The U18 National Team Meet, held at the Nyíregyháza Athletics Center, featured high-level competition, exciting head-to-head matches, and several outstanding Hungarian results throughout the day. The best junior athletes from Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia competed in 38 events, and at the end of the team competition, the Czech Republic finished in first place.
The Czech national team finished in first place with 319 points, Hungary came in second with 296.5 points, while Slovakia finished the meet in third place with 198.5 points. The Czech Republic won the boys’ team competition with 164 points, while Hungary scored 146.5 points; in the girls’ competition, only five points separated the two strongest teams: the Czech Republic finished with 155 points and Hungary with 150.
The Hungarian national team won in numerous events. In the boys’ events, Huba Pandur won the 100-meter dash in 10.54 seconds; Hunor Kis-Soós took first place in the 1,500 meters with a personal best of 3:51.47; and Balázs Berecz won the 400-meter hurdles with a personal best of 52.35 seconds. In the jumping events, Botond Horváth took first place in the long jump with a distance of 7.44 meters, and Mátyás Bella won the triple jump with a personal best of 15.18 meters. Among the throwers, Roland Nagy set a personal best of 19.04 meters in the shot put, Bence Krakóczki won the discus throw with a throw of 56.13 meters, and Dávid Windisch won the hammer throw with a throw of 69.84 meters, while Dávid Ligeti finished first in the 5,000-meter race walk with a personal best time of 21:45.96.
We also saw a strong Hungarian showing among the girls. Sára Fekete won the 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:30.16; Gréta Bakos took first place in the high jump with a height of 1.68 meters; Gréta Szőke won the long jump with a personal best of 5.96 meters; and Fruzsina Nagy won the triple jump with a personal best of 12.56 meters. Zsófia Vágó won the javelin throw with a personal best of 52.52 meters, while Sára Kata Alföldi claimed the Hungarian title in the 5,000-meter race walk with a personal best of 24:02.41.
One of the day’s standout performances came from Zsófi Marton, who finished first in three throwing events. In the shot put, she set a new Hungarian U18 national record with a throw of 17.29 meters; she then won the discus throw with a throw of 46.42 meters and the hammer throw with a personal best of 62.82 meters.
The performance of Flóra Tilki, a competitor from the Nyíregyháza Sports Center, was a particular delight for the home crowd. Flóra finished third in the 400-meter race with a time of 56.56 seconds and was also a member of the Hungarian women’s 4x100-meter relay team. The Hungarian team finished second with a time of 2:09.78, just two hundredths of a second behind the winning Czech relay team.
The competition was a close team battle from start to finish; the Hungarian juniors scored valuable points in several events and made the Nyíregyháza meet memorable with many personal bests. The event once again demonstrated that the Nyíregyháza Athletics Center is a worthy venue for international junior athletics.
Thanks to the efforts of the organizers, officials, coaches, volunteers, and contributors, young athletes from the three countries were able to compete under excellent conditions in Nyíregyháza.
The complete list of results for the meet and detailed results for all events can be viewed on the following page: https://www.atletika.hu/eredmenyek
Photo: MASZ
