It was one of the strongest images of the Paris Olympics. This France of the Olympic sites which retains its breath and then exults in the middle of the tests, in Paris or Lille, when Léon Marchand manages to exceed Kristóf Milák for gold in the last meters of an unforgettable 200 m butterfly. The improbable goes back. The triumph of fluidity on the strength and this look of impotence of the title holder when he sees the Toulouse return to his height.
“I think it was the craziest race in which I participated,” comments the Swiss Noè Ponti, placed in the water line close to that of the blue-white-red hero. An indelible memory … Including in the mind of the Hungarian, 25, which shines by its absence in Singapore while the French, it, decided to abstain on the distance whose semi-finals take place this Tuesday afternoon.
They will therefore be neither on the stud for a remake this year. The double Olympic champion (who had consoled himself with the title over 100 m butterfly last year) has indeed decided a few weeks ago to ignore the first major post-Olympic meeting in a 50 m basin. A mixture of lack of training and especially motivation.
Already absent to preserve your mental health in 2023
“We discussed it. Kristof expressed his intention and I support him in this approach, explained Almos Szabo, his coach since winter. No one disputes his abilities, Kristof has a unique talent, it is the mental part that is the most difficult for him. He needs rest and he is the only one to know when this inner flame wakes up. I can’t turn it on in its place. When this is the case, he will start to participate in the world competitions and will probably be exceptional. It depends entirely on him. »»
In the grip of recurring respiratory problems, the world record holder of the 200 m butterfly took the opportunity to undergo surgery. “Since we have been working together, he has had this kind of illness five times,” continues the coach. He suffered more serious tests, which revealed that these problems were also linked to the asthma from which he already suffers. »»
It is the third time in a row that Milák dries up the Worlds. In 2023, like a few other headliners, he had already invoked mental health concerns and did not go to Fukuoka, leaving the field free to Léon Marchand. At the beginning of 2024, he preferred to zap like the vast majority of swimmers the curious Doha World Championships, strangely positioned at five months from the Olympic Games.
In February, in the Podcast Mol Pályán Kívül for one of his very rare speeches, the native of Budapest had explained that the idea of stopping swimming had crossed his mind several times without his career and that he had struggled to move on after the slap struck by the Habs…
“But we both agree to think that Kristof still has the means to beat the world records of the 100 m and 200 m butterfly,” said Szabo, who intends to see him in 2028 in Los Angeles and at the 2027 Worlds, at his home, in the Hungarian capital. Where it would not be unhappy not to recover French …
