Hungary's Milak smashes own swimming world record, triple gold for US

BUDAPEST: Hungarian Kristof Milak smashed his own world record to win the men's 200m butterfly at the World Championships on Tuesday (Jun 21), powering to the gold medal in a time of 1:50.34, while the United States claimed three gold medals.

Olympic champion Milak beat the record he set at the 2019 worlds in Gwangju by 0.39 seconds and finished 3.03 seconds ahead of silver medallist Leon Marchand of France.

The 22-year-old Milak delighted the home crowd by providing them with Hungary's first gold at these championships.

"It was a fantastic feeling. As soon as I stepped in the starting area, I didn't hear or see anything. It was like being in a dream. I waited three years to swim a personal best and it came off," he said.

Bobby Finke of the United States won the men's 800m freestyle with an electric late burst to finish ahead of Germany's Florian Wellbrock and Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk.

The win for Finke was a boost for the US team after 100m free Olympic and world champion Caeleb Dressel pulled out of the semi-finals in that event for medical reasons.

Finke, who sat in fourth place for much of the race and was still behind three swimmers at the final turn, posted a personal best time of 7:39.36.

As he did in Tokyo, Finke timed his race to perfection, delivering a blistering final 50m in 25.93 seconds to move ahead of his European rivals.

"I knew I had to just stick with them and stay with what I am good at, the finish. I knew the 50 length was going to hurt but it was worth it," said Finke.

Nic Fink delivered a second victory for the US, winning the 50m breaststroke in 26.45, three hundredths of a second ahead of Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi with another American Michael Andrew taking bronze.

The loss of Dressel means he will