200 metres Butterfly, Men

Hungary’s Kristóf Milak was a heavy favorite in this event. He came in as the 2019 World Champion where he had broken Michael Phelps’s 10-year-old world record and Milak was more than two seconds faster than the next active performer. Others expected to challenge for the lesser medals were the 2012 gold medallist Chad le Clos of South Africa and Japan’s Daiya Seto, the 2018 short-course World Champion. Seto’s teammate, Tomoru Honda, was also watched carefully as he had beaten Seto at Japan’s Olympic Trials in April.

Milak was never challenged, leading the semi-finals by over two seconds, and winning the gold medal by 2½ seconds over Honda. Seto would not qualify for the final and le Clos, who was close to the lead for 100 metres in the final, could not hold on and would finish fifth. The bronze medal went to Italy’s Federico Burdisso, who had recently won silver at the European Championships.

Two days after this final, Milak would win another medal with silver in the 100 fly, trailing American Caeleb Dressel. None of the other 200 finalists would feature in that event.