„We have reached our goals” – Attila Spiriev

The organizers set up a high-level competition on June 5 which was the first stop of the Hungarian Grand Prix series in Tatabánya. We talked to sporting director Attila Spiriev about his experiences a couple of days after the event.

– How much do you think the Continental Tour Bronze level competition achieved its goals?

– Let us start with the goal. We have not had a competition like this in Hungary in 30-40 years. We have reorganized the Hungarian competition system almost a decade ago. We have changed three main segments. Besides the National Championships, we have a well-structured league series to provide our athletes more opportunities to compete. This year, on June 5 and 6, in Székesfehérvár, the Gyulai István Memorial – Hungarian Grand Prix will take place for the eleventh time, which is one of the premier competitions of world athletics and we try to ensure that as many Hungarian athletes get to participate as possible. The third segment is that during the last eight-nine years the number of Hungarian athletes who get to compete abroad is increasing due to the amount of work we put in. Until now we have been missing the types of competitions that we just organized in Tatabánya. This event provided a chance for a great number of Hungarian athletes to compete and go up against foreign athletes in front of a home crowd.

– Does this mean that the event can be considered a milestone and that the second stop of the competition on August 24 which will be held at the Lantos Mihály Sports Centre will be an important step also?

– Yes, because we had to meet many criteria when we set up the competition, invited the athletes and created the schedule and I think we succeeded. Let me start by mentioning that Thomas Campbell qualified for the Olympics in the hammer throw which was the first event on the timetable. Despite the headwind, we saw a great 100 metres in the men’s field. It is interesting that the same people who won here won in Prague a few days afterwards, but with better times because of the backwind. The women’s high jump was fantastic as well: five athletes cleared 1.90 which is something you do not often see even at Diamond League competitions.

– Is there anybody we can highlight from the Hungarian athletes?

–Janka Molnár, who broke the 400 metres hurdles U23 national record, was outstanding. She went through the coronavirus in March, so it was difficult for her to regain her form, so her coach Attila Bartha deserves a lot of credit.

– How much did this competition improve the Hungarian athletes’ chances to qualify for the Olympics?

– It is too early to tell. It was an important event for Balázs Baji in the 110 metres hurdles and Máté Koroknai performed very well in the 400 metres beating David Kendziera. The 3000 metres steeplechase was sensational – our very talented István Palkovics came in third with the best time of his life and only missed the U23 national record by a couple tenths of a second. This achievement can give him a boost and he is a good example as to why these competitions are important. Bianka Bartha-Kéri won the 800 metres with a personal best beating established athlete Angelika Sarna. Bianka then won in Prague three days later. Anna Ferencz, Hédi Heffner and Gabriella K. Szabó also broke their personal bests in this event, but I have to credit pacemaker Rebeka Tóth too who performed her job perfectly.

– Overall, 14 Hungarian athletes set up new personal bests which is also a record in itself.

– This is significant because we are talking about the best Hungarian athletes and more than 30 athletes achieved their season best as well and some of them barely missed their personal records. More than two-third of the Hungarian athletes celebrated personal or season bests.

– What will the next stop of the Hungarian Grand Prix series be like on August 24 in Budapest?

– The goal remains the same, but everything will be different at the Lantos Mihály Sportközpont. The two facilities are different, the track has eight lanes in Budapest and the javelin will be held inside the stadium. The discus, hammer will be held right next to the track. The other difference is that the event will be close to the end of the season and the Tokyo Olympics will be in the rear-view mirror and the athletes will be looking ahead to the next World- and European Championships. A very exciting period is ahead of us, but we will have a National Championship, the Gyulai István Memorial and the Olympics until then.