Michael Phelps watched two of his world records get shattered this week, including one he'd held for 18 years.
At the FINA World Championships on Wednesday, 19-year-old Kristof Milak of Hungary won the 200-meter butterfly with a new world-record time of 1:50.73 - 0.78 seconds faster than Phelps' mark at the 2009 World Championships. Phelps initially set the world record for the event in 2001 when he was 15 years old.
STOP THE PRESSES! A fantastic new World Record from 19-year old Kristóf Milák of Hungary in the Men’s 200m Fly beating Michael Phelps old mark of 1:51.51, set a decade ago in Rome, with a new time of 1:50.73…Outstanding! 💪👑#Swimming #FINAGwangju2019 pic.twitter.com/Qr2DiOGDG3
— FINA (@fina1908) July 24, 2019
"As frustrated as I am to see that record go down, I couldn't be happier to see how he did it," Phelps told Karen Crouse of the New York Times. "That kid's last 100 was incredible. He put together a great 200 fly from start to finish."
Then on Friday, Phelps lost his 100-meter butterfly record to 22-year-old American Caeleb Dressel. Phelps set the previous record of 49.82 seconds in 2009.
A trend at this year’s World’s is to break or equal 📣 WORLD RECORDS in semi-finals and USA’s Caeleb Dressel is obviously a trend-follower, shattering the 100m Fly record in dramatic style in a time of 49.50! #FINAGwangju2019 #Swimming pic.twitter.com/75maQpIWJc
— FINA (@fina1908) July 26, 2019
Phelps took to Instagram afterward to congratulate Dressel.
