When a swimmer rips their swim trunks, it can be quite distressing, especially right before an important race. For Hungarian Olympic swimmer Kristof Milak, this unexpected wardrobe malfunction happened just before the 200-meter butterfly final.
Milak mentioned to BBC, “They split 10 minutes before I entered the pool and in that moment I knew the world record was gone. I lost my focus and knew I couldn’t do it.” He further explained, “It was a problem for me. I have a routine, a rhythm, a focus. This broke my focus and that problem impacted my time. I wasn’t swimming for the medal, I was swimming for the time. I said earlier I wanted a personal best. And my personal best is a world record.”
“This broke my focus and that problem impacted my time,” said Hungary’s Kristof Milak. https://t.co/6zkGxyU31a
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 28, 2021
Although Milak missed out on breaking his own world record due to the ripped pants incident, he still managed to win the gold medal with an impressive lead of 2.5 seconds over his closest competitor. His final time of 1:51:25 set a new Olympic record, surpassing Michael Phelps’ previous record of 1:52:03 set in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
