Despite the thunder in Belgrade, the Hungarian gold medals fell

The finals could not have started better on Saturday in Belgrade, on the sixth night of the pool competitions of the European Water Championships.

Kristóf Milák won a gold medal in the 200 butterfly, Petra Senánszky won a gold medal in the 50 freestyle, the latter with a great national record! Moreover, we also won the 4×200 mixed relay.

Thunder in Belgrade

We were certain that Kristóf Milák would win our twentieth medal here in Belgrade, in the pool competitions of the European Water Championships, when the show started on Saturday with the final of the men's 200 butterfly. In tropical heat, as it has been all week.

Yes, but at 18:24 a huge thunder shook the Milan "Gale" Muskatirovics swimming pool and its surroundings, the storm broke out, the eternal threat of outdoor sports events.

However, the rain did not stop, and at 18.30 the start was fired according to its order and manner. Milák took the lead right away, leading all the way, but one of the Chmielewski twins, Krzysztof, was on his neck all the way, and the race was really close.

In the end, Milák won with a very average, even poor time, 1:54.43, and Márton Richárd finished fourth with 1:56.07 behind the two Poles. However, the main thing is to win!

Milák for the fourth time

After 2018 (Glasgow, 1:52.79 minutes), 2020 (Budapest, 1:51.10) and 2022 (Rome, 1:52.01), the 24-year-old world record holder, Olympic and world champion of the Honvéd won the number for the fourth time in a row in the 50-meter pool at the adult European Championships. n. With this, he set the record of the legendary Michael Gross of Albatross, who triumphed in four European Championships between 1981 and 1987. (By the way, Gross recently celebrated his sixtieth birthday on June 17.)

Overall, this is Milák's eighth adult European championship in the 50-person pool.

For the sake of connoisseurs, we provide Milák's partial times for every 50 meters: 25.36, 29.23, 29.62, 30.22.

Milák's winning time of 1:54.43 is worse than Giacomo Carini's 1:54.34, the Italian boy won the 200 butterfly at the Sette Colli race in Rome, which runs parallel to the European Championships, with this time, and over there in the United States 17-year-old Thomas Heilman He was first with 1:54.50. So, based on this year's times, Milák does not stand out from the field at all.

In the meantime, it started raining, but it didn't bother Petra Senánszky, the girl from Debrecen won the final of the 50-meter butterfly with 24.56 seconds, now winning the seventh Hungarian gold medal in Belgrade. And the bonus is the new national top!

Senánszky is amazing!

Petra cut a century from her own national record, which she swam two weeks ago in Monaco on the Mare Nostrum.

I am very happy, although this is not the happiest day of my life - said the mannequin-shaped girl, who is only a secondary swimmer, so to speak, because her specialty is diving with fins anyway. - It's getting harder and harder as I get older, now I'm also motivated by the fact that if I reach the finish line, I'll get some rest. We are going to the Turkish coast for a training camp, which will be a two-day vacation... I love Belgrade, in 2019 we had the finning world championship here, in this swimming pool, I have good memories here. This place, it seems, can bring the big result out of me. Anyway, I didn't even notice that it was raining...

Petra also revealed that after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, she decided that her main activity will now be swimming, not scuba diving, because she was unable to go to Japan under controversial circumstances due to Covid. That's when he decided to put everything on one page for three years and qualify for the Paris Olympics.

And it worked!

After the twenty-minute rain break, the 200 medley final followed, which, as expected, was won by Israel's Anastasia Gorbenko with a huge margin, her compatriot Lea Polonsky finished behind her, Sebestyén Dalma was seventh, with a time of 1:13.84 minutes.

Then, with a time of 22.03, Szebasztián Szabó qualified for the 50 m fast final in fifth place, so the successful Hungarian Saturday continued.

In the semi-finals of the 200 meter medley, now in torrential rain, Boglárka Telegdy Kapás qualified second (2:09.35 minutes), Zsuzsanna Jakabos qualified third (2:09.42). in Sunday's final.

In the men's semi-finals of the same number, Dominik Török carved 4 centuries even from his time in the morning, winning his race with 1:59.07, but this is not Olympic level yet. Hubert Kós swam 1:58.12, his second best time, Török's fourth.

I don't even understand how they can shoot the start when there is lightning

Kós wondered.

Turk wasn't surprised, he was just happy:

Who cares that I don't have the Olympic level, the point is that I am among the two best Hungarians and I made it to the first European Championship final in my life!

Ádám Jászó will also be a finalist in the 100 backstroke, he swam 54.25, 24 hundredths better than in the morning, this is the seventh time overall, and he is sure to qualify for the final.

And the final of the 4×200 mixed relay was already here, on track 4 with the promising Hungarians. Richárd Márton started, Balázs Holló continued, then Minna Ábrahám came, and finally Nikolett Pádár. the latter switched with the Poles at the same time, but produced something quite astonishing and brought the Hungarian relay as the winner by three body lengths.

We had our eighth gold medal in Belgrade! Furthermore, our twenty-second medal here, i.e. the pursuit of the Hungarian record of 26 medals continued.

Swimming, European Championships 2024, Belgrade, finals:

Women's 50 m freestyle: 1. Petra Senánszky 24.56 sec, national record, 2. Teodora Draku (Greece) 24.59, 3. Julie Kepp Jensen (Denmark) 24.79

Men's 200 m butterfly: 1. Kristóf Milák 1:54.43, 2. Krzysztof Chmielewski (Poland) 1:54.78, 3. Michal Chmielewski 1:55.51, 4. Richárd Márton 1:56.07.

Men's 50 m breaststroke: 1. Huseyin Emre Sakci (Turkey) 26.92 sec, 2. Noel de Geus (Germany) 26.93, 3. Kristian Pitshugin (Israel) 27.02

Women's 200 m medley: 1. Anastasia Gorbenko (Israel) 2:09.75 minutes, 2. Leo Polonsky (Israel) 2:11.18, 3. Barbora Seemanová (Czech Republic) 2:11.48, ...7. Dalma Sebestyén 2:13.84.

4×200 m mixed relay: 1. Hungary (Márton Richárd 1:49.43 min, Balázs Holló 1:46.70, Minna Ábrahám 1:58.61, Nikolett Pádár 1:55.37) 7:31.11 min, 2.

Hungary dominates the medal table before the closing day: 1. Hungary 8 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze, 2. Israel 4, 1, 1, 3. Greece 3, 5, 4, 4. Czech Republic 3, 1, 2.

Index

Featured image: Gold medalist Petra Senánszky at the results announcement of the women's 50-meter freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Belgrade on June 22, 2024. MTI/István Derencsényi