 50.99 seconds, Caeleb Dressel (the gold medallist on 100-metre butterfly in Tokyo) and Hubert Kós both swam the same distance in 50.84. In total, during last week’s competitions at the 126th National Swimming Championships held at the Budapest Duna Aréna Kristóf Milák ended up winning five gold medals and one silver.

Csaba Sós, the Hungarian national swimming team’s captain, admitted he cannot find an explanation to the puzzle of Milák’s battle-ready condition:

‘He didn’t return to the sport as an overweight amateur. Let’s not draw any far-reaching conclusions just yet, but in any case, it was satisfying to see what we all saw. The situation is much better compared to what I—and, admittedly, not only I, but other swimming experts, too—expected’.

Albeit it is difficult to predict outcomes in advance, what seems very promising in terms of the Paris Olympics is that

Kristóf Milák was faster than his chief international counterparts at the Hungarian championships.

One great rival of his, Léon Marchand, who will compete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, swam the same 200m butterfly, Milák’s number one stroke, seven milliseconds more slowly than Milák (with a result of 1:54.97 compared to 1:54.90). Marchand, who already competed against Kristóf Milák at the Tokyo Games and came first, recently swam a time of 48.40 seconds in the 100m freestyle, and so did Caeleb Dressel in San Antonio, US. During the national swimming championship, Milák was two milliseconds faster than both of his rivals.

After this astonishing comeback everyone is looking forward to the Paris Summer Olympics with excitement, with high hopes for the Hungarian male swim team. But it was not just his performance that was astonishing, but his behaviour as well after his wins. After shocking the entire country, he nonchalantly walked past the journalists without looking at them or speaking a word, which intrigued people even more. After refusing to talk to reporters on the second and third days of the competition as well, some contrasted the swimmer’s attitude today with his behaviour a couple of years ago. The, after establishing a world record on 200m butterfly (with a result of 1:50.34) in June 2022 as soon as he got out of the pool, Milák turned to the journalists, and through them, to his fans, and said: ‘This medal is yours. This record is yours. My heart is yours’.

Whether one finds his present attitude irritating or not, what seems certain is that the brilliant Hungarian athlete is now clearly hyper focused on the upcoming Olympic Games.