Kristof Milak literally made waves at the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018, where took home the men's 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, and 400m freestyle titles, in addition to the 100m butterfly silver.

The Hungarian chose to focus on the butterfly, and that decision paid dividends at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, where he clocked 1:50:73 over 200m to smash Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record and win the world title.

The 2020 European Championships brought more success, with the Budapest native winning the 100m and 200m butterfly races, with a new national record of 50:18 in the former.

Milak became a national hero at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (in 2021) when he blasted to a two-second victory in the 200m butterfly title to complete his medal collection. In the 100m fly, he broke Caeleb Dressel's Olympic record in the prelims, but eventually finished with the silver medal, behind the American, in the final.

Budapest was chosen as a late replacement host for the 2022 World Championships, and there was plenty to cheer about for the home fans as Milak lowered his own world record to win the 200m butterfly, before winning his first 100m butterfly title in Dressel's absence.